HispanicVista Columnists

Rampant Insanity

By Richard N. Baldwin T.

3 April 2005

      Most of my subjects are either in or pertaining to México because I live in México. But recent events in the news draw my attention northward. My attention was caught by a recent survey of US expatriates living here in México. One of the things that many of these people found attractive is the "Mexican political climate". Interesting.

     The subject here is the Terri Schiavo fiasco that just does not seem to quit. And maybe in this is a political climate up north that is discouraging some people.

     In the US, the right of an individual to accept or refuse certain medical procedures is a constitutional right, affirmed by the courts. It is when the individual is incapacitated that things get murky. One way for an individual to ensure that his or her wishes are carried out is by means of the "living will" that documents these desires. In the absence of a living will, most of the various states have enacted statutes that cover this instance. In Florida, the prime responsible individual is the spouse, or lacking a spouse the parents. In Texas, it is a panel made up of medical doctors. Then Governor Bush signed that Texas law. The key issue is what is called a "persistent vegetative state" that is irreversible in an individual.

     In the Schiavo case, (which has been going on for many years) the husband made the decision to remove life support (in this case the feeding tube) after doctors had found that a previous medical episode left Terri with a brain mostly dead and turned to liquid. The eyes work, she breathes but there is nothing left to connect these inputs. The husband made this decision on the basis that Terri had previously told him that she would not want to "live" under these circumstances. This was corroborated by two other witnesses. But there was no "piece of paper".

     Now remember, we are not talking about euthanasia here is any way. We are talking about the right to refuse medical procedures. Euthanasia is a completely different issue. Yet we hear "murder" thrown about.

     The judge in this case found that all legal steps were in order and agreed to the husband's request that the life support (feeding tube) be removed. Terri's parents objected and appealed. The appeal failed. It went to the Florida Supreme Court . . .  numerous times, and the appeals failed. It went into the federal courts, ending up at the US Supreme Court five times. They refused to intervene in what was a state jurisdictional matter. Finally (a few days ago) the feeding tube was removed and the big circus is underway.

     The US congress, in an extraordinary Palm Sunday session, rammed through a law requiring the federal court to review this case. President Bush flew back with fanfare to Washington and signed the bill. The federal court then did review and found all legal procedures correct. More appeals in Florida and the final appeal was sent to the Supreme Court which was refused for the 5th time.

     Now Governor Bush, after failing in another state attempt to overthrow the process, threatened to declare Terri as a "ward of the state" and physically size her to be removed to another facility and reinsert life support. The Florida courts stated that if this takes place, the Governor will be held in contempt. Governor Bush said later that he would obey the law.

     In the meantime, grandstanding and polarization has risen to unimaginable levels. Remember now that President Bush ran on a ticket of less federal government intrusion into the lives of the US citizens. A strong position on the rights of the States to make laws for their people was in his platform. A bit of an about face, isn't it? But leaking memos seem to point to "agendas" in which both sides of the aisle would try to make the other look bad. In fact, if you look at this mess, it seems that everyone has suddenly jumped to the other side of the aisle here. There were even some proposals talked about that would nullify existing living wills that are now in place. Wouldn't that be nice, especially when there were over 2,000 hits an hour on web sites offering help in filing living wills?

     My question is just how crass can the US politicians get?

     The US government is a federal republic with three "equal and separate" branches of government. This is called the separation of powers. The present administration has long been wailing about judges in the courts crossing the line and acting as the legislative and executive branches in violation of the separation of powers embedded in the constitution. But what is being done now but to cross these very lines?

     As said, this is not only a very sad case to start with, but the political posturing is frankly sickening.

     Bill O'Reilly of the Factor was saying the other night that the testimony of the husband and the other two witnesses regarding Terri's wishes were only "hearsay" and should be ignored. May I remind Bill that in the US, under common law, oral testimony is not only taken, but unless shown to be false or tainted, is admitted as testimony. The US legal system is not French Napoleonic Code. O'Reilly also laments that the judges in this case didn't go themselves to verify the condition of Terri. Judges make lousy doctors. They depend on expert testimony. An "expert" that recently reviewed Terri's condition for the "family" side (that stated that Terri could improve with "therapy") didn't see Terri either. The appeals process is to review the legal procedures of the case and conformity to law. They did. They are not trial courts.

     Bill O'Reilly says he has the simple "solution" for the problem. Terri's husband should just walk away from the issue and let the life support continue. This is a simplistic cop out. What if the husband is simply trying to do his best to respect Terri's wishes?

     My sincere sympathy goes out to all of Terri's family. Unfortunately, they find themselves in the center of not only a media circus but also a political fracas. This should not have happened to them.

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Richard N. Baldwin T., a HispanicVista.com (http://www.hispanicvista.com/) contributing columnist, lives in Tlalnepantla, Edo de México. E-mail at: R1041643422@aol.com