EDITORIAL for March 31, 2005
Good will gesture
As we prepare for the post-Terri Schiavo era, are there any lessons that folks in Northeast Philadelphia should learn from this pathetic, heart-breaking event?
Absolutely.
Northeast Philly has one of the highest concentrations of senior citizens in the nation. Therefore, its residents are statistically more likely to face end-of-life issues than many other people.
The main lesson from the Schiavo fiasco — and yes, gentle readers, the manner in which this very private family matter was publicly exploited was truly a fiasco — is actually much simpler than dozens of court appeals, protests and questionable intrusions by Congress.
Terri Schiavo is a poster child for the need to write living wills. Even if it involves merely writing your wishes down on a piece of paper, getting it notarized, and giving copies to your closest friends, relatives and even your next-door neighbor, put your directives in writing, whatever they may be.
You want to be kept alive at all costs? Put it in writing. You do not want to be kept alive by life-support equipment? Put it in writing. You want your spouse to make the decision at the appropriate time? Put it in writing. As the Schiavo case painfully showed, a verbal contract can be construed to be only as good as the paper it’s written on.
As for Congress’ intervention in the Schiavo matter, there’s something rotten in America when religious zealots in the legislative branch of government overstep their powers by acting as judge, jury and doctor. Were the largely anti-abortion lawmakers (many of them devout "pro-lifers" who, oddly enough, support the death penalty) who voted to send the Schiavo case back to the federal courts simply flexing their political muscle in advance of the mid-term elections? Perhaps. They may have won the battle, but they lost the war.
Meanwhile, for those who believe in an afterlife, Terri Schiavo is in good hands. ••