Sunday, March 20, 2005

Never say never again

I'll try to make this my last reference to the Schiavo circus (as it should now be called). Majikthise points out several excellent points in this matter, including the one that even incapacitated people retain the right to determine their own medical care, and when they cannot do so, a guardian is appointed to act for them. The legal issue in this has never been: "Who has the right to decide?" (as even the comments of DeLay and company tacitly acknowledge), but about the decision that was made. Terri's parents refuse to accept it. Terri's parents, as indicated below, have never accepted that Terris is other than their possession.

Terri's parents are convinced she can recover. This is clearly delusional. Society has no obligation to support delusional behavior. The GOP's involvement in this is preying mercilessly on delusional people. They smell a fundraising opportunity, and nothing more.

But I digress....

Something I hadn't noticed before, in reference to the question of money, is also pointed out by majikthise, and worth keeping in mind, since it is a finding of fact by a judge, about as ironclad a statement of "what has happened" as we have in our world:

* Judge Greer found that the Schindler's financial motivations were just as conflicted as those of Michael Schiavo. Michael was awarded $300,000 for his own loss, and the Schindlers demanded that he share it. The money was paid out in February 1993. Schiavo and the Schindlers last spoke on February 14 of that year. Judge Greer wrote that that the Schindlers fell out with Schiavo over Michael's share of the malpractice settlement.
That tells you a bit more about the people involved in this case. And that, I hope, will be enough of that.

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