Terry Shiavo Poll

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The GOP has certainly shown that just like the Democrats, they pay lip service to the concept of Federalism only when it suits them.  The only possible justification for what they've done is to assume that the courts of the State of Florida are incompetent. Given what happened in the 2000 elections, I can understand why the GOP might be tempted to think that about Florida courts, but I can’t agree with that assessment.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Except that she is not on life support.

For the purpose of the law, gastric feeding tubes are classified as a medical intervention that is a form of life support.

Now, if you want to argue that the legal definition of life support and the like should be changed, fine do that, but under current law unless the parents succeed in their attempt to shop around for an activist judge who doesn't bother to follow law and precedent, this phase of this discussion will be over in a week or so as her body finally catches up with what her mind did 15 years ago.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Ironically feeding tubes were NOT considered life support 5-10 years ago in FL.

What changed that?  I honestly don't know much Florida law.

It was another right-to-die case that determined that particular issue about 10 years ago.  Before them, it was an undefined issue.  A similar ruling is effect in the UK but I don't know which side of the pond decided the issue first.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Also in question is a malpractice award worth $1 million a sum Michael Schaivo stands to inherit.

On the NBC Nighty News either last night or the night before they mentioned that reward in their coverage.  $300,000 went directly to him for the mental anguish of being deprived of his wife’s companionship (or some similar psychobabble) and the other $700,000 was for Terri's medical care.  NBC indicated that is believed that of that $700,000, roughly $40,000 is left, so even if that money went to him, that’s hardly a significant sum of money compared to $1,000,000 I’ve heard he was offered if he would step aside and left her parents keep the body.  Between $40,000 or $1,000,000, if he were motivated by money which one should he have picked?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

John, considering that the in the older of the two articles by Wesley J. Smith you cited, there is either a factual error or a deliberate stretching of the truth, I’m not inclined to give the author any weight whatsoever in this case.  He states baldly that “Terri collapsed from unknown causes in 1990” when every other source I’ve seen that coverred the collapse indicated that it had been determined she suffered her brain damage as a result of a heart attack due to a potassium deficiency brought about by an eating disorder.  Granted, what caused the eating disorder is AFAIK unkown, but that’s an awfully long stretch to make, especially without mentioning the other stuff.  In short, I find the author to be clearly biased and not credible.


Under the existing standards for end-of-life legal cases, all the i’s have been dotted and the t’s have been crossed in the case of Terri.  Changing what will happen in her case will require changing those standards, which the Florida Senate has declined to do.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm not attempting to insult you, I could not tell "sued" meant "used."  Just like in this last post, you change letter order in words; you do it very frequently.  I'm very serious in asking if you are dyslexic.  It's not an insult and being dyslexic is nothing to be ashamed of.

More likely, John is just a bad typist like myself.  For all am I disagreeing with John on the main point, I have to also agree with him that quibbling about spelling typos is childish.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I think this will also help Jeb Bush in future elections.

Quite the reverse, I think the fact that Jeb has refused to engage in extra-legal shenanigans in this case will cause him to lose support among the extreme right-to-lifers despite his legal shenanigans.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The most reasonable explanation IMO for Michael’s apparent change of position over the years is that at first he clung to the hope, like the Schindlers still do, that Terri was not in a PVS.  As long as he held that hope,  he should have done all he could to help Terri recover, and it appears he did.  Once he became convinced that she was in a PVS, then following Terri’s desires for what she wanted if she ended up in such a state, was what he should have done, and what it appears he has done.

The difficulty here is occassioned by the disparity in both the belief in whether Terri is in a PVS and in what Terri’s wishes were between Michael and the Schindlers.  That made it a legal issue.  The law decided both facets in favor of Michael’s position and so the Schindlers turned from the court of law to the court of public opinion since they couldn’t win in the former.  They have lost in the latter as well.

I can sympathize with the Schindlers inability to accept what happened to Terri, and given their beliefs, I can’t fault them too much for what they did.  After all, ideally, parents should not have the opportunity to attend a funeral for their child.  Rather, what fault exists in my opinion lies with those of their so-called supporters who have distorted facts in the service of their own agendas, which had little or nothing to do with what was best for Terri Schaivo.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The protestors are calling Jeb Bush "Pontius Pilate." Am I the only one who finds this hilarious?

Merely predictable.