In Florida, it’s against the law to starve a pet to death. Starving a convicted felon is prohibited because it is cruel and unusual punishment. But according to Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer, it’s perfectly appropriate to order the tortuous starvation and dehydration death of an innocent woman—even when based on hearsay evidence from an adulterous husband.
It isn’t the first time Greer made such a fatal error in judgment. Previously, he failed to protect a woman who petitioned his court for a restraining order against her abusive husband. Citing a lack of evidence, Greer refused her request, and a week later she was stabbed to death by her husband.
The sad case of Terri Schiavo has been intensely watched and debated throughout the world. We Americans have been compared to the Nazis who used starvation to torture those held in concentration camps. It has been noted that the Geneva Convention identifies starvation as an unacceptable war crime, while the human rights organization, Amnesty International, cites starvation as inhumane.
On the international front, our country’s judiciary isn’t looking too good. Even American citizens are left dazed and confused on how something this atrocious could happen in this country. Across political lines, President Bush, Governor Jeb Bush, Joe Lieberman, Jesse Jackson, Alan Dershowitz, Ralph Nader, and the United States Congress all came to Terri’s defense, but the “men in black” thumbed their noses at them all.
Elected judges routinely refer to the biased media polls to justify their actions. One would see polls with questions worded like this: If you were in a coma, and hooked up to artificial life support, would you want someone to pull the plug and let you die in peace? Terri Schiavo was NOT being “kept alive,” NOT dying, NOT brain-dead, NOT in a persistent vegetative state, and NOT suffering. Like tens of thousands of other disabled persons, Terri was connected to a feeding tube only at mealtimes because she couldn’t physically feed herself. In fact, Terri’s parents asked Judge Greer for permission to feed her by mouth—a request he immediately denied calling it an “experimental procedure.”
If food and water are considered “life support,” then we’re all on life support. Where do you draw the line for life support, America? Should grocery stores stop stocking their shelves? Doctors stop prescribing cold medicine? Shelters stop clothing the poor?
Michael Schiavo, Judge Greer, and the pro-death media claimed there was no hope for Terri. Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for the 1999 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, had examined Terri and her records. Successful with numerous cases similar to Terri’s, Dr. Hammesfahr stated that one day Terri would have been able to feed herself, talk, transport herself to a wheelchair, and have good use of one arm and hand with the proper rehabilitation. Predictably, Judge Greer ignored this information and never once visited Terri to observe her condition firsthand.
Terri was condemned to death because of the push of pro-choice and right-to-die factions promoting their culture of death. As usual, the media played along with their biased reporting and polls. Perhaps if the polls were more accurately worded, the outcome would have turned out differently. These are the questions the media polls should have been asking America:
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