Italy's own Terry Schiavo

[acroyear]

Pharyngula: She is “in the condition to have babies”:

Italy is experiencing its own version of the Terry Schiavo case. A woman, Eluana Englaro, was in a car crash 17 years ago that caused catastrophic brain damage — she's been in a vegetative state ever since, and the family has been engaged in a legal fight for many years to pull the plug and allow her to die with a little dignity. They finally won that battle recently, and are easing her off life support and a feeding tube.

Cue the right wing. Silvio Berlusconi, Bush-like Prime Minister of Italy, has rushed to impose an emergency decree blocking the suspension of life support, a decision made after consulting with the Vatican. [...]

Berlusconi's rationalization is appalling and repugnant. He claims to be "rescuing" Englaro — not true, since she was effectively dead 17 years ago — and in what has to be the most tasteless and disgusting excuse made yet for the actions of these villains of the right, has further justified it by saying that physically she is "in the condition to have babies". So, what is Berlusconi going to do next in his bizarro Prince Charming act? Fertilize her eggs?

It's nice to know that the Catholic Church's criteria for the value of a woman's life focus on the functionality of her ovaries rather than the existence of her mind.

Comments

[capi.livejournal.com]

That whole entire scenario just makes me sob every time it comes up. I grieve for her, i grieve for her family. It's a horrible situation all around. Just *horrible*. And the tug-of-war that has come about as a result of it.... well, it just highlights what sort of creatures we humans are, i suppose. We love to fight... over just about everything. I pray for that woman's deliverance.

[shalandara.livejournal.com