THE SCHIAVO DILEMMA

If you knew that someone was trying to murder someone else, and you had the power to stop it, would you?

I think most people would answer yes to that question. Which brings me to the Schiavo dilemma. If you truly believe that Terri Schiavo is about to be murdered, by thirst and starvation, then it seems to me you are justified in using whatever power you have to prevent that awful crime. But, if she dies sometime in the next couple of days, is her death murder?

Legally, the answer is no. Over the last few decades we have, as a society, come up with a patchwork of laws and practices that allow life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn from patients under certain circumstances. I am in favor of those laws and practices. In fact, I have made it abundantly clear to my wife (and she, for her part, to me) that I do not want to live in a "persistent vegetative state". If I cannot feed myself, and have the mental acuity of an infant, without the ability to speak, or otherwise communicate with the people of the world around me, and virtually no hope of recovery, then I want to die. The sooner the better.

For me, unlike Terri Schiavo, there would be no question as to my wishes. If anyone doubted my wife's word, both my brothers and my uncle would certainly affirm that position (one they all share for themselves). If the position was reversed, my wife's mother and brother would certainly affirm that she holds the same position. There would be no question.

With Terri Schiavo, there is a question. There is a doubt. While we must respect the fact-finding that has gone on in the courts, we shouldn't deride the very real passion and sincerity of those who hold a different, usually religiously inspired, view of this issue. Are those of us who would wish to die under Terri's circumstances too quick in opting for that standard for everyone? Are we too quick in projecting our own view onto Terri Schiavo, who cannot tell us how she really thinks, or thought, about the issue?

This case has conservative politicians in Washington jumping through hoops for Federal intervention. It has civil libertarians jumping through hoops to defend the starvation death of a helpless invalid.

It's a bad case, making bad law, and good people too quick to accept that another human being should be allowed to slide into death through a deliberate neglect of her care.

I wish I knew the answer.