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March 21, 2005

An excellent analysis of the various factors involved in the Schiavo case

Yes, more on Schiavo - like I said, I've got a bug up my butt on this one. While I've focused my rage about this situation at blasting the hypocrisy (hey! I finally learned how to spell it *g*) surrounding the case and other situations involving the right to life, the right to die and health care in general, Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings has put together perhaps the best, most rational, most well-reasoned look at the medical information that is publicly available, the legal issues involved, the basic principles behind the decision and some of the moral considerations involved.

This is just a summary he included of some of the major points, but it gives an idea of the kind of factors he's looking at:

But the takehome message is: first, it's about autonomy. Second, the result in this case follows from basic facts about the way we adjudicate these cases. There is nothing novel about the case itself. Third, if you think about what would be involved in changing these basic principles, it doesn't seem very attractive.

The first half of the post contains a pretty throrough layman's overview of both the medical and legal history of the case, the 2nd part - found below a CAT scan showing both Terri Schiavo's brain and a healthy brain - gets into the ethical issues involved and how the law is often applied in a case like this.

In addition, Hilzoy also provides an excellent discussion of living wills and how even with a well-drafted living will, it isn't always possible to know what a person might truly want at that given moment or in a particular circumstance (since it's hard to cover every single circumstance that could medically occur), and why, therefore, we often have to work only with whatever the best information we have about what an individual's wishes would be.

It's not a short post, but it is WELL worth your time. Go and read. There's much there to give you something to think about.

Posted by thorswitch at March 21, 2005 09:57 AM

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