Normally, I wouldn't comment on something like the Terry Schiavo case, but the periphery surrounding the whole issue is so complex that it warrants a missive from yours truly in several parts:

Just to be clear from the get-go, I think they should let the husband pull her plug. I'd like to remind everyone that this is not an easy decision to make on his part, no matter how the media or bloggers spin it. At the same time, I have to respect those who sincerely disagree with me–in their eyes, this is a state-sanctioned murder. If I felt that way (and I lived near the hospital), I would be out there protesting with them.

Sincere disagreement is one thing, but Congress' latest round of political posturing is another. With so many serious problems that affect millions of people, it makes you wonder what the minimum standard are for emergency weekend Congressional sessions. There are a litany of actual crises in America, and all we get are hearings about steroid use in baseball and bullshit speeches about a woman none of these Congresspeople know or could give a shit about personally. If you want proof that they don't care, watch the GOP (and the President) distance themselves from the case while they read the polls saying the majority of Americans think the government should stay out of it. The President has already started backpedalling.

Speaking of the President and how he doesn't give a shit about Terry Schiavo independent of her perceived political value, my real concern about this case (and where I might side with those trying to keep her alive) is that HMOs will insist on pulling the plug on patients for economic reasons. I mentioned the President because he signed a bill in Texas which makes ability to pay a factor in whether or not to keep unfortunates like Terry Schiavo artificially rescussitated. If euthenasia becomes standard practice, it'll be poor people who die in droves.

The economics of keeping someone like Schiavo alive are heartwrenching, because keeping someone on life support can bankrupt their family. There are terrible calculations to be made, and the rising cost of healthcare is just making the situation more dire for more families faced with similar decisions.

You know, it's funny that while pollution and car accidents and new diseases are killing more people than ever before, medical science has been steadily improving life expectancy. For all this blather about God's will and the sanctity of life, one has to wonder about where the boundaries are between keeping someone alive 'unnaturally' and killing them outright.

All this was compuncted the other day by a headline in one of the local tabloids a few days ago which read, "Terry's Doomed." How is that news? Why didn't they run that headline when she had her heart attack in 1990?