I am disgusted by the behavior of almost everyone who has anything to do with the Terri Schiavo situation. But, before I get into the actual instances of CRASS exploitation, unethical behavior, political grandstanding, and general deceitfulness. Lets review some facts.

1) She had an eating disorder which led to a stroke. This sucks. They have sued her regular doctor because of it.

2) The stroke destroyed her cerebral cortex. This is not a minor part of the brain. It is the most basic and essential. The stroke did not just damage the cerebral cortex, it destroyed it, some reports have said that it was liquefied, the remaining tissue has collapsed, its been, wiped out, destroyed ... GONE!

3) She did not have a living will.

4) State and federal law makes it her husbands responsibility to make the decision.

5) He made the decision to withhold extraordinary means.

And, in come the parents, who cant bear to face the loss of their daughter. Their emotional bond will not allow them to face the reality of her medical condition. There is no medical argument they can make anymore, so they turn to the emotional. This should have been a sign that they need counseling to deal with the reality of the loss of their daughter. And whatever doctor they have should have recommended to them that they receive grief counseling, instead of supporting their emotional traumatization.



The courts have looked at the evidence for years, multiple neurologists have confirmed, and stated that no competent neurologist can state that she is in anything other than a persistent vegetative state. the family evidently got a neurologist, who is affiliated with a couple of the religious groups who are protesting the removal of the feeding tube, to say that she may be in a minimally conscious state. He can say this and get away with it because he didn't examine her. If he had examined her, he would have to give an opinion based on the medical evidence. Without examining her he gave say maybe this or maybe that, but it's just a guess. And, if the AMA questions his diagnosis, he will simply state that he said it was a possibility, not his diagnosis.

The politicians are even worse. They stepped into a legal argument about a brain dead woman and made a completely hypocritical emotional decision to allow the parents to take the case to the federal courts. Three federal courts examined the case in less than 48 hours. Two rejected the parents appeal as "without merit", and the Supreme Court declined to review it.

Jeb Bush has said she should have all he rights of a murderer. What a hypocrite. Her case has been in the courts for more than seven years. And she doesn't even have a functioning brain. Medical experts have examined her over and over. Always giving the same opinion. The Cerebral Cortex is destroyed. There is no possibility of her ever recovering medically. The parents don't like it so they shop for another expert. They have been shopping forever, but medical science doesn't change. Jeb Bush knows this, and he uses the "rights of a murderer" statement. Nobody in the media called him on it. They jus reported that he said it. Shame on the news media.

Note that the congress did not give every citizen the right to whatever health care would extend their lives. They simply extended the agony of this case. They exploited the body of a brain dead woman to make it look like they cared. This is disgusting. Totally immoral, and unethical in the extreme. If they wanted to, they could give everyone the right to whatever health care is necessary to keep them alive for as long as a member of the family wishes it. But they do not want national health care. In America, if you don't have health care, the hypocrisy is clear. While they pretend to care about life so much that even a single one can raise enough of a concern in Washington to call back the congress and senate to vote to save that one life. They wont lift a finger to save the millions who have no health care, and will argue the issue to death to prevent America from having a national health care system.

The right-to-life church groups are doing the same thing. Spending their time and energy focusing on one long gone woman when millions more could be saved if they focused on health care rather than emotional appeals to the family of a young woman who don't want to let go. Shame on you. Agitate for true health care reform and stop grandstanding on the grave of a brain dead corpse. Some of these groups have even go so far as to threaten the lives of healthy people to save the persistently vegetative. They say "Gods law trumps mans law", but, in that case, she should have died long ago, because it is only man's science, a heretical branch of knowledge which is keeping her body functions operating. You cant have biology, and medical science when it suits you and call it's reliance on Darwinism blasphemy. They are hypocrites, liars, cheats and scoundrels involved in a disgusting manipulation of peoples emotions for the sake of political gain.

I call on the Bush's, the republicans in congress, the senate, and the right-to-life people to demand that all Americans must be given health care in any and all possible ways in which that health care may possibly extend their life, no matter how small the chance of success for that individual. If Terri Schiavo deserves it, then so do the forty five million Americans without health care.

Write to your congressman senator and president and demand that all Americans be given the right to health care that a convicted murderer would get in prison. Demand that every means necessary be done to save the life of any American, with or without health insurance, make it a crime to withhold health care from anyone for any reason, including economic. If you can justify extraordinary measures for a brain dead woman, then surely, a person who is in a better state of health deserves to be treated, even if they do not have the ability to pay. You're poor you die, is the worst reason of all to withhold care.