Musafir's Musings

Terri's Law
Oregon's Death with Dignity Act

According to this morning's reports, the Supreme Court declined to reinstate Terri's Law which was passed by the Florida Legislature in 2003 to prevent withdrawal of feeding tubes from brain damaged Terri Schiavo who has been in a "persistent vegetative state" since 1990. A defeat for Jeb Bush and the rabid opponents of death with dignity who went to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of Florida on September 23, 2004, that Terri's Law was unconstitutional.

In February, the justices will decide whether to accept the Bush administration's case to repeal the Death With Dignity Act, 1998, which was passed in Oregon after the voters supported the measure 60:40.

For full details, please go to:
http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/chs/pas/pas.cfm

What happened to State's rights ? This is a glaring example of how far the current administration would go to appease the conservative religious groups and special interest lobbies that stand to gain from keeping terminally ill patients alive---even when they do not wish to live hooked up to tubes.

Here in the United States, when the time comes, compassionate men and women put their pets "to sleep". They cry, yet they do it because it is the right thing to do. The denial of a peaceful end to people who are in pain, with no chance of a meaningful life (I don't mean being clinically alive) and, especially, to those who have expressed their wish to seek euthanasia, is cruel and selfish.