Monday, February 28, 2005

What happened to the right to Life?

This is my first blog and I am dedicating my first post to the fight for Terri Schindler-Schiavo's fight for her life. I am an Australian and my attention was drawn to this case because of my own interest in Catholic Apologetics.

I admit that when I first heard about the case of Terri Schiavo I was less than sympathetic because I believed the story being put out by Michael Schiavo. However since then I have done my own investigation of the facts as they have been presented by the opposing parties in this dispute. I believe that there is a clear cut case of an attempt to complete the death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo in such a way that her death is legalized by the state so that Michael Schiavo can try to get away with attempted murder.

Trying to determine the real issues of this case is very difficult. There are inconsistencies in the evidence that has been presented and also in the manner that the judiciary of Florida has been siding with the husband in order to stymie the rights of the parents. Is there a reason for what seems to be a deliberate overriding of the right to life for a woman who is allegedly in a vegetative state? Everywhere I looked I have seen a conflict in the evidence that has been presented and accepted by the courts.

What is striking about this case is that the Judge has consistently refused to hear the pleas of the parents, and he has not investigated the allegations of abuse that continue even whilst Terri is lying in the hospice. Not only has he refused the evidence presented by the parents but he has dismissed the evidence of expert witnesses who have an opinion contrary to the court appointed "expert" witnesses. Yes, not even the evidence of an expert neurologist will change the mind of Judge Greer. He refuses to hear anyone else other than George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo.

The purpose of any judiciary is to act with righteousness and to protect the rights of those who are unable to protect themselves. This is clearly not happening in Pinhellas Florida. What seems to be happening here is that to the people who want to end the life of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, Terri has become a non-person. It is as if she is being the right to rehabilitation because she has been offered up as a victim on the altar of the cult of death. It is as if the people who want her dead consider that she does not have the right to live because of the disabilities caused by her brain injury. No one seems interested in investigating what really happened on the night that Terri collapsed under mysterious circumstances. The press reports only what they have been told by the pro-euthanasia camp, that Terri allegedly had a heart attack because she was allegedly bulimic and that she had a potassium imbalance. Did the press reporters ever investigate the truth of these claims? Or have they continued to report according to the press release received by George Felos and the Hemlock Society?