03-05-2005, 05:19 PM
BlackPhoenix Wrote:Im confused :?
on one hand they are doing the right thing and on the other killing someone :cry:
They are NOT killing Terry Schiavo. She's been braindead for almost 20 years. The only reason her body is still breathing or digesting is because nutrients are being forced into her digestive system, which is then forced to digest those nutrients, and then the products of that digestion have to go somewhere, so they travel through her body, until energy is produced which goes to her brain, which only produces signals because the body has to keep getting rid of the food that won't stop entering it. Her body is not functioning by her will. If that were the case, then she would eventually experience a sensation of "fullness", and her body would act to prevent the further intake of food. The only thing going on inside Terry Schiavo's body is a complex chemical process that has been kick-started to get rid of the invading nutrients.
Thus, while it might seem cruel to remove the feeding tube and thus remove the source of power for what is admittedly a very artfully designed organic machine, you must keep in mind that Terry's body is not functioning in this semblance of life by choice, but rather because it is externally compelled. And if, as a result of that process, Terry really is thinking, as her parents claim, then that is infinitely more cruel than the removal of the feeding tube, for no human being should be forced to spend the rest of their life aware that they are helpless, that they have no control over their lives.