St. Paul, The Wretched Man, and Terri Schiavo

As I see it, the manner of Terri Schiavo’s death reveals ourselves for what we are. As St. Paul described himself in Romans 7, we are the “Wretched Man” This inner hypocrisy allows us to say one thing and do another without even being aware of it.

The Terri Schiavo case was capturing a great deal of attention. Naturally all this attention had the potential of revealing all sorts "embarrassing"details. It was necessary to conclude it as quickly as possible.

Page 8 of the autopsy report states definitively that Terri had previously received pain medication in March I believe. Yet none was given during her forced dehydration. The odds are than that Terri felt pain and as far as I can see, there is nothing in the autopsy report that factually claims that Terri was without pain.

So assuming she felt pain, we must conclude that this helpless woman, through no fault of her own, was forced to endure this slow agonizing death.

The obvious question then is why she just wasn’t put under anesthesia. To do so admits that she felt pain raising further questions about her life’s status and the legal issues bound to surface would make the killing impossible. It would then be illegal to drug her. The important thing was to get it over with and bury the whole issue not just for political expediency but to cover up all previous demonstrations of incompetence that could be uncovered.

So the decision was to look the other way while making some fine speeches while gradually subjecting this unfortunate woman to this barbaric death. This has nothing to do with the question if she desired to die but instead if she wanted to endure agony.

The real value of this incident isn’t the issue of right or wrong, it is instead that we collectively do these things and allow them to be done.

From the beginning of time, we’ve experienced the most extraordinary and at the same time, the most barbaric things Man is capable of. The fact that her death had the strong possibility of being endured in such a horrible manner and that most are inclined to believe it to be acceptable only further indicates to me how easy it is to be compassionate on Monday while barbaric on Wednesday depending completely on subjective conditions but with no sense of inner contradiction

Of course St.Paul is right to admit hypocrisy and that this is just a reflection of how we are but even though I understand it intellectually, it is not so easy to accept emotionally. It is as though these incidents should never occur in spite of what we are. On the surface it seems low to inflict these things on the unfortunate for political expediency and fear of exposure. But it is done and will continue to be done in many different forms as a reflection of what we are collectively. No fine speeches can change it but sometimes incidents like this can further clarify it for those willing to be open to the reality of human nature that manifests itself within what is called “political necessity.”

The fact that she received pain meds does not reveal that she felt pain. That’s a rather large and unbridgeable gap in your argument.

Additionally, the argument can easily be made that consciousness is a requirement for feeling pain. Under such a view, since Schiavo lacked any sort of consciousness or rationality, she cannot have considered the fact that she was being starved to death, and hence felt no pain. She was basically a vegetable: if you stop giving a carrot water and nutrients, it’s gonna die, but it doesn’t feel any pain.

That said, I still think they should have done something to ease her passing on the off-chance she might have been feeling or thinking something, even though I firmly believe she was not. There was no reason to keep her alive, but why take the chance?

Hi cdubs

That’s not the argument. The point is that giving her the pain medication at a time before the forced dehydration indicates there was enough doubt as to warrant providing it.

It doesn’t prove anything but keeps the question open. If the question is open, is it right in your ethical beliefs to kill in this manner?

Have you ever witnessed an animal suffering in pain? Was it considering the fact of its suffering or just suffering?

In fact this whole question of Terri’s consciousness is still unclear. The report states:

I have to research this further but I believe this is the area that controls higher level thought leaving the possibility open that she was aware but unable to communicate.

But all we can truly say is that we don’t know. I admit to being old fashioned and would not want to subject a person to the possibility of such an agonizing death in the presence of such doubt for strictly political reasons and covering up incompetence. Either drug her or don’t kill her. I am in the minority but it really doesn’t bother me. Actually if anything it frightens me that it is so.

I must admit being intrigued with this case. It is one of the few occasions where the “seeing” of it as a whole in the context of the human condition both individually and collectively is far more meaningful than the right or wrong. The “happening” or its conclusion is a clear natural result of what we are.

Nat Hentoff is a writer for the village Voice. Now the Voice is about as Liberal as you can get as is Geenwich Village and normally Nat Hentoff. It is a wonderful place that I’ve been fortunate to spend some time in. But somehow and for some reasons I do not know, he’s been able to transcend his politics and experience the situation from a human perspective. Something about it reflects the human condition Paul speaks of that we are normally oblivious of in ourselves. Sometimes we become aware of it.

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