Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo's fight could end this week:

Courts expected to settle Schiavo's fate this week

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Early this week, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland or Pinellas Circuit Judge George W. Greer could end her parents' seven-year legal battle to keep their daughter alive, paving the way for her husband to carry out what he says were her wishes and remove the feeding tube that sustains her unconscious state.

This is just wrong. Terri is NOT in an "unconscious state," a "persistant vegetative state," or any state other than being mentally disabled.

,If so, his lawyer says Michael Schiavo would be authorized to have the feeding tube disconnected immediately.

Let's just be clear on what that means. Terri will no longer receive food or water. She will die of starvation/dehydration. It is a slow (it could take up to two weeks), painful, ignoble death that even animals are protected from by law. But this is a human life we're talking about. These days, human life is worth less than the lives of the pests that invade our homes.

Or either court could hand Bob and Mary Schindler something they have been successful at gaining in the past: more time to pursue other appeals.

In seven years, the Schindlers have won few court rulings. Again and again, Greer and the Lakeland appeals court have agreed their son-in-law provided convincing proof that his wife would have rejected the feeding tube that has kept her alive since she suffered a heart attack in 1990, enduring precious minutes without oxygen.

This "convincing proof" pretty much amounts to his say-so about an off-hand remark Terri supposedly said while watching a movie on TV. Terri has no will or anything else that undeniably indicated her wishes regarding a situation like this. Michael Schiavo's behavior since the accident has been, well, less than stellar. He's had violent run-ins with Terri's family, he's denied any attempts at rehabilitative treatment for Terri, he's been engaged to and had children with another woman, he has deliberately sought out doctors who would agree with him about killing his wife and blocked access for any others, etc. His accounts of what happened to Terri have been contradictory at times. I just don't understand why any judge would trust this guy.

In any case, we will watch and pray for Terri and her family - her real family who wants her to live. Michael needs prayers, too, but of a different sort.