[Marxism] Z mag/Disability Rights Watch: Terri Schiavo and those conservative nutters...

[davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

[ I suppose this is what certains folks in here mean by the "Republican Right" 
and
the  "Papist plotters".]

"Consider David Jayne, a 42 year old man with ALS. Every five seconds, a
ventilator on a cart next to his bed pumps air into his lungs. He is not able 
to move.
Twelve years ago, Jayne would have dismissed this existence as a living hell. 
"Yes,
I am very passionate about the Terri Schindler-Schiavo issue, because I live 
it,"
says Jayne, who was profiled in TIME Magazine in 2001. Jayne, like many of us,
would have once said he could not imagine living in his current state. "If 
someone
had told me I would be paralyzed and tethered to a ventilator, yet still find 
meaning
in life, I would not have believed them." Today he says, "It is incredibly 
wrong for
society to decide who lives or dies based on their opinions of what level of 
quality of
life is worth living."

Issues Surrounding Terri Schindler-Schiavo Are Disability Rights Issues, Say
                  National Disability Organizations

Oct. 27, 2003 -- We, the undersigned, come together in support of Terri 
Schindler-
Schiavo, and her human and civil rights. We are the national spokespersons for 
the
rights of millions of Americans with disabilities whose voices are often not 
heard
over the din of political and religious rhetoric. We come together for those 
who will
be touched by disability in their lifetime and who will need our help to make 
their
                           voices heard.

We call on the media to join with us in ensuring that the real story about Terri
        Schindler-Schiavo, and thousands like her, is told.

We ask the general public, who are clearly confused about what is best for Ms.
Schindler-Schiavo and others like her, to read this joint statement, signed by
national organizations and our allies, and then to act accordingly to signal 
their
support for Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Terri Schindler-Schiavo is alive. She 
deserves
nothing less than the full advantage of human and civil rights the rest of us 
are
fortunate to enjoy as Americans. We will not rest until her most basic humanity 
is
                              secure.

The "right to life" movement has embraced her as a cause to prove "sanctity of 
life."
The "right to die" movement believes she is too disabled to live and therefore 
better
off dead. Yet the life-and-death issues surrounding Terri Schindler-Schiavo are 
first
and foremost disability rights issues -- issues which affect millions of 
Americans with
                    disabilities, old and young.

Can she think? Hear? Communicate? These questions apply to thousands of people
with disabilities who, like Ms. Schindler-Schiavo, cannot currently articulate 
their
views and so must rely on others as substitute decision-makers. The law requires
that a guardian's decision be based on written documentation or other clear and
convincing evidence of her wishes. Her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo,
says she would not have wanted to live in her current condition, but there is no
written documentation or compelling evidence of this. There is just his word.

Early on in Michael Schiavo's quest to remove his wife's source of nourishment, 
an
independent guardian was appointed upon request by Schiavo's own attorney,
George Felos. That guardian, attorney Richard Pearse, issued a report to the 
judge
stating that Michael Schiavo was not a credible witness to his wife's 
end-of-life
wishes because he waited several years before coming forward with the claim that
she wanted to die. Pearse also noted that Michael Schiavo would benefit 
financially
from her death. Pearse was quickly removed at the request of Felos. Experts on 
the
issue of guardianship point out that it is always desirable that a person in 
Terri
Schindler-Schiavo's position have an independent representative who has no
particular interest in the case other than her. Since the dismissal of Pearse 
in 1999,
Terri Schindler-Schiavo has never been appointed another independent guardian.
      The law Gov. Jeb Bush has just signed calls for one now.

The peculiar series of events which have led up to the current debate seem to 
have
avoided both the judge's scrutiny and media coverage. Michael Schiavo says his
wife would not have wanted to live in her current condition. And under Florida 
law a
spouse has the right to decide, though his powers are limited by the U. S.
                           Constitution.

Michael Schiavo conveniently remembered Terri's alleged wishes only after the
malpractice judgment was awarded. A review of court records shows that of the
$700,000 from a malpractice settlement Michael won that was to go for her care,
over half has been spent on his legal fight to disconnect her feeding tube. Over
$200,000 of it has been paid to his attorney George Felos. Michael Schiavo has
refused to let his wife receive therapy from a speech pathologist, a common 
type of
rehabilitation available to people with brain injury. A prominent expert filed 
an
affidavit that Terri Schindler-Schiavo can swallow her own saliva, and could
potentially be weaned from the feeding tube and recover some speech, so that she
                   could indicate her own wishes.

A recent report in the New York Times Sunday Magazine stated that after months 
or
years with little sign of consciousness, people may still be capable of complex
mental activity. The reporter, Carl Zimmer, wrote, "To the medical world,
...hundreds of thousands of ...Americans who suffer from impaired consciousness
present a mystery." Whether Terri Schindler-Schiavo is -- or isn't -- capable 
of "high
level thought" is not the real issue here. It is clear that she is conscious and
responsive beyond mere reflexes, as has been demonstrated by her ability to 
track
with her eyes, respond to verbal commands by physicians who examined her on
                video, and react to those she loves.
           Full: http://www.zmag.org/disabilityrights.htm



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