[lbo-talk] Shaivo finale on my part (for real)

[Marta Russell]

>
>  > Marta wrote:
>>  Some of us don't see a feeding tube as a machine- undesirable at all
>>  cost.  I've had very close friends who have used respirators and been
>>  Executive Directors.  Harriet Johnson, a disabled lawyer who was
>>  interviewed by Aaron Brown last night about the Shiavo case is very
>>  close to not being able to swallow anymore.  She is still practicing
>>  law and writing books, etc.  She will still be doing her thing when
>>  she needs to be fed in ways other than by mouth.  Under your terms
>>  she should be starved to death because she may need a feeding tube?
>>  Do I understand you correctly?
>>
>>  Marta
>
>You know this isn't what K means. You're doing the same thing to her 
>you did to me. If I think
>that a person in a vegetative state with no chance of recovery and 
>who has expressed a desire
>not ot be kept alive that way should be euthanized per their wishes 
>it does not follow that I
>want everyone in a vegetative state euthanized. Nor everyone with a 
>feeding tube, nor everyone
>in a wheelchair, nor blah, blah, blah.
>Some conditiones have no chance for recover and if people in that 
>condition don't want to live
>just let them fucking die. This viewpoint does not equate with Nazi 
>eugenics and suggesting it
>does is total BS.
>If you think everyone should be kept alive through every means 
>possible that's cool with me
>and probably almost everyone else on this list. If that position 
>isn't arguable without constantly
>resorting to the logical fallacies you fall back on it must be a 
>pretty damn weak position.
>
>John Thornton

As I told Kelley, I agree with Nat Hentoff that there is no 
convincing evidence that Terri expressed a desire not to be kept 
alive.  Her parents don't either.  Who would you believe - a husband 
who waited 7 years to say that Terri told him she would want to die 
and now has a new family in his life -  or a mother and father who 
have no conflict of interest.  I'm with the parents, though I think 
they picked an atrocious spokesperson and I dislike the way the 
Christain right has taken over this issue.  It is a disability issue.

If you want more information:

"Not Dead Yet: Schiavo Case is About Disability Rights"

  A Press Release from Not Dead Yet,

  http://www.notdeadyet.org/

  Disability Advocates Support and Thank Tom Harkin

  Schiavo Case is About Disability Rights

  It's time for the press to talk to the real experts on the

  Schiavo case, the disability rights movement. Not Dead Yet

  has led the disability community's opposition to non-

  voluntary euthanasia for a decade. Diane Coleman, the

  group's founder and president, and Stephen Drake, its

  research analyst, are available in Chicago to discuss the

  disability angle on the recent legislative and legal

  developments in the case.

  The "right to life" movement has embraced Terri Schindler-

  Schiavo as a cause to prove "sanctity of life." The "right

  to die" movement argues that people in guardianship should

  have no protection against private family decisions to kill

  them. Yet the life-and-death issues surrounding Terri

  Schindler-Schiavo are first and foremost disability rights

  issues -- issues which affect tens of thousands of people

  with disabilities who, like Ms. Schindler-Schiavo, cannot

  currently articulate their views and so must rely on others

  as substitute decision-makers.

  That's why 26 national disability rights organizations have

  adopted a position in support of Terri Schiavo's right to

  continue to receive food and water. The evidence that Ms.

  Schiavo would refuse tube feeding is so unclear and

  conflicted that it does not satisfy legal standards. The

  lower court in Florida can pretend otherwise, and the

  Florida appellate courts can refuse to question the lower

  court judge, but it serves society poorly to give guardians

  such an unfettered right to kill.

  "We applaud Senator Tom Harkin, the long time supporter of

  the civil rights of people with disabilities, for his

  insight into the disability issues that underlie this high

  profile case," said Coleman, "and for his political courage

  in working beyond partisanship to uphold our fundamental

  rights."

  "Bioethicists like Art Caplan have tried to make this part

  of the right vs. left culture war," said Drake, "but that's

  a shallow and dishonest portrayal of what's going on in our

  health care system. While he talks about patient choice on

  TV, Caplan has been advocating futility guidelines that

  give doctors the authority to overrule family decisions

  back in Pennsylvania. His hypocrisy has gone unnoticed in

  the media, where he works to silence the voice of the

  disability rights community."

  CONTACTS:

  Diane Coleman & Stephen Drake

  (708) 209-1500 ext. 11 & 29

  cell (708) 420-0539

Marta
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