Terri Schiavo: It's Either Cruel or Not--Pick One

I wasn't going to post again about Terri Schiavo again--it's such a circus. But there has been some discussion in the bloggernacle here, here, and here, so I just want to say my piece. (I also posted once before here.)

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I have no reason to disbelieve doctors who say that she is not conscious and that her movements, such as smiles, are actually involuntary reflexes. I am therefore alright with letting her pass on. On the other hand since her family is so against it, it seems like the honorable thing for her husband to do is to give them full custody and move on. I agree with Kaimi at T&S that much of the current argument is over evidentiary nuances and politics. I think both sides of the debate raise legitimate issues. However some things that people are saying drive me crazy.

First, on talk-radio people talk with disgust and horror about how Terri is going to be starved to death--it's so barbaric. Yet they turn around and emphasize the importance of a living will. They seem to be saying that the withdrawl of the feeding tube is only cruel and wrong unless the person left a living will stating that they don't want to be kept alive artificially. It seems to me that the issue of whether it is cruel or not is independent of Terri's pre-injury wishes. If it is cruel, are we prepared to euthanize when someone doesn't want to be kept alive artificially? I doubt conservatives would go for that--slippery slope, you know. If it isn't cruel then talking about how horrible the manner of death is, is really an appeal to emotion, not reason.

Second is the hyperbole. I have repeatedly heard people say that we don't even treat our animals this way. One person even said that if we did, we'd be "taken out and shot." Good grief--is this supposed to convince anybody? We put animals down all the time--healthy or not. And that's just the domesticated ones. Others we shoot, poison, trap, etc.

I think that the complexities of this case make it very easy to "look beyond the mark."