The Laughing Wolf

Terri Schiavo: A Reconsideration In Progress

In yesterday's post, I made some statements that were based on the best information I had at the time, including some comments on medical imaging. The power of the blogosphere is indeed a wonderful thing, and several questions I have had appear to have been answered.

A prime one can be seen here at Obsidian Wings. I am not a doctor, nor am I qualified to interpret medical images. That said, I have had dealings with medical imaging and medical imaging of the brain. The brain is an incredible structure that we are just beginning to understand. Even so, there are things well known and if the image shown is indeed that of Terri Schiavo then the refusal to do more tests is very understandable. You can only test when something is there, and if the damage is as extensive as it appears (other scan slices are needed to determine the 3-D structure of the damage), then there truly may not be anything of certain critical structures left to test.

Also on Obsidian Wings is a link to this PDF file that provides detail missing from many reports. Another detail of which I should have been aware is that her husband did not go to court to ask that the tube be removed. Instead, the petition was to ask the court to determine if it should be removed -- in other words, he asked the court to make the decision. This is very different from making a decision and asking the court to uphold it, and it is a fact that is not very well presented, or even misrepresented, in some coverage.

In light of this new information, I am reconsidering my comments and stand on critical aspects of this case. My support of the right to die is not one of them, nor is my increasing horror at the intrusion of politicians left and right into the case and into the rights of patients to choose to accept or reject treatments. What is being reconsidered is my opinion on this one case, for it will set the stage for how much freedom and choice we have in deciding our fate.

Also, yet another plea to let others know of your wishes and decisions in regards long-term care and heroic measures. Talk it over, explore the options, and put the basics in writing in the form of living wills and powers of attorney for healthcare. Write it on your blog. Put it down so that there is no question of what you want done, and what you do not want done. If not for yourself, do it for those you love.

LW