From
the
Terri Schiavo,
without uttering a word, has challenged us
State Rep. Dennis Baxley, a Republican from
The Florida Legislature,
and now the whole country, is engaged in a soul-searching debate about the
balance of our right-to-die with dignity and our culture of life respecting
every living person no matter the extent of their disability. Terri Schiavo, without uttering a word, has challenged us all to
revisit this delicate balance.
While respecting the fact that others may consider this debate
with the many related issues and come to different conclusions, it falls on the
Legislature to develop the defining public policy.
The majority of members in the Florida House of Representatives
have concluded that if public policy reflected in our law allows the government
-- via the courts, our third branch of government -- to order the death of the
severely mentally disabled by starvation and dehydration, then that law is
defective and we must cure that defect. House Bill 701 prohibits the starvation
and dehydration of a very narrow group of citizens who are impaired mentally
and cannot speak for themselves. We have a constitutional responsibility to
protect the God-given rights of life and liberty.
House Bill 701 should really be called The Respect Bill.
It respects the wishes of all those with health directives
indicating conditions under which they would not want to be sustained with
hydration and nutrition. It respects the patient's own appointment of a
healthcare surrogate to make all decisions authorized by the appointment. It
respects those terminally ill for whom sustenance has no relevance. It respects
the spoken word that clearly has expressed the desire to have food and water
withheld. It respects those conditions where life support machinery is
artificially sustaining an ended life. It respects those conditions that would
have an adverse medical effect or inflict pain.
The bill also respects the right of parents to make all these
decisions for their minor children. It respects the Constitution of Florida and
has been thoroughly scrubbed for constitutional review. It respects the courts,
acknowledging they can only interpret the laws the Legislature has passed.
But, most of all, it respects the severely mentally disabled and
protects them from starvation and dehydration, drawing a clear white line
between life support and other heroic measures, as opposed to basic sustenance
and hydration -- food and water, if you will.
Some will cry ''Government interference'' in the family, but we do
interfere when a husband abuses his wife. We interfere when parents abuse or
neglect their children. We interfere when there is conflict and when those
defenseless are being harmed.
The law under which Terri Schiavo is
dying itself is a legal interference with the traditional common law that did
not protect healthcare providers who withheld or removed life-prolonging
treatment from a vulnerable patient.
In our culture, we value every life and do not starve and
dehydrate those whom someone has decided ''have no quality'' to their life. We
don't even starve animals without criminal charges. With this bill, we would
hope to protect every living person, including Terri Schiavo,
should she be able to hold on to life.
Some say this precedent would be retroactive and defies the
courts. For those we shall point to the fairly new law permitting DNA evidence
for existing inmates. Weren't these judicious rulings already final? Yes, but
new statutes provided evidence changes that allowed the beneficiaries of this
statute to live.
Have the courts -- government -- always been right? What about the
many rulings that upheld slavery and voter discrimination. Thank God we were
able to revisit some of those public policies and rulings.
These issues are matters of deep conviction and core values. A
majority of members, after wrestling with their souls, decided if we were to
err, let it be that our error lets someone live.
We chose life.