Put it in writing

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Dad and I were talking the other day and the subject of Terry Schiavo came up. Among the things that were said dad began to tell me what he would want if he were ever to be in Terry Schiavo's shoes. My only response to him was to put it in writing. The great debacle that has been made of Terry Schiavo's situation could have been avoided if somewhere there was something in writing about what she would want in a situation like the one she's in.

With the medical advances that we have today people with conditions that would have once meant death can live. With these advances come the arrogant belief that we have control over life and death. In the past we assumed that life was important enough to people that they would want to live if they could. No more. Now we have the ugly specter of "quality of life" raising it's ugly head. (Ever notice that whenever someone mentions "quality of life" it is in the context of arguing that someone should die?)

I've seen a lot of people comment on the Schiavo case along the lines of life in her situation isn't worth living. Stuff like that really creeps me out. Who decides under what conditions life is no longer worth living? What's to stop people going off on a eugenics killing spree taking out all of those that they consider unfit to continue living? These are the doors we opened up when we made abortion legal and when we began to entertain the idea of assisted suicide.

If you can't walk does that mean that your quality of life is so bad that you should be allowed to kill yourself? What an insult to all those people who can't walk but some how manage to enjoy life. What about if you were blind, or lost a limb or two or three? Or what if you lost some brain function due to a stroke? Would life be so awful that you think you should die? Then what are we to make of all of the people in such conditions who live and enjoy their lives?

Whatever you think about "quality of life" and life and death issues do yourself and the rest of us a favor and put it in writing.

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