by Fr. Michael Reilly
Sunday, March 27, 2005

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  It's also disturbing that so many Americans oppose congressional action to save Terri. By the very nature of our legal system, this cannot be a private matter pertaining to just the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo.

Rather, this case sets a dangerous precedent: that a person can be starved to death without prior documentary evidence of his or her wishes. This case can be used by other judges as a precedent to execute other people, and so this is a matter that concerns all of us.

Do Americans really want their elected representatives and the elected president to have no part in such an important national debate? Even the Europeans, who have plunged head-first into the Culture of Death have done so through their legislatures, not through their courts.

The United States has relegated this important decision to a local Florida judge who might have been elected with a few hundred votes and who may have previously decided little more than the fine for a traffic violation. If he likes the law, he blindly applies it. If not, he declares it unconstitutional. How convenient.

It was this judge who scolded the Schindlers for waiting five days before bringing forward evidence that Terri tried to say, "I want to live." Meanwhile, this same judge confirmed Michael Schiavo's position that Terri would not want to live, even though he had no such recollection of her wishes during the first seven years of her illness.

I challenge Michael Schiavo or Judge Greer to offer her some water on a washcloth and let's see if she refuses it. People might say that they would not want to live under difficult and painful circumstances, but in the given situation, they might see matters differently.

Just imagine that a flippant or thoughtless comment you make during this case could be "remembered" in the future as a pretext to starve you to death. Remember also that it is this very case that could serve as the legal precedent to allow for such a decision.

Likewise, a living will made as an emotional reaction to this case could someday be used as a pretext to eliminate rehabilitative therapy and ultimately food and water for you or a loved one.

So Americans who are rushing to fill out living wills need to be very careful about what they are signing, because the so-called living will could be used by a judge as a death wish.

Read more on Terri Schiavo from Fr. Michael Reilly:

Terri Schiavo: Justice Only for the Elite

Judicial Death Wish for Terri Schiavo

Congress Must Save Terri and Fix the Judiciary

Stop the Judge and Save a Life

Editor's note: