Rest in Peace: Terri Schiavo

This is a day of sorrow. Dr. John Mark Reynolds expresses better than I my wish of Rest in Peace: Terri Schaivo.

Suicidal Arguments and the Loved Ones that Make Them That Way

One of this site's goals is to evaluate arguments by placing them in their proper context. In yesterday's Columbian (Vancouver, WA) Letters to the Editors, a Mr. Bob Donohoe writes to "Beware Religious Right", provides an example of an argument that annihilates itself.
Note: This is the Columbian's title not Mr. Donohoe's. My comments are italicized.

Beware religious right
Everyone has his or her own understanding of God and religion. However, when one group or faction thinks they must governmentally impose their beliefs on others, serious conflict and loss of personal freedom occur.

This is what the religious right is doing. They are imposing their beliefs on others as evidenced by attacking gays, limiting sex education, opposing Planned Parenthood and a woman's right to choose, intervening in the Schiavo case, manipulating the media, banning books, debunking science and using government funding to promote their ideology.

Next will be control of how you dress, your hair style, how you talk and what you eat.

Not to mention where you smoke; what behavior you have to accept as normal; abstinence is best but since you are just a horny animal use this latex thing that's been stretched out by a cucumber; how some life is unworthy of life (i.e. unborn babies and the disabled); manipulating the media by "religious right" consorts of Dan Rather, The New York Times, The LA Times, Air America, etc; how banning books is wrong but banning the "religious right" is "religious 'right'-eous"; and using government funding to teach ignore how life came from non-life. Oh wait. That's the "non-religious right". Sorry, please continue.

All people should have the freedom to live their own lives by what they believe.

That's what the "religious right" is doing.

However, no group should try to force others to adopt their beliefs.

If "no group should try to force others to adopt their beliefs" then Mr. Donohoe should not be telling others that they abide by a belief of not "imposing their beliefs on others." This is, itself, a view that the "religious right" should adopt Donohoe's belief, namely not to "force others to adopt their beliefs." If it is wrong to "force others" then Donohoe has violated his own principle in criticizing the "religious right" for "imposing their belief on others." That is Donohoe's belief not the belief (according to him) of the "religious right."

Separation of church and state is critical and needs to be upheld.

Does this mean the "religious right" should have no vote or that they should have no voice?

Government should be focusing on issues for the common good of all its citizens health, education, jobs, and the environment not promoting religious ideology and interfering in the private lives of citizens.

Religious ideology, like non-religious ideology, is simply a worldview; that is, the way in which we view the world. Religious ideology says there is someone or something above us humans that has some impact in the way the world actually is. Non-religious ideology says there are only humans or if there is someone or something above human, he/she/it has no influence in the way the world actually is.

Mr. Donohoe appears to want to impose his non-religious ideology on those with a religious ideology. That sounds like anti-religious bigotry.

If Mr. Donohoe believes the views of the "religious right" are wrong then fine. We can argue those views in the marketplace of ideas. And may the best view win based on the most well-thought out arguments. Unfortunately for Mr. Donohoe, this one occupies a drawer at the morgue.

Sexual Orientation & Anti-Discrimination Laws

Here in Washington state, the legislature is pushing to add sexual orientation to the state's non-discrimination law. HB 1515 was passed by the House in February and passed out of the Senate Financial Institutions, Housing and Consumer Protection Committee last Friday, March 25.

The Columbian (Vancouver, WA) published my article, 'Gay rights' bill tyranny in disguise, on why this legislation is not needed. My footnoted version is here.

Now, I find out the supporters, not only want to push their view of morality down the throats of all Washingtonians but they wish to circumvent the normal timeframe legislation normally takes effect; that is 90 days after being signed "giving citizens a chance to challenge the measure by referendum."

The legislation contains an emergency clause that will allow the legislation to take effect immediately. "Said Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent: 'For a person who suffers discrimination, it is an emergency.'

Or could it be that the supporters do not want to give the very citizens who will be bound by this legislation, a chance to oppose it.

Terri Schiavo, Emotional Appeals, and Logic

In the Saturday, March 26 Oregonian (Portland, OR), the AP reported Michael Schiavo’s attorney George Felos making an astonishing claim. As Terri Schiavo’s parent’s were nearing the end of the legal options to save their daughter they pleaded for someone to save their daughter.

