I think the thing about the Schiavo case that causes me the most frustration is the fact that the Republican party--the party that has billed itself as the "small government" party--has consistently proven itself NOT to be. It wants to insinuate itself into the most private aspects of our lives--our sex lives, our marriages, our medical decisions.

Here's a marriage between a man and a woman that models exactly what they want and now they're not even letting that be. What is the incentive to get married if the state is going to involve itself in every decision from having children to religion to death.

They are saying one thing and doing the opposite. And it's pissing me off.

I am still a Lush virgin. Every time I go on the site I'm consumed with wanting everything, and then I get overwhelmed and walk away.

the thing about the Schiavo case that causes me the most frustration

I've only been following this randomly over the years, and I admit I'm not informed about all the details, but what I don't understand is why her husband won't sign her care over to her parents. If they're willing to continue her care, and obviously want to, why does he feel the need to have the last (no horrible pun intended there) word?

There are cynical people who believe he wants the insurance money when she dies.

Yeah, this thing is ugly all around.

Wrod. And it can't be good for our movement to get in bed with Jeb. God, I so hoped she'd be dead before this. And they do too want to run all of our lives. Movement people think it makes a statement about the value of life with a disability not keeping Terri "alive". Personally, I can't see what difference it makes and I would rather die a thousand times than be Necro-Right-wingPoster Child.

I would totally date (or at least laugh at) any of these people:

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Amyliz, by now both sides are fiercely locked into their positions.

But when it all started, the husband faithfully nursed and tended the wife for years; eventually he came to the conclusion that she would never recover. He then went to court and stated that she had told him that she didn't want to live like that.

The court decided (and nobody has ever refuted these facts) that the wife had told the husband that she didn't want to live in a vegetative state.

So that's why he started the whole thing: he was carrying out his wife's last wishes.

AmyLiz, I wonder the same thing. Wasn't he, at some point, offered a billion dollars or something to sign her care over? My assumption is that he knows that Terri wouldn't have wanted all of this mess and is going to try and fulfill what she wanted. OTOH, if it were me in the situation, I'd have to give up and say, "Fine - here you go. I can't do this anymore."

There are cynical people who believe he wants the insurance money when she dies.

There isn't any left. It's run out.

There isn't any left. It's run out.

Oh.

Then...

I don't know.

If they're willing to continue her care, and obviously want to, why does he feel the need to have the last (no horrible pun intended there) word?

The crux of the case is that the husband says that Terry told him she didn't want to be kept alive in case of coma, etc. But there is no written will. He sort of went on with his life while leaving her in a nursing home--he's got a child (or two) with another woman, but never divorced.

Her parents are arguing that he wanted her insurance money, etc. Husband claims it's all gone towards her care.

The legal point should be next of kin gets to make the decision. Her husband is next of kin. If he feels he's following her wishes, it should end there. But her parents insist that she just needs more therapy.

Amy, he says that she expressed very clearly that she would never want to be kept alive like this and that he feels it is cruel to force her to stay alive in a world after she has, for all intents and purposes, been dead for more than a decade.

It's very difficult for me to be rational about this; DH's father died very slowly from ALS and was down to 80 pounds and no means of communication by the time a family member did as he'd requested in earlier years and removed his feeding tube to let him die. If that person had done so publically, s/he could have been tried for murder. It just makes me sick to my stomach to even think about.