What, politically, is at stake right now, and what happens if she dies naturally before this is all over? What issues that have been raised will not be addressed? What will stay the same? What will change?
I think it would be the best possible outcome if she could die before more ridiculous measures are taken to override her wishes.
I really don’t know where it would go from there. Probably a few weeks of righteous indignation and calls for the judge’s impeachment, followed by everyone forgetting about it.
The court cases would end because the issue would be moot and her parents wouldn’t have standing to file for appeals anymore. The law Congress passed was specifically for her, so I’m not sure it would change the legal process any.
Republicans would continue to kick around her corpse like a football, though.
They’d insist she testify to Congress. 
As much as this farce needs to end quickly for the sake of all parties involved (including the deluded Schindlers, who need to grieve whether they want to or not), now that the Wheels of Stupidity have been set in motion by Congress I’d rather see a final court decision before the end. Otherwise, it’s obvious how it’ll get written up in the conservative Christian, right-to-life arena: Noble Congressmen made a heroic effort to save the poor woman’s life, but the evil Clinton-appointed activist judge killed her before a decision could be made.
I’d like to see the misinformation laid bare. I’d like to see testimony by doctors who have actually examined the woman, that there really is NOTHING left of her mind. Show the CT scans. Make it plain that this is not a right-to-life issue, but a right-to-die issue and a privacy issue, and that Congress had absolutely no business butting in. Remind everyone of the unanimous decisions in Michael Schiavo’s favor. Make it clear that the Congressmen who made angst-ridden pleas for the life of a “disabled woman” who is “alive, alert, and responsive as you or I” on the basis of a heavily edited videotape, were in fact talking out of their asses.
This is political football as well, but if DeLay and Frist and the Bushes and others want to play it, let them play it, now that they’ve chosen the game. Let it bite them in the butt. Let it be shown to the public in a decisive way that in playing with these people lives, they were dead wrong.
One way or the other I’m not sure you’re going to see more testimony, Jenaroph. The way I see it, this is now a legal case, not a medical one.
What puzzles me is as avid <coughrabidcough> as the catholics are about the sanctity of marriage, and how marriage is a holy bond, yaddayaddayadda…[ok, and many denominations of protestant]
Hm, didnt Michael Schiavo take ‘ownership’ of Terri in the marriage ceremony, and didnt Terri’s father ‘relinquish’ control over her to Michael in the same ceremony? You know, the whole “Who gives this woman” schtick? And arent the fundies so damn anal about the sanctity of marriage to the point of saying that [more or less] what happens inside a marriage is nobody’s business but the husband and wife, and that nobody has the right to interfere with anything between them?
Well, seems to me that Terri’s parents have rather FORGOTTEN the whole point of the marriage, that Terri isn’t theirs any longer but Michael is her closest relative…and that what HE decides to do with her is none of their business. I know that even if I didn’t have a living will [which I went into and added a few refinements about PVS vs coma] it would be a really cold day in hell before mrAru let my parents drag my nearly dead body through all of this…
I think the one good thing to come from all of this misheva is that it has gotten more people to make living wills or at least to start talking about possibilities with their friends and family.
Yeah, I know. I guess it’s just frustrating that, now that this case has exploded back into the public conciousness, the reaction from both Congress and the protestors is “OMG they’re gonna let her DIE?! We can’t let them DO THAT! What if she wants to stay alive?” even though that decision has been made and reaffirmed in Michael Schiavo’s favor several times over. Even the local news here is headlining it “The Fight to Save Terri”. For cryin’ out loud, that’s not even the ISSUE anymore, you idiots. The case has degraded into one of government intrusion in private decisions, where it’s clear that said government is woefully uninformed about the facts of the case.
I guess it’d be nice to see just one Rep or Senator, given the opportunity to hear the whole story, say “Wow. We were really out of line passing that bill, weren’t we.”
They have the opportunity. What is it, 19 judges have reviewed this case? When Bush says that there is no need to rush (after 15 years!) all rationality has fled.
But the judge seems to be reasonable, at least. I bet he is hoping it is over before he is forced into a decision to keep the tube out and starts to get death threats from Right-to-Lifers.
None of the judges except the original one (Judge Greer) have addressed the findings of fact.
I think it would have been best if Terri had died before the pulled the feeding tube. If she dies now, we’ve set the precedent that the state can kill people when their wishes are unclear.
How did you get that out of the decision?
The state is not killing her, it’s just allowing her next of kin to do it. Or rather, to allow the discontinuance of life-saving measures. This happens many times every single day in the US.
Nonsense. The appeals court, for instance, reviewed Greers determination of the facts. Yes, no court has heard a “re-testimony” of the entire case, but that almost never happens unless there are such egregious errors that a new hearing is granted. That’s the principle of finality that’s core to our system: you either win or lose a case, and you get only one bite at the apple. From then on, appeals review the case to see if the decisions were credible and the evidence convincing, but they don’t retry the case all over again.
Except that’s NOT the legal precedent at all. The appeals court, AGAIN, affirmed the idea that the precedent is that we must err on the side of life when wishes are unclear. But they ALSO ruled that in this case there was enough convincing evidence to overcome that high burden.
So, again, you’re wrong.
Yeah, that’s it. She’s being terminated by the state for her lack of paperwork!
Actually, in the original guardianship proceeding, the trial court found Mrs. Schiavo’s wishes to be proven by clear and convincing evidence. On appeal of that decision, the Second District Court of Appeal found:
(as quoted on pp. 4-5 of this Fla. Supreme Court decision)
This is awful sounding, but I really do hope she passes on before they can do anything else. This is so unfair to her and I’d imagine if she knew what was going on she would be furious at her parents for dragging this out.
I am so disgusted with the way the government is handling this. It’s hypocritical and just utterly ruthless. I hope it dies along with Mrs. Schiavo but from what I’ve seen from the leaked talking points memo, they are using this poor family for political posturing. This has to be one of the lowest, creepiest acts I’ve seen. The congress is simply out of control and overstepping their boundaries.
I certainly hope come '06, a lot of these sick individuals are voted out of office. I’m once again ashamed and embarrassed by our government.
“We’ve” done nothing that comes within a million miles of it. She is being allowed to die because the court found that’s what her stated wishes were in this circumstance. The state cannot initiate a case like this, nor is anybody changing the default to “it’s assumed they want to die unless they say otherwise.” What’s being debated is how Terri would have exercised the right every adult has to refuse medical care.
Why are you saying “our government” when all of the scummy behavior is coming from the Republicans?
Bolding mine.
I see quite a few Dem names on those vote rosters. Not as scummy as propelling the case, but voting for it is still disgusting.