I have to disagree with a lot of you out there...
This whole Teri Schiavo saga is really sad. Its unfortunate for so many reason on both sides.
I disagree with many of you out there because of the fact that no one knows for sure wether or not this woman would like to die or live. I disagree with many who are so called medical professionals that have said this woman would never recover. These are the same type of people who 30 years ago probably would have reccomended to me that my son should be left to die instead of fighting for his life. Yes medical technology has tremendously advanced over the years and that has lead to people recovering from a wide array of medical issues. It has been stated that this woman has had her therapy scaled back. I for one know the differences when then physical and occupational therapy for a brain damage person is scaled back. It makes a huge difference and over time when people are open and think positively, they do see people making small progresses but its progress. And any progress is good.
Sometimes when my son was younger and was having a huge difficulty expressing his needs and emotions, I worked with him and so did many professionals. It was a difficult time as he could not tell us what he was feeling or needing. He would cry and scream whenever he was trying to express something. With time and simple learning, he learned how to communicate some basic needs with less and less fustration and screaming. He still has many difficulties in expressing or interacting his thoughts and is severely delayed, but I would not have my son any other way. He teaches myself and so many others things we normally do not think of and how to interact on a whole another level. This woman could do the same. She could eventually over time make small progress. The brain is still an unknown frontier so to speak.
Many people thought my son would die in the hospital after he was born. He fought and the doctors and nurses fought with him. Even though he had a tremendous amount of brain damamge, the postive outlook was always there. This woman may never be the same woman she was before the moment of her brain damamge occuring but she can make progresses towards living. Many brain damaged people do. I do not consider my son suffering through life. Many of my friends do not know my son as they should, some have this weird repsonse to him or choose to just try to treat him like other children. I encourage all of you to have more in depth knowledge of people with brain damage.
Money should never be an issue when dealing with someone's life. She is still living and trying her best. My son's care cost quite a bit and yes it was paid for by the state and federal government. I donot see anything wrong with this. I work to help pay for his care, I work to help others. Selfish? I do not think so. I think its wrong that we do not have some sorta of universal health care here in the states. Everyone should have access to good quality health care without worry of cost. Every avenue of medical aspect should be allowed to help her. I do think some of the right wing conservatives are taking things a bit far, but I think her husband and his family are also wrong for not helping her make progress. It seems suspicious how one can drop the ball on someone's care when they suddenly find someone else to share their life with. This man has two children with a girlfriend who obviously cannot marry because he refuses to divore his wife. Of course this is all out of context because none of us are insiders with the familes involved. This is a good example of a living will. But even then there can be people who will contest it. We are only speaking our minds and thoughts from what we understand through media realms. These are just some of my thoughts in respone to others thoughts that she is not living and already dead and just suffering.