Terri Schiavo’s husband and parents marked the anniversary of her death fittingly this week, appearing nightly on cable news shows to (a) claim the moral high ground while (b) accusing each other of having helped cause her death. A video montage is below; it might take a minute to load, but it’s worth your time.

Click for video

Michelle’s Schiavo archive runs to eleven pages on Google, but for me it’s this short post that resonates the most. I remember a debate in the comments on another website last year about the moral issues in the case, where one of Michael Schiavo’s supporters was asked why, if Terri really was nothing more than an insensate husk, it was necessary to starve her to death before bringing her to the crematorium. Why not just toss her in as is? His response: why not indeed?

And there you have it.

A few flashbacks. Jeff Goldstein articulated my own feelings about people who disparaged the legitimacy of the court rulings here:

I’ve said on numerous occasions now that were Terri Schiavo my daughter, I’d be storming the hospice with a bottle of Gatorade and a box of donuts. I’d force the cops to shoot me or put me down with a taser gun, if only to draw more attention and sympathy to my cause. But in so doing, I’d be aware that I am breaking the law, which ruled, you’ll remember, in favor of Terri — that is, it purported to rule on her wishes, based on a review of the evidence and testimony offered by both sides.

Mark Steyn weighed both sides and couldn’t get the scales to balance:

There seems to be a genuine dispute about her condition – between those on her husband’s side, who say she has “no consciousness”, and those on her parents’ side, who say she is capable of basic child-like reactions. If the latter are correct, ending her life is an act of murder. If the former are correct, what difference does it make? If she feels nothing – if there’s no there there – she has no misery to be put out of.

And James Lileks, with an assist from Star Trek, suggested that a woman’s life might warrant at least a moment’s introspection:

I’ll stop here before someone feels compelled to send an email comparing Terry Schiavo to Spock in that horrible episode in which his brain was gone – but even then, you’ll note, they beamed down and looked around for the damn thing. In short: err on the side of life is not a bad motto to keep in mind. This seems simple enough. I respect those who nod, count to three, and offer a soft “however” so that we may refine the particulars. But I don’t have much time for those who hear “err on the side of life” and automatically bristle, because they hear the voice of someone who, damn their black and God-addled brain, once sent $10 to a politician who opposed parental notification law that did not have a judicial review.

FindLaw has a page devoted to living wills and health care powers of attorney. They’re not perfect, as Michelle reminds us, but they’re better than nothing.

R.I.P., Terri.

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