Posted by Dave on March 28, 2005 at 17:15:46:
In Reply to: Michael Schiavo a greedy adulterer? posted by Dave on March 28, 2005 at 16:35:29:
Granted, it might be said that Schiavo's case is quite unlike my father's. For instance, Schiavo is not personally caring for his wife around the clock. But there are some similarities. Schiavo claims, for example, that he is doing all this (submitting himself to terrible public scrutiny in the process) precisely because he still loves his wife and therefore can't stand the thought of "abandoning" her. Moreover, he still insists that she said repeatedly that she would never want her life extended artificially in this way.
Again, I am not taking a position concerning whether Terri's life should be sustained (although her case is a good example of the "dark side" of medical technology in that it empowers, and thus obligates, us to make decisions we never would have had to make prior to the past half-century or so--decisions we are ill-equipped to make). I am merely addressing the tendency among some conservatives to assume the worst about Michael Schiavo. I think we have to be careful about whom we judge, and what criteria we use.