Some gleanings from the web involving her case:
- A columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, who's been in favor of removing Terri's feeding tube, is now having serious second thoughts after considering the largely suppressed evidence. (Hat tip: Geoff)
- In light of Terri's case (and the success of "Million Dollar Baby" at last night's Academy Awards), it's well worth revisiting a crucial Bill Federer column from late 2003, where he traces the common language of euthenasia ("quality of life," "act of mercy") to its origination in the Weimar Republic and the subsequent Third Reich. It's helpful to remember that the column was written more than a year before anyone had heard of "Million Dollar Baby."
The transformation followed thus: the concept that the elderly and terminally ill should have the right to die was promoted in books, newspapers, literature and even entertainment films, the most popular of which were entitled Ich klage an (I accuse) and Mentally Ill. One euthanasia movie, based on a novel by a National Socialist doctor, actually won a prize at the world-famous Venice Film Festival! Extreme hardship cases were cited which increasingly convinced the public to morally approve of euthanasia. The medical profession gradually grew accustomed to administering death to patients who, for whatever reasons, felt their low "quality of life" rendered their lives not worth living, or as it was put, liebensunwerten Lebens, (life unworthy of life).
Of course, after these cases came those who were deemed "too expensive to care for," the elderly, the disabled, the indigent, and finally, the "disloyal" and unapproved.
- And Scott Ott at Scrappleface (hat tip again to Geoff) has a cutting satire: Michael Schiavo to Auction Terri on eBay. Writes Ott:
"It's better than buying a pet," said Mr. Schiavo. "Legally, you don't even have to feed her. If you didn't feed your dog, the authorities would take him away from you."
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