COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

For the last few years, I haven't really been following the Terri Schiavo case. I was an agnostic. Generally, I thought it was a matter for the family to settle among themselves.

The more I think on it now, with a woman suffering a long, slow death by deliberate starvation, the faster the "Kill Terri" argument collapses.

Don't talk to me about states' rights and Federalism. No one on the left ever argued for states' rights, nor invoked Federalism, when confronted with a measure to restrict abortion.

And if states' rights are to be esteemed above Federal powers - an argument I am temperamentally normally sympathetic towards, then shouldn't we also similarly respect the right of an individual?

I have no reason to believe anything that comes out of Mr. Schiavo's mouth. This man was an obstructionist - a medical saboteur, who for years, while ostensibly acting as Terri's "guardian" actually railed against and prohibited anything that might be construed as therapeutic for his wife. And even though he has received proceeds from a medical malpractice suit, he has refused to allow her to undergo the normal MRI tests to determine whether she is, indeed conscious.

As if being semisentient were a capital crime in the first place. Ted Bundy got more due process. And an easier death.

Besides, I've seen the video. If Terri Schiavo is really vegetative, I'm Ozzy Osbourne. And I don't see any tattoos on myself. As someone who worked professionally with the profoundly mentally handicapped for a time, Terri seemed a hell of a lot more responsive than one or two of the people I cared for. And each of them had personalities, too. Each of them had a fundamental humanity wholly apart from what they might get on an IQ test.

If Terri Schiavo is really vegetative, then let the burden of proof fall on those who wish to kill her. Let her undergo modern MRI and other testing.

If Terri Schiavo is really vegetative, then why the bloody rush?

I'm not a lawyer. But I know what a fiduciary is. There is no way on God's green earth that Mr. Schiavo's conduct can meet the standard of fiduciary. I expect less self dealing out of a registered investment advisor than I see on Mr. Schiavo's part.

If we are going to uphold the rights of a guardian to pursue the interests of his charge, then we certainly ought to FIRST uphold the rights of the charge to a guardian who is free of obvious conflicts, and who will fight FOR the charge's interests, and not against them. Otherwise the rights of the guardian are simply not worth upholding in the first place.

If Michael Schiavo is Terri's guardian, by mere virtue of paper matrimony, then let him act like one.

Husbands are supposed to husband, protect, shelter, care for, and fight for their wives. They aren't supposed to withhold therapy, withhold testing, and fight to see them dead.

Splash, out

Jason