SCHIAVO -- A MUST READ

I implore you to read two new pieces in The New England Journal of Medicine on the Schiavo case. (Thanks to Bluest Fist reader Linda Berman for drawing them to my attention.) They are both thoughtful, informed and not polemical:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/NEJMp058062

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/NEJMlim050643

The second piece concludes in this way:

"Erring on the side of life" in this context often results in violating a person's body and human dignity in a way few would want for themselves. In such situations, erring on the side of liberty -- specifically the patient's right to decide on treatment -- is more consistent with American values and our constitutional traditions. As the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said in a 1977 case that raised the same legal question: "The constitutional right to privacy, as we conceive it, is an expression of the sanctity of individual free choice and self-determination as fundamental constituents of life. The value of life as so perceived is lessened not by a decision to refuse treatment but by the failure to allow a competent human being the right of choice."

As a side note, I was heartened this morinng to hear two typically right-wing sports talk radio hosts in Boston (John Dennis and Jerry Callahan) excoriating George and Jeb Bush for their manipulative use of Terry Schiavo. Perhaps their role as loving husbands trumped their role as Republican talking heads in this case.