To which Felos stated that the “Schindlers had abondoned all pretense of the law and are simply making ‘a pure emotional appeal.’”

The claim by Felos’ client, “Terri would not want to live this way,” is at its basis an emotional claim. The fact that Felos was able to wrap the appeal in legality does not make it any less of an emotional appeal.

Further, Felos confuses legality with morality. That is just because something is legal doesn't make it moral nor is an illegal act necessarily immoral.

To criticize the parents for making a “pure emotional appeal” after they exhausted all other options in order to save the daughter they love; the daughter they offered to care for on their own with no help from the husband who has sired two kids with another woman. Felos statement is nothing less than kicking the parents when they are down; pouring salt in their wounds. Feel the compassion.

Philosophy As Medical Omniscience

From the Associated Press:

The public sees fleeting videotaped images of Terri Schiavo, appearing to many to turn toward her mother's voice and smile. They hear what sound like moans and laughter. They watch her head move up and down, seemingly following the progress of a brightly colored Mickey Mouse balloon. And often they ask: How could anyone conclude but that she is aware of her surroundings?

People in persistent vegetative states ... retain a handful of primitive reflexes that are naturally misinterpreted as conscious behavior.

"The mere noise of walking will make the eyes flicker," said Lawrence J. Schneiderman, a professor at the University of California, San Diego medical school who specializes in the bioethics of medical futility and end-of-life care. "And there may be a grimace, so the relatives will say, 'Oh, she's happy to see me.'"

Here's the question. How does one know that these actions are nothing more than "primitive reflexes" and not actual conscious behavior? These people are materialists who believe that consciousness come from a certain area of the brain. If that part of the brain is damaged then they "naturally" think consciousness no longer exists. All that is left for them is "primitive reflexes." Their philosophy has made the diagnosis not their science.

In February, the AP reported on Feb. 12, 2005 that Sara Scantlin suddenly began to talk. The article states,

"For years, she could only blink her eyes - one blink for "no," two blinks for "yes" - to respond to questions that no one knew for sure she understood ... After two decades of silence, she began talking last month. Doctors are not sure why.
Scantlin still suffers constantly from the effects of the accident. She habitually crosses her arms across her chest, her fists clenched under her chin. Her legs constantly spasm and thrash. Her right foot is so twisted it is almost reversed. Her neck muscles are so constricted she cannot swallow to eat."

Then this startling statement:

Scantlin's doctor, Bradley Scheel, said physicians are not sure why she suddenly began talking but believe critical pathways in the brain may have regenerated.

"It is extremely unusual to see something like this happen," Scheel said.

But the medical experts know regarding Terri.

I don't know whether Terri would ever get better (and since she hasn't had therapy in ten years, I guess the odds are against it). But whether she gets better isn't the question. Terri's is a human being simply because she is human not because a certain part of the brain happens to function. She is a human being even without the part of the brain some in the medical community say contains consciousness.

But then I'm not omniscient, medically or otherwise.

A Reflection on Hell

"The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Matthew 13:41-42

As part of my Passion Week observance, I fast on Good Friday. The pangs of hunger, the headaches, the general misery from these few hours sans sustenance provide a small reminder of what my Savior endured to free humanity from the bondage of my sin nature.

Terri Schiavo is encountering that on a much more pronounced level. Father Rob Johansen documents Terri Schiavo's Exit Protocol (the instructions the hospice staff are to follow during her starvation and dehydration death) which describe what she is going through during the process of being killed. Catholics in the Public Square summarize the effects from the lack of nutrition and hydration.

I have the ability to distract myself from my puny pangs of discomfort. Terri cannot. She can only lay there accompanied every second of every minute, hour upon hour, by the catastrophic effects occurring in her body. She is completely alone with her suffering; separated from that which sustains her and with no remedy.

Isn't that what Hell is like? The suffering, the torment. Separation from that which sustains us (God). The weeping and gnashing of teeth where the worm never dies. The difference is that Terri's Hell on Earth-induced death will end with the death of her earthly body. While horrific, our self-appointed medically omniscient gods divine her earthly hell will last from five days to two weeks.

But the eternal hell won't end. The worm never dies.

On this somber Good Friday, we encounter this eternal reality and the fact that through Jesus Christ's sacrifice and our acknowledgment of that sacrifice, his angels will not throw us into the "fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" but will quench our thirst with His very being.

