Other Columns by Debbie Daniel
Debbie Daniel Bio

Printer-Friendly Version

Page 2 of 3

We could even be like many who lived to tell their stories and lie in a comatose state only to hear those around us make plans for our demise. You'd like to scream out, "I'm here," but you can't. How many times have we looked at other people who might be disfigured or severely handicapped and said, "I wouldn't want to live like that?" And that's exactly what Terri Schiavo was doing on that fateful night when she made a similar remark which has become her public declaration of death. Although her husband has said they discussed it at length, I question a 26 year old woman so fixated on how she would die.

Well, now the time has come when simply uttering such words could become your last will and testament and be considered an official directive of how you are to die. It gives one pause to know that the responsibility of what we say may very well become our death sentence.

I've tried to play out the scenario of Terri Schiavo dying in this slow grueling death of water and food deprivation and I can hardly bear it. I don't even know this young woman but my heart is aching. So, I don't know how her mother, father, sister and brother can stand it. For Michael Schiavo, it seems quite easy, but I would say that he has a definite conflict of interest, or rather, I'll quote his words: "It's okay to love two people at the same time."

My mind takes me to Terri's bedside where I watch the anguish and pain she must feel as day by day goes by and nothing is done to alleviate the thirst or hunger. She's been used to the interaction of her family holding her in their arms, kissing her on the temple and stroking her forehead. What must she think as no one is by her side while feeling these horrific pangs of hunger and thirst? In my heart, I believe she knows exactly what's happening. And I don't believe this is the way she wanted to die. The despair of being cut off from her family will cause greater damage than what's done to her by denying food and water. That will be a death for everyone involved.

And we too, all of us, must stand by and watch it happen. Helpless . . . hopeless . . . you . . . me, and there's not a thing any of us can do.

Victory for Michael!

Does it make you feel any better believing that this is what Terri wanted -- that this was her desire?

When do we give up on people and say, "Okay, it's time for you to die now?" How careful should we be in making comments like that around the Michael Schiavos of the world? I would want to be very careful before I signed any papers to end my life. If we're going to kill Terri Schiavo based on the circumstances of what she felt and said after watching a movie, then we might as well knock off a few others of us. Was the person in the movie in the exact same condition that Terri is now? Was it a feeding tube? Was it a breathing machine? Were they also denied rehabilitation, speech therapy, and placed in a windowless room for five years - each situation is so different, how would you know?

>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3