Thursday, June 23, 2005

Schiavo: Random Responses

Conversation started by First Shot: Michael Schiavo.

  1. Perhaps the "I kept my promise" refers to Schiavo's killing of his wife. Yes, I used the term killing. If one were to withhold food and water from a child, they would be tried for killing the child. Why is Schiavo different? She didn't require a respirator to breathe for her. The child can breathe on it's own, but it can't feed itself. One could argue had Schiavo gotten the rehabilitation and therapy she needed, she might be able to swallow the food and water she needed.
  2. Neither you nor I are qualified to say that. My statement was "I wonder how the 15 days of starvation and dehydration affected the autopsy results", which indicates I believe they might be skewed by the manner of Schiavo's death. After reading the Medical Examiner's report (which I linked in my original post and as before, it's PDF, 614 kB, courtesy of the St. Petersburg Times), the Medical Examiner concluded that one could not diagnose a "persistent vegetative state" vs. a "minimally conscious state" from a pathological examination (page 17: "The persistent vegetative state and the minimally conscious state, are clinical diagnoses, not pathologic ones.")
  3. Life is God's to give and to take away, but life is a precious gift. In this day and age, when abortion is legal and they are trying to make euthanasia and assisted suicide legal, we treat it as if it is not a gift. God has given us brains that can come up with all sorts of technology and techniques, both good and evil. Since we used those techniques to save Terri's life in 1995, why should we deny her life by denying her food and hydration in 2005? Her life had value to God, and we do know that her life had value to the Schindler family. Why were they not allowed to take care of her, especially when her "guardian" had broken the marriage vows that caused him to be "guardian" in the first place? Is it right to perform heroic measures to keep people alive? I think so, but I know there are those who don't. Which brings us to your last point.
  4. Yes, everyone should make those wishes and believes known in a witnessed and legal document which we call a living will. However, when they don't, I think we should err on the side of life, since it is a precious gift (after all can you create life out of nothing?).

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

First Shot: Michael Schiavo

I believe Chris wants this to be a forum for discussing current events based on our e-mail correspondence. The problem is that current events often involve matters of faith these days, and faith is one of the topics of my other blog. However, I am firing the first shot in this discussion by cross-posting my commentary on Michael Schiavo's choice of a grave marker for his late wife, Terri Schiavo. This happened near where Chris and I grew up, so the discussion could be interesting.

What Is This?

Obviously, it's a new blog. It's not that we believed the world needed another one (since Technorati claims to index 7,000,000 blogs as of today), but it grew out of an idea sparked by a Jeopardy! question about the Brothers Grimm (thanks to the J! Archive for an excellent searchable database of recent shows). My idea was that my brother and I could start a blog where the posts play off one another and our thoughts encourage the other one to write. My brother is an excellent writer, and it is my hope that we can use this blog to improve our skills, to inform, to entertain, and to provoke thought.