Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (107135)	4/1/2005 11:07:18 AM
From: Rainy_Day_Woman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793838

I adamantly disagree with this: For some, it is an article of faith that individuals should decide for themselves how to be cared for in such cases. And no doubt one response to the Schiavo case will be a renewed call for living wills and advance directives--as if the tragedy here were that Michael Schiavo did not have written proof of Terri's desires. But the real lesson of the Schiavo case is not that we all need living wills; it is that our dignity does not reside in our will alone, and that it is foolish to believe that the competent person I am now can establish, in advance, how I should be cared for if I become incapacitated and incompetent. The real lesson is that we are not mere creatures of the will: We still possess dignity and rights even when our capacity to make free choices is gone; and we do not possess the right to demand that others treat us as less worthy of care than we really are. I absolutely demand the right to have my written instructions carried out when I cannot make them I know what I want, I know how I want to be treated, I know my value of life I DO NOT want some supposed do-gooder to trash my wishes and make that decision for me after I have explicitly taken the time and initiative to spell it out in advance how I want my life to end if that happened to me and I could, I would haunt the sons-of-a-bitches for the rest of their days! [and it wouldn't be pretty]