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March 18, 2005
On PVS
In the Terri Schiavo case, the media keep focusing on the fact that no person has ever come out of a Persistent Vegetative State. That, of course, is not the issue. Whether Schiavo comes out of the PVS or not is irrelevant. What about quality of life? Terri is simply brain-damaged - like someone with a mental handicap. Her heart beats, she can breathe. What she cannot do is feed herself. She does not meet the definition of PVS as laid out in Florida state law:
a) The absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of ANY kind.The judge ruled that she was in PVS without the normal medical tests doctors consider necessary to diagnose this condition. Why hasn't she had such a test?
(b) An inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment.
Yup, Michael Schiavo said no.
So the judge ruled, I guess, based not on the opinion of doctors but according to his own vast medical knowledge. So Greer's ruling is not based on all available evidence, and I believe a 14th Amendment case can be made on that basis (note: I'm not a constitutional scholar, so take it with a grain of salt)
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.If all of the facts relevant to the case were not heard, can it be said that Terri Schiavo received 'due process of law?'
I believe Judge Greer's actions violate Schiavo's 14th Amendment protection against being deprived of her life without due process of law, a right denied the states. So is this a state's rights issue? Yes, until the state in question starts taking rights upon itself explicitly denied by the Constitution.
Posted by slublog at March 18, 2005 03:01 PM
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