Thoughts on Schiavo

Alright, I succumb. (Geez, I'm practically begging for smart-ass retorts.) I mean I succumb to blogging my thoughts on the Terri Schiavo case. I know all of you have been patiently waiting. That's enough preamble.

1. Congress is not wrong for intervening in the sense that this should have remained a judicial matter. A lot of people, many but not all of them on the left, seem to have the opinion that the courts should always have the last say on any matter, except maybe when the courts deliberately throw an issue back to a legislature. But this is not in fact true. The three branches are supposed to be co-equal, so it's actually a good thing that a legislature has stepped in to do something when they didn't like what some courts were doing. The legislative branch is the most democratic of the three, so there should not be excessive hand-wringing about Congress addressing issues that are before courts. They should do this more often.

2. Congress is wrong for intervening in the sense that this is essentially a private family matter. No set of written laws will ever adequately address issues such as the right to die. This has historically been a matter of hidden law. It should have remained that way. But you know, lawyers are forever trying to open up new markets.

3. The sanctity, if you will, or primacy, if you won't, of marriage obtains here. It has become a cliche of gay marriage arguments that the parents of one of the couple can and do push the other out of hospital rooms and out of the decision-making process when it comes to medical decisions. Terri Schiavo's husband is entitled to make this decision on behalf of his wife.

I don't believe that the parents' offer to be responsible for Terri Schiavo's care is relevent. Actually, it seems to me to strengthen the husband's case: he's not doing this in order to be out from under the responsibility, but rather because he thinks that death is what his wife would have preferred.

4. Tom Delay has said some very stupid things. To wit:

I don’t have a whole lot of respect for a man that’s treated a woman this way. [Michael Schiavo]’s refused to allow her to have therapy, he’s refused to let her have an MRI. For the last five years she’s been kept in a hospice, and every time they have even asked to take her outside he’s refused. I think his abuse and neglect are outrageous.

There's some big talk. Does demonizing the husband help here?

5. Everyone except for the husband and the parents should stop referring to her as "Terri".