They're summing up some of my thoughts over at the Christian Science Monitor:
"[Schiavo] is what some people may call a 'nondead, nonperson,' " says D. Dixon Sutherland, a bioethicist, theologian, and director of the Institute of Christian Ethics at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla. "Her personhood is gone, but by medical definition, she's still alive."
There sure are a lot of people you could fit into that category. There are the usual suspects- the retarded and the insane. Who else? Surely Alzheimer patients with their Swiss cheese for brains would be on that list.
How about winos and crackheads? Didn't they sell off their personhood bit by bit for a high? If that sounds too much like morality, how about biology? Winos have organic brain damage. That should send them stumbling out of bounds into nonpersonhood, if nothing else does. This CAT scan shows that the porchlight's on, but nobody's home.
Or I could just say we're all made in the image of God and leave it at that.
Which view is supposed to be the scarier again?
Posted by floridacracker at February 28, 2005 11:28 PMYou know, I used to hold the more liberal view on Terry...after all, I surely hope someone would let me go if I ever got to be like that(preferably by euthanizing, like I would my dog or my cats if they got like that). But after much reading and pondering, I have been persuaded by you and others that because I feel this way doesn't give me the right to foist my feelings upon other human beings who can't articulate what they want. It's still very upsetting to me, though, because there will always be a part of me just can't understand why we deny ourselves the blessed surcease we give to our beloved animals. I understand about the slippery slope, but it still doesn't seem quite right.
Terri's the best reason I've ever seen to have a living will in place and to have it in place EARLY.
Posted by: Amy at March 1, 2005 08:32 PM