Schiavo Bill: Good and Bad

The nation has been captivated by the Terry Schiavo case down in Florida and everyone is getting involved.

Congress and the President signed off on the Schiavo bill early this morning, which transfers the case to federal court. This was done after a state court judge allowed the feeding tube to be removed from the Florida woman fifteen years after she went into a vegetative coma. The parents want to keep her alive, the husband wants to allow her to die. Very nasty things have been said by both sides about the other, which is very unfortunate.

Republicans in Congress circulated a memo saying that strong action on this case on their part would play well with their religious voters and so the rush was on to intervene. Democrats decided that this belongs in state court and that the bill was/is unconstitutional.

Analysis: Is Terry really brain dead? She reacts to people around her; if she simply laid there, hovering between life and death, that question would be easier to answer. She does not show any brain-wave activity, yet her body is communicating with people when they talk to her. The definition of what brain-death is needs to be decided in the court system, so they should not be rushing to allow this woman to die. Her parents are right on this.

Analysis: The Constitution is being trampled in favor of brownie points for certain politicians who want to please their constituents. This is a bad move. Congress does not have the authority to move a court case from state into federal courts. The independent judiciary does not take orders from Congress in this way; it is questionable as to whether a federal judge will even look at the case and may cite separation of powers between the branches of federal government and the relationship between the states and the federal government. A federal judge may rule this law to be unconstitutional instead of ruling on the case itself.

Conclusion: while the politics are going on, Terry is starving to death. Shame on Congress for acting in their own interests instead of Terry's, shame on our culture for propagating a culture of death, shame on the GOP for putting so much political capital into a very bad law that weakens the Constitution, and shame on the courts for ruling against right-to-life measures in general.

A living will would have ended this debate long ago, but since there wasn't one, everyone is taking advantage of a terrible situation. The long and the short for the public: make a living will that explains exactly what you want if you are unable to make decisions for yourselves anymore. Don't allow the courts to get involved because they will make a mess of things.