It is something to remember especially in light of the injustice of this world, that there will be perfect justice one day from which those not covered by the blood of Christ will be weeded out.

If published accounts of her faith are true, Terri Schindler-Schiavo will not be counted a weed and her brothers and sisters in Christ will one day find out if "she wouldn't want to live like that."

Am Not, You Are! - Clear Thinking in a Non-Thinking Age

An interesting comment in yesterday's New York Times article, A Diagnosis With a Dose of Religion (reg. req'd), provides an excellent case study in the art of critical thinking - or the lack thereof. The article sets out to debunk an affidavit by Dr. William Cheshire who argues that the diagnosis of Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state is faulty.

The reporters' quote Dr. Ronald Cranford, a University of Minnesota Medical School neurologist and medical ethicist, who has examined Terri for the Florida courts. Dr. Cranford says, "I have no idea who this Cheshire is," and then added: "He has to be bogus, a pro-life fanatic. You'll not find any credible neurologist or neurosurgeon to get involved at this point and say she's not vegetative."

Dr. Cranford, who admits he does not know Dr. Cheshire, nevertheless dismisses Cheshire's arguments as "bogus", "pro-life", and fanatical. After all, no "credible neurologist or neurosurgeon" would advise Terri is not "vegetative." In other words, you are only "credible" if your diagnosis agrees with Cranford's. No mention of why Cheshire's reasons may be wrong. In fact, no mention that Cranford has even read the affidavit.

Actually, there are many that do question Cranford's diagnosis as was documented by the Reverend Robert Johansen in a National Review Online article. Johansen provides names of neurologist's like Dr. Peter Morin and Dr. Thomas Zabiega. But I digress.

Who is Dr. Cranford.

• He is a right-to-die activist.
• He advocates starving those with severe brain damage including Alzheimer's.
• He is a Board of Choice in Dying, a right-to-die organization and has written numerous articles.
• And according to attorney Wesley Smith, Dr. Cranford believed "Robert Wendland should die so that his family can 'be allowed to live their lives.'"
  

If it is bogus and non-credible to be pro-life then, by implication, one must be pro-death to be credible. If pro-life is not credible then guess what you won't find even if it exists? That's right, a severely brain-damaged person who is in a non-vegetative state.

An MRI would verify the accuracy of Cranford’s diagnosis but that has not been done. Cranford, according to other neurologists, has made a diagnosis without the proper evidence. But Cranford did not do that. Why? Could it be that Cranford knows an MRI would show that Terri is not in a persistent vegatative state and so should not be killed thereby obstructing his pro-death views?

Dr. Cranford is pro-death. A diagnosis without evidence would be bogus. Insistence on that diagnosis and using ad homenim attacks to defend it would be fanatical. It sounds like Dr. Cranford is a bogus, pro-death fanatic.

The proper medical tests would reveal where the fanaticism lies. Dr. Cranford doesn’t want those tests. Dr. Chesire and others do.

When a life hangs in the balance don’t you want to make absolutely sure the diagnosis is correct?

Michael Schiavo: We didn't know what Terri wanted

Found this at Gribbet's Word regarding Larry King's interview with Michael Schiavo. I didn't see or hear the interview but the transcript context appears to show Schiavo contradicting himself regarding Terri's wishes.

KING: Have you had any contact with the family today? This is a sad day all the way around, Michael. We know of your dispute.

M. SCHIAVO: I've had no contact with them.

KING: No contact at all?

M. SCHIAVO: No.

KING: Do you understand how they feel?

M. SCHIAVO: Yes, I do. But this is not about them, it's about Terri. And I've also said that in court. We didn't know what Terri wanted, but this is what we want...

In the Womb with NARAL

These are incredible images. If you subscribe to Comcast then take a look at their feature called "The Fan." It contains a short 3 minute video from National Geographic called In the Womb. A longer video is on the National Geographic online along with an article titled, 4-D Ultrasound Gives Video View of Fetuses in the Womb.

Towards the end of the article, the following statement is mad (emphasis added):

Everyone agrees that the new scans already provide dramatically better visualization for parents, which can result in an even stronger parent-child bond. High-risk obstetrician and gynecologist Jude Crino is the director of the Perinatal Ultrasound Unit at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

"We can see better, but it's also important that the patient can see better," he explained. "When I give a patient a 2-D image, it's not uncommon for them to ask two or three times, 'What is this? Could you point this out?' If you give them a 3-D image, they are immediately able to recognize it, because it looks like a baby."

