"JimH" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
How many perspectives can there be when all the brain above the stem is
gone?

Sciavo's injury deprived the brain of oxygen. For 15 years! The stem,
at the base of the brain, controls heart and respiratory functions and
can initiate some reflexive motions. There is no capacity for thought,
for emotion, or for learning. Few people would ever look at Terri S and
say, "Please leave me in that condition for as long as I can hang on if
I ever suffer the same fate." There has been testimony from several
people that before the accident Terri had expressed a preference for
death vs. life as a vegetable if she was ever in the state that she is
in now.

Sciavo's parents may be like the retired folks we all know who turn a
household pet into a surrogate child or grandchild. Referrring to
thenselves as the dog's "Mom" or "Dad", dressing it up in goofy
clothes, and organizing daily life around its every need doesn't change
the basic fact that the dog is a dog. A dog has far more cognitive
ability than Terri Sciavo's breathing corpse has now, or will ever have
in the future.

If a miracle worker walked into her hospital room, healed her severed
spine, and turned the fluid in her skull back into functioning brain
cells she'd recover. Short of that, nothing could be done. Couldn't the
same thing be said about every one of he hundreds of thousands of
people in the same or similar situation every year? Should we keep
everybody in a persistant vegetative state and with no (reasonable)
hope of recovery alive forever, wishing and hoping for a miracle?


Did you listen to the interviews?

No one can say for sure what her mental condition is. And there are now
many questions about Michael Shiavo's past treatment of Terri.

One has to err on the side of life when dealing with human life.


Bush only said that last line so as to not **** off his big voter block.
He's trying to stay away from Schiavo overall, and leave the screaming to
others. The interviews are propaganda because the MRI's, scans, and brain
activity don't lie. If Michael is guilty of something then investigate and
punish. That doesn't change the fact that she's a breathing corpse and that
her parents and small group of supporters are in denial and desperate,
resorting even to lies to maintain "hope". This is a sad thing for all
involved.

-W