October 22, 2003

By L.D. Rohe

drrohe@...

A 'living will' is a fine thing to have, but it is for terminally ill persons on artificial life support.

Terri is not terminally ill, and there's nothing artificial about food and water.

This is not a 'right to die' situation or a 'dignity with death' situation as the managed popular, sensationalistic press would have you believe.

Terri has been non-comatose for years, laughs at her pastor's jokes, smiles with good music, smiles laughs and cries.

She sleeps and wakes up just like you and I do ... she loves looking out the window at beautiful sky, loves the feel of the soft nightgowns that her mom brings her, loves to get all clean from a bath with warm soothing water.

When told what was in store for her, she sat bolt upright and started to cry.

She indicates yes and no with a blinking code or a vocal code.

She has indicated she wants to live and wants to go home with her parents.

No 'vegetable' communicates.

She is capable of giving and receiving love -- and does so.

Her mind is there, but she has great difficulty unlocking her spastic muscles because her brain stem is damaged ... not her cerebrum.

Her quality of life would improve significantly if she had proper therapy -- therapy which has been forbidden by her legal husband for many years.

He likely beat her up and got her in that condition to begin with.

Have you seen the pictures of her bone scan reports?

The broken femur, the broken ribs, the rigid neck, consistent with strangulation.

He stands to inherit the rest of the insurance money that was awarded to him -- for her therapy, not for putting her to death against her wishes -- and has exclaimed with glee that he is going to be rich and buy a boat and a new car, among other things.

Are those things that important?

I have a wonderful cousin who was born with spastic paralysis.

She's not mentally retarded, she's just stiff.

My cousin has great difficulty talking, or walking, or putting on her lipstick.

Should I go kill my cousin?

We all have handicaps of some sort and to some degree or another.

What's yours?