No doubt this is a misprint. According to NARAL, the article should say that the 3-D images "result in a stronger parent-right to choose bond" and "If you give [the parents] a 3-D image, they are immediately able to recognize it, because it looks like a mass of cells."

Slow & Excrutiating "Mercy" Death

The meaning of excruciate per the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Etymology: Latin excruciatus, past participle of excruciare, from ex- + cruciare to crucify, from cruc-, crux cross
1 : to inflict intense pain on : TORTURE
2 : to subject to intense mental distress
- ex•cru•ci•a•tion /-"skrü-shE-'A-sh&n, -sE-/ noun

Thomas Sowell writes in his column today at townhall.com:

A New York Times headline on March 20th tried to assure us: "Experts Say Ending Feeding Can Lead to a Gentle Death" but you can find experts to say anything. In a December 2, 2002 story in the same New York Times, people starving in India were reported as dying, "often clutching pained stomachs."

This ties into what I mentioned the other day in Thoughts on Terri Schiavo

Of course, one only has to go without food for a few days (and water for a much shorter time) before the discomfort sets in. Terri has been without nourishment now for three and a half days.

There are reports that Terri is not even allowed to have moisture supplied to her mouth (normal hospice practice). And there she lies second by second, minute upon minute, hour after hour, with nothing to even distract her from the misery.

Palm Sunday - Migdal Eder

When God threw Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, he killed an animal to make clothing to cover their nakedness (Gen 3:21). Blood is shed to cover their sin.

In Gen 22, God tells Abraham to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. The child says to his father, "The fire and wood are here but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answers, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering."

But God stops Abraham from killing Isaac and does indeed provide a lamb to be slaughtered for atonement.

While slaves in Egypt, God commanded the Hebrews to slaughter a lamb for each family and place the blood on the sides and top of the door thereby signaling that the angel of death was to pass over their homes.

John the Baptist said of Jesus, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." (Jn 1:29)

The is the red thread through Scripture of God's Redemptive plan for us. It is shed blood that covers our sin. God himself will provide the lamb for atonement. The slaughter of the lamb provides the blood which causes the wrath of God to pass over our sins.

The lamb that God provides? Jesus Christ.

That is what Christians remember this week of Christ's Passion. The reason he came. The reason he died.

An interesting note provided by Alfred Edersheim in "The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah". Jewish tradition held that the Messiah was not only to be born in Bethlehem but was to be revealed Migdal Eder, the "tower of the flock." This was not the watchtower of the ordinary flocks but were the flocks destined for Temple-sacrifices. These Temple-sacrifice flocks would have been being brought to the Temple for the Passover sacrifice at the same time Jesus was making his way to the east gate and the Temple.

As Edersheim states, "Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak."

Of Cucumbers and Bacilli

Dr. John Mark Reynolds has some interesting commentary on a Fox News report titled, "Michael Schiavo Blasts Jeb Bush".

Reynolds also comments on the World Magazine Blog, "Not a Vegetable" regarding Kate Adamson, a woman who suffered a double brainstem stroke in 1995 and was completely paralyzed and recovered, who spoke at a March 12th rally for Terri Schiavo.

Dr. Reynolds states, "People declared "vegetables" (what does this even mean?) can recover." Exactly.

What does it mean? It means that if society can give undesirable people a label that redefines their humanity, then we can kill them. They are somehow less than human. Life unworthy of life.

Hmm, sounds vaguely familiar.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Can a convict on death row be placed in a drug-induced coma and deprived of nutrition until they die or would the Supreme Court rule that particular act to be "cruel and unusual punishment?"

For that matter, are those who advocate the removal of Terri's feeding tube even pro-capital punishment?And if a sentence of death is to be carried out, isn't it more compassionate to put a pillow over her head and press down firmly? A minute or so and it would all be over instead of the week or so it will take after the tube is removed. Wouldn't the pillow be more compassionate?

If we are hungry or thirsty, there are many things in life that distract us from our discomfort. Not so with Terri. She can only lie there with nothing to distract her from her hunger and thirst, hour upon hour. Just her mind and starvation. Just her mind and dehydration.

For more information on the fight to save Terri Schiavo's life see www.terrisfight.org.

Tigers and Bears and Scouts - Oh, My!

Tonight, my sons celebrated a milestone in their Cub Scout careers. One earned his Tiger Scout Badge and the other earned his Bear Scout Badge. Both boys worked hard to finish the required accomplishments and it was a proud moment to stand with them as they received their badge.

Afterwards, I noticed that each had received a Council patch. On the patch is the name of the council along with the Boy Scout logo and these words:

STRONG VALUES
STRONG LEADERS
CHARACTER COUNTS

I think of organizations like the United Way and various municipalities who have decided not to fund or help the Boy Scouts in any manner because the BSA exercises their constitutional right to associate with whom they choose and to define their leader and membership criteria as they see fit.

The United Way can give their money to whomever they choose. But it speaks volumes that they would deny funding to an organization that, throughout its history, has done immense good in raising up upstanding young men that benefit society. But to the United Way and others, their political correct worldviews are more important than the helping these young men. Shame on you, United Way.

Congratulations, boys. You have worked hard and earned your Scout badges. You have taken another step in becoming young men of character. Your mother and I are very, very proud of you.

Thoughts on Terri Schiavo II

An interesting article titled Starving for a Fair Diagnosis at National Review Online.

It is said that Michael Schiavo is acting in the best wishes of his wife; that dying is what she would want. Here is an ABC News story regarding the reinstatement of her feeding tube in October 2003.

Terri had been without nourishment and hydration for a week. The Governor intervened to have the tube reinstated. Her family was elated and wanted to

"get her a wheelchair and wheel her out in the sun and let her feel the warmth on her face."

The report continues:

"That may have to wait, however. The family said Wednesday that they were being denied access to Terri in the hospital based on Michael's orders. Guards posted throughout the hospital kept anyone from visiting her . . . Attorneys for the family were seeking an emergency hearing to gain access to the hospital, but Wednesday night, the judge was undecided about when to hold that hearing."

So the husband denies the parents and siblings access to their weakened daughter and sister. That's really what Terri would want? Further, what kind of man would deny his wife's family from being with her in her last moments of life? That's what Terri would want?

Really?!?

For more information on the fight to save Terri Schiavo's life see http://www.terrisfight.org/.

Terri's feeding tube is to be removed on Friday, March 18 at 1 pm EST. The U.S. Congress has introduced the Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act (H.R. 1151, S. 539). Call or email your Representative and Senators. From here, you can send a pre-formatted email (Click Act Now).

Florida legislators have proposed a measure directed at preventing Friday's scheduled removal of Terri's feeding tube. The legislation, tentatively scheduled for final votes in the Florida House and Senate as early as Thursday, would block doctors from denying food or water to someone in an incapacitated state with the intention of causing death. Contact Senate President Tom Lee or House Speaker Allan G. Bense.

No Rational Purpose ...

California Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer ruled yesterday that the state's law defining marriage as between one man and one woman is unconstitutional because

"it appears that no rational purpose exists for limiting marriage in [California] to opposite-sex partners."

Is there a rational purpose for limiting marriage to two people?

Thoughts on Terri Schiavo

On Oct. 15, 2003, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. She was only expected to live seven to ten days. She became weaker and weaker. Then on Oct. 22, 2003, the feeding tube was reinserted after Governor Jeb Bush intervened.

Had the tube not been removed, would Terri have died? Of course not. The only reason she lost strength was because her basic nourishment and hydration was taken away from her. Therefore, her condition isn't killing her. The removal of food and fluid, which have no relationship to her condition, was what would have killed her then and which threatens her on March 18.

Is receiving food and fluid through a tube artificial? Define artificial. Does artificial mean one can't lift the spoon to their own lips? Does one buy Gerber's Baby Food so they can artificially nourish their baby? Was Christopher Reeves artificially nourished because he could not feed himself? This used to be called helping those who can't help themselves.

And what exactly is the difference between Christopher Reeve and Terri Schiavo? My understanding is that after Reeves' accident, he wanted to die but his wife was there to love him, to encourage him, to fight for him, and to let him know that his life, even with crippled body, was still worthy of life.

Or could it be that society is more comfortable with Reeve's level of consciousness than with Terri's?

For more information on the fight to save Terri Schiavo's life see www.terrisfight.org. Watch the videos. Then come back and answer the above questions.

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You've no doubt heard someone say that statements they've made were taken out of context. Without context, facts lose their meaning.

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