Comments on: Circus http://asteroid.divnull.com/2005/03/circus/ A mind forever meandering. Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:15:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Bentar http://asteroid.divnull.com/2005/03/circus/#comment-70 Bentar Sun, 03 Apr 2005 09:23:19 +0000 http://asteroid.divnull.com/?p=26#comment-70 "The first defense would be to say that the claim that Mrs. Schiavo requested not to be kept alive artificially is false. Unfortunately for the family, regardless of whether or not you personally believe that Mrs. Schiavo truly wished to avoid being kept alive by machines, the court system believes this past all point of appeal. So, from a legal standpoint, this defense would not keep the family out of jail for torture." I don't think that really gets to the heart of the matter. The real question is who is telling the truth - Michael Schiavo, or Terri's family? If, in fact, Terri's family is telling the truth, that she would have wanted to stay alive under the circumstances, what were they suppose to do? Simply shrug off the fact that all the courts the case has been through were wrong, and give up? I think if they were telling the truth, they would have done exactly what they did. I think they would have ignored the possibility of being thrown in jail for 'torture'. But that *still* doesn't clearly demonstrate who is telling the truth. What does Terri's family (the Schindlers) have as an alterior motive to try to keep Terri alive? None that I know of. However, Michael Schiavo has the following possible 'strikes' against him (in my opinion): #1 Michael has had a new girlfriend and children by that girlfriend for some years (making his existing wife inconvienent) #2 Michael, along with the close testimony of (2?) members of his near family are the only ones saying Terri wanted to die. This is nothing more than here-say, not hard fact. Combine that with the fact Terri's family and other friends clearly stated otherwise, and I think the here-say should have been dismissed entirely. #3 Michael waited 7+ years to say his wife wanted to die. Additionally there are witnesses who say at the time of Terri's death Michael implicitly stated he did not know what his wife's wishes were. #4 Alledgely, of the $700,000 medical settlement to take case of Terri, only $40,000 or so remains (I think the source for this is AP but I am not sure). Guess where the money comes from to support Terri when the $700,000 runs out.... *NONE* of which is proof Michael lied, simply that he does have possible strong alterior motives for wanting his wife to 'pass on'. I credit *most* (not all) of the people on the the side of fighting for Terri to live with seeing how extremely lacking Judge Greer was in his fact-finding job - and I don't think any of them (or myself for that matter) would have any problem with Terri dying, had there been a living will - i.e. her wishes were clearly known and stated. I simply don't know what the truth of the matter is. And this doesn't even begin to open the 'can of worms' over whether Terri was in a PVS or not... “The first defense would be to say that the claim that Mrs. Schiavo requested not to be kept alive artificially is false. Unfortunately for the family, regardless of whether or not you personally believe that Mrs. Schiavo truly wished to avoid being kept alive by machines, the court system believes this past all point of appeal. So, from a legal standpoint, this defense would not keep the family out of jail for torture.”

I don’t think that really gets to the heart of the matter. The real question is who is telling the truth - Michael Schiavo, or Terri’s family? If, in fact, Terri’s family is telling the truth, that she would have wanted to stay alive under the circumstances, what were they suppose to do? Simply shrug off the fact that all the courts the case has been through were wrong, and give up? I think if they were telling the truth, they would have done exactly what they did. I think they would have ignored the possibility of being thrown in jail for ‘torture’.

But that *still* doesn’t clearly demonstrate who is telling the truth. What does Terri’s family (the Schindlers) have as an alterior motive to try to keep Terri alive? None that I know of. However, Michael Schiavo has the following possible ’strikes’ against him (in my opinion):

#1 Michael has had a new girlfriend and children by that girlfriend for some years (making his existing wife inconvienent)
#2 Michael, along with the close testimony of (2?) members of his near family are the only ones saying Terri wanted to die. This is nothing more than here-say, not hard fact. Combine that with the fact Terri’s family and other friends clearly stated otherwise, and I think the here-say should have been dismissed entirely.
#3 Michael waited 7+ years to say his wife wanted to die. Additionally there are witnesses who say at the time of Terri’s death Michael implicitly stated he did not know what his wife’s wishes were.
#4 Alledgely, of the $700,000 medical settlement to take case of Terri, only $40,000 or so remains (I think the source for this is AP but I am not sure). Guess where the money comes from to support Terri when the $700,000 runs out….

*NONE* of which is proof Michael lied, simply that he does have possible strong alterior motives for wanting his wife to ‘pass on’. I credit *most* (not all) of the people on the the side of fighting for Terri to live with seeing how extremely lacking Judge Greer was in his fact-finding job - and I don’t think any of them (or myself for that matter) would have any problem with Terri dying, had there been a living will - i.e. her wishes were clearly known and stated.

I simply don’t know what the truth of the matter is. And this doesn’t even begin to open the ‘can of worms’ over whether Terri was in a PVS or not…

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