Hello everyone, this is Robyn. I have been extremely busy of late and thus have only been able to contribute very minimally to the blog, despite my wishes. However, this is an issue that I have been absolutely bombarded with in my law and philosophy classes over these past weeks, and I think I should be able to draw up a short exposition of my position. My position is first and foremost one of absolute and complete outrage, to an extent that does not allow thorough articulation. Bear with me...:

1.) Let us examine the condition known as PSV or Persistent vegetative State and the outlook of the majority of the medical community in relation to Terri Schiavo: The Multi-Society Task Force, consisting of seven different medical neurology associations, has set forth these basic criteria in an effort to determine the existence of a PVS state:
1.) No evidence of awareness of self or environment and an inability to interact with others;
2.) No evidence of sustained, reproducible, purposeful, or voluntary behavioral responses to visual, auditory, tactile, or noxious stimuli;
3.) No evidence of language comprehension or expression.(1)
This report is extremely extensive though utterly devoid of any consideration of medical ethics and consistently calls on the ethical authority of the morally ambiguous philosopher Gerald Dworkin (known for his efforts to legalize physician-assisted suicide). At the core of this report are questions that revolve around a patient's relative consciousness and projected ability to recover (or in other words, become less resource-consuming). However, the report gradually declines to the point of damning not only those in PSV states, but also patients who, though conscious, are severely disabled by stating that in cases where "there is no further hope for recovery of consciousness or that, if consciousness were recovered, the patient would be left severely disabled, surrogate decision makers and patients acting through advance directives have the right to terminate all forms of life-sustaining medical treatment, including hydration and nutrition."(2) In further readings, it became apparent that any attempt to disprove a PSV diagnosis were futile and subject to systematic deconstruction by the medical community. In the event that family members tried to give any examples of consciousness, they were met with explanations such as these:

"Patients in a vegetative state are usually not immobile. They may move the trunk and limbs in meaningless ways. They may occasionally smile, and a few may even shed tears; some utter grunts or, on rare occasions, moan or scream." "... Such activities are inconsistent [and] non-purposeful... These motor activities may misleadingly suggest purposeful movements, yet these responses have been observed in patients in whom careful study has disclosed no evidence of psychological awareness or the capacity to engage in learned behavior. "(3) "Motor or eye movements and facial expressions in response to various stimuli occur in stereotyped patterns that indicate reflexive responses integrated at deep subcortical levels rather than learned voluntary acts. The presence of these responses is consistent with complete unawareness." (4)

Conclusion? Basically these people are damned. If they move their arms and legs (which is probably difficult given that their bed-ridden state has degenerated their ability to control their muscles), it is meaningless. If they attempt to communicate, they must do so in a way that we can clearly understand, despite their severe limitation, otherwise, it is perceived as non-purposeful. If they use facial expressions or attempt to communicate by eye movement, this is only the result of stereotyped patterns that indicate reflexive responses.
In researching this, it has only become exponentially more apparent that a large portion of the medical community is willing to dispose of life in the name of convenience. This is evidenced by the ubiquitous viewpoint in the medical community that anyone not able to 'recover' or live what they perceive to be a 'purposeful' life should not receive necessary medical treatment, whether it be mere sustenace, or otherwise. Patients such as Terri Schiavo do consume a massive amount of resources and do not appear to be conscious on every level. But we can't destroy life on the grounds of resource consumption, nor can we accurately determine the consciousness of anyone outside of ourselves. Unborn babies, people suffering from severe disabilities, the elderly and the helpless; these people are the weak lambs and they are sought out by the wolf, who is the great deceiver. These souls cannot fight for themselves, they are completely helpless, thus we must defend and protect the sanctity of their lives at all costs. Terri is alive, she is human, and she is being starved to death.

2.) No living will- no removal of tubes.
Mr. Schiavo's argument rests solely on his claim that Terri would not want to live her life in this manner and that she has the right to die with dignity. Thus, the rulings of the court have been largely contingent on some conversation he claims to have had with her. This is not acceptable interpretation of lawful proceedings. He claims guardianship over her through marriage despite the fact that he has been adulterous and is currently with another women with whom he has fathered two children. These are egregious conditions for a jury or judge to entrust a life or death decision.

3.) The manner is which this case is being treated by the media.
As I was watching one of many abhorrent newscasts one night with Sam, a 'Doctor' came on the program and was explaining the process of starving is like being in a "state of complete happiness and euphoria." Are you kidding me?! Never have I heard such an idiotic statement. We have all experienced the feeling of going without food for a day or two, and it is not a pleasant feeling, by any stretch. Sure, it's possible that someone being derived of food and hydration may experience, in their very last hours, something akin to the happiness and 'euphoria' experienced when you die from hypothermia, but that is just a conjecture. I am sick of this case being referred to as a "right to die", "dying with dignity", and other similar liberal misnomers.

Well, I could go on, but given the length of this already, I think it is in everyone's best interest that I stop here. Terri will surely die in the next two days, and I think it is important to reflect on issues of life and choices regarding such. I sincerely believe that what has occurred is a failure of our legal system and a testament to the alienation of ethics and morals in both the medical and legal professions.

Works Cited:
1. Multi-Society Task Force on PVS, Medical Aspects of the Persistent Vegetative State: Second of two parts, New England Journal of Medicine, 330, 22, 1572-1579 (1994),.
2. Multi-Society Task Force , 1994, at. 1500
3. Multi-Society Task Force , 1994, at. 1576
4. Multi-Society Task Force , 1994, at. 1577