Sunday 20 March 2005

Culture of Life - I

But not in a Petri-dish
I have just about have had my fill of the clamour and mass-hysteria that has engulfed the whole of America in the matter of Terri Schiavo. [1]
Terri Schiavo happens to be an unfortunate lady who for the lack of potassium and the stoppage of her heart in 1990 suffered severe brain damage and has been in a medical state for 15 years where heart, lungs and essentials function, but she is paralysed, cannot feed herself. [2]
Her legal guardian who happens to be her husband, who has also started a new family, has been to court time and again to have her feeding tube removed and allow her die a natural and dignified death, but in a bizarre case of hoping against all hope, her parents who have now taken to hyphenating her matrimonial name top Schindler-Schiavo have turned this into an ridiculous public circus so reminiscent of a wolf-pack’s dinner.
If that was not hard enough, the whole of congress and the President weighs in with a bill to have the feeding tube reinserted to maintain a “Culture of life” in which medical treatment can be discovered to help people like Terri.
However, in the case of brain damage, the lack of stem cell research, which became such an issue during the presidential campaign, leaves that a forlorn hope.
This is an unfair case of Mr President having eating his cake, now asking for seconds. It leaves you with one question – Does the “Culture of life” include having some quality to it?
Finally, I note with incandescent rage the hypocritical mission of the Culture of Life Foundation.
“The mission of the Culture of Life Foundation is to provide the leadership and financial resources to promote a universal commitment to protect and nurture all human life from conception until natural death.”
In the carefully chosen phraseology, I note that conception is not qualified; suggesting test-tube babies are allowed and obviously feeding people unnaturally through tubes is nurturing until natural death.
If I have anymore to say, it would be in the morrow.
[1] Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
http://www.terrisfight.net/center.html
[2] BBC NEWS | Americas | Fight over Florida woman's fate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3141058.stm#timeline
[3] The Culture of Life Foundation & Institute
http://www.christianity.com/cultureoflife