On Terri Schiavo

With this post I'm doing two things I don't normally do. One is to broach a subject that might be considered political. The other is to include someone else's entire post on my blog. But the case of Terri Schiavo is so egregious, and this post from Wittenberg Gate so penetrating, that I'm posting the whole thing. If you're not familiar with the details of the case, read about it here.

Now, here's Dory at Wittenberg Gate:

Terri Isn't Ill: She's Disabled.

Critics of the Schindler family and others who oppose Michael Schiavo's request to have food and water withheld from Terri Schindler Schiavo, sometimes ask, "Why not let this very ill woman die?" But Terri Schiavo is not ill. She is suffering from no disease. She is not being sustained by any machines. She is not receiving any medical treatment for any medical condition.

Terri Schiavo is not being kept alive artificially. She is merely being fed. She is not dying. She is disabled.

It is debatable whether Terri Schiavo even needs to be fed through a tube. Doctors have testified in court that there is every reason to believe that Terri may now be able to take food orally, or, if not, would relearn that skill with some therapy. She actually swallows her own saliva quite normally as you and I do. A simple test could assess Terri's ability to swallow food, but Michael Schiavo will not allow the test to be done. Nor will he allow the therapy to develop her eating skills should the test show she needs such therapy.

Nurses who have cared for Terri have testified that they secretly gave her liquids and gelatin by mouth. She enjoyed them very much. She had no trouble swallowing the food and drink.

Isn't it astounding that we could even contemplate standing about watching a woman die an agonizing death from dehydration and starvation when we haven't even checked to see if she can eat and drink by mouth?

In the books of the Old Testament prophets, God often sent words of judgment against the Gentile nations for their mistreatment of the poor. Do you have any doubt God is watching the Terri Schiavo case? I believe this case is a test for the nation. I've got a feeling that if we allow Terri Schiavo to die, then we as a nation--not just Michael Schiavo, not just the medical staff who watch her die, not just the courts, but the whole nation---will be answerable to God.

Terri Schiavo could have her feeding tube removed in the next few days. Let's pray for her--hard. Might this be a time for prayer and fasting?