Trust No One Who Thinks It's Simple

Trust No One Who Thinks It's Simple

“It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.” Mark Twain
There must be a certain serenity that comes with the capacity to distill tortuous dilemmas into simple answers. On the other hand, the cost of that serenity must be a moral and spiritual shallowness. As I follow the debate concerning the fate of Terri Shiavo, I cannot help but marvel at the hollow certitude of all those who just know the right answer.
Terri Shiavo is the Florida woman whose husband had petitioned the courts to remove her feeding tube and starve her to death. Fifteen years ago, Terri Shiavo suffered cardiac arrest and much of her brain died before blood flow could be restored. Since then, she has been in a persistent vegetative state. Her brain is not dead, but so little of its higher functions survived the insult that it’s not at all clear that any cognitive function remains.
Her husband wants to withdraw her feeding tube and let her starve to death. Her parents believe that a remnant of their Terri survives and are fighting for her life. Meanwhile, fierce, uncompromising redoubts of opinion have formed on both sides. In all probability the final settlement will likely be produced by either self-promoting politicians or bloodless jurists.
I fear sometimes that we are not far from deciding these issues with fistfights on the Jerry Springer Show.
Deep thinkers insist that we should defer to all-knowing physicians who have deemed that her condition is irreversible and her apparent smiles are not the result of conscious thought. But I am less trusting of physicians. I once read of doctor who strangled nearly full term babies who survived his abortion attempts. That news did not entirely surprise me. I once considered medical school, until I read an article in the UC Davis student newspaper about a human anatomy class. The students were taking a lunch break during the dissection of a human head. I suspect that doctors develop calluses on their hearts just as construction workers develop calluses on their hands.
And it is highly likely that the doctors’ judgments are influenced by the inevitable fatigue evolving from their futile efforts and undoubtedly they would prefer to spend their energy on cases where the might be rewarded for their labors by a recovery.
Undoubtedly, there is more than a bit of fiscal fatigue as well as the hospital, and whomever else is bearing the costs of keeping Terri Shiavo’s heart beating wearies of hemorrhaging cash.
Should the decision be left entirely to her husband? That Terri Shiavo’s death would be convenient for her husband cannot be denied. He has had one child with his new girlfriend and has another on the way. Terri’s husband is her legal guardian. But, there is reason to doubt that his intentions in this case. Upon Terri’s death, he stands to inherit $750,000. There have been disquieting stories that he might have contributed to her current condition. If they are true, does it make sense that he has the legal authority to finish the job?
Do we trust bioethicists? I personally have never trusted bioethicists, whose ruminations have yielded arguments in favor of killing the handicapped or even the healthy when a formula deems that it’s in society’s best interests.
Certainly, there comes a point when feeding tubes and artificial organs crosses over into failing to accept the obvious – keeping the metabolism running is not life in the human sense. From kidney dialysis to artificial hearts, modern medicine manages to keep the whole alive even when essential parts of the body fail. This has created gray areas at both ends of life. Premature babies can survive outside the womb earlier than ever. And our ability to sustain life keeps hearts beating long after insults that would have killed before.
We have all these people telling us what Terri would have wanted. NPR and CNN have characterized the issue as a “right to die” debate. It isn’t. Terri Shiavo’s wishes are unknown.
I don’t know the right answer here. Terri Shiavo’s fate will ultimately be settled in the language of legal mumbo-jumbo. I only know that I don’t trust all those outsiders who, with absolute certainty, claim to know the answer.