I am an incurably ill American male forced to leave America to afford the medical care I needed. I live in Mexico. I now live in a country where "pulling the plug" for whatever reason is illegal!
I am not terminally ill. I have a lifelong disability that will never get better. I am much like Terri Schiavo, the woman who the State of Florida killed because she had a lifelong, incurable disability. Notice, like me, Terri Schiavo was not terminally ill but handicapped. There is a difference!
Every handicapped person in America has to ask, "Am I next?"
Am I the next disabled person about whom, at some point in the future, someone will make a claim that I said something about the issue of life-and-death and a judge will believe it without the benefit of due process? Will someone come along without a preponderance of evidence (And should not there be a preponderance of evidence and not the word of one individual?) and have some judge some court somewhere order my death by starvation--Or by whatever means that is convenient to the court?
I wonder what the criteria will be. Will the courts be the ones who now determine whether you serve some usefulness to society? Who will define usefulness?
Moreover, I wonder why someone was not asking these questions:
? Did Terri Schiavo tell anyone other than the man who stands to make a bundle of money from a malpractice suit that she did not want to be kept alive via a stomach tube? (He claims he has already spent the money on her care. I want to see that proof!)
? Why is the court taking only her adulterous husband's word on this issue of life-and-death? Is that a preponderance of evidence?
? Can't the court see that this man has some nefarious motives?
? Have the allegations of spousal abuse been investigated fully?
? Why didn't her husband allow Terri, ever, to have physical therapy that might have improved her state?
? Is any one aware that others, in so-called vegetative states, have awakened years later?
? Can science dictate morality? Though science sometimes can tell us why something is, can it tell us what is right and what is wrong?
Something smelled fishy in this entire thing-and it still does.
What is next? Will disabled Americans whose families tire of them be able to find a judge who will order their deaths too? On the other hand, perhaps we will be told too much money has been spent on us in disability pension payments and now it is time to check out of living.
You have used up your quota! Now it is time to die.
I do not offer this as an exaggeration but an honest question. Just what is next? Every disabled person should be asking this question.
I wonder if the judge who ordered Terri Schiavo's death forgot, or ever knew, the words of Hubert H. Humphrey:
"It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped."
My God, in heaven, what has America become?
Thank God, in heaven, I live in Mexico!
Doug Bower is a freelance writer and book author. His most recent writing credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transitions Abroad. He lives with his wife in Guanajuato, Mexico.
His new book Mexican Living: Blogging it from a Third World Country can be seen at http://www.lulu.com/content/126241
no-contract cleaning service Mundelein ..Airlines do not allow cell phones on board, but they... Read More
THE ECCLESIASTICAL GRANT:There are good things done by the hegemony.... Read More
The US-backed Road Map peace plan had no real chance... Read More
Pierre Dupont de Nemours:After arranging the Armistice that ended or... Read More
1. United States of America (USA)In the United States, legislation... Read More
This is the first of a series of four articles... Read More
Any chances for a country to be ruled by alternative... Read More
Recently I got to talking with a gentleman at a... Read More
At the start of the US involvement in WWII Joseph... Read More
The People's Liberation Army of China invaded Tibet in 1949.... Read More
Are the junior attorneys in the Attorney General's office leaving... Read More
I read an interesting article in foreign Affairs magazine last... Read More
Ever wonder why labor unions consistently endorse democrats over republicans... Read More
Many have lost faith in the government and are completely... Read More
It never fails to amaze me. HM Customs and Excise... Read More
Bosnia-Herzegovina (heretofore "Bosnia") is an artificial polity with four, tangentially... Read More
President George W. Bush has unofficially won his re-election bid... Read More
Is the Federal Trade Commission really stopping SPAM? Is the... Read More
Recent international wars and the often spectacular ways in which... Read More
Most modern day media stories containing fear, controversy and chaos... Read More
Close to 500,000 people - one in four - live... Read More
The 'Land of the Free' is teaming with individual rights... Read More
OH MAN!Here we go again. I guess now the "proof... Read More
Streamlining Homeland Security with a Free market flair? An idea... Read More
In an age of terrorism, guerilla and total warfare the... Read More
maid service near Glenview ..Earlier this month, I heard President George W. Bush and... Read More
I just got done reading a series of articles dating... Read More
Forest Vegetation Simulations for Fire Prevention, Healthy Forest and Saving... Read More
Submiting the Criminals to The ICC!Everybody concerns about justice in... Read More
Last year a Maryland State Legislator whom I presume never... Read More
Wealth Distribution is often discussed at length in periodicals such... Read More
I have witnessed a new era of security in the... Read More
As a result of the conflict analysis exercise and a... Read More
The shouting is over and directions for the next four... Read More
I'VE ALWAYS ARGUED THAT ECONOMIC ILLITERACY IS VERY COSTLY.This is... Read More
All UAVs Need a Self Destruct BLOS DeviceWhat do you... Read More
Federal Regulations on Business Destroy America, these regulations are a... Read More
Many people do not understand politics very well. They often... Read More
The Presidents Before Washington:From the moment that the first Declaration... Read More
The offshore financial centres have been forced in recent years... Read More
Businesses advertising alcohol either in TV or non-broadcast format need... Read More
The TSA seems to have completely missed the ball at... Read More
Capitalism as the social structure was founded in order to... Read More
Predicting the future is a tricky business. There have been... Read More
Everyone knows the United States Government often falls down in... Read More
Here is an interesting thought; Corn to make Plastic An... Read More
For the business community 9-11 changed everything. In our company,... Read More
Despite their signature on the Biological Weapons Convention of 1975,... Read More
Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has... Read More
Prosecutors with political ambitions are known to modify the truth... Read More
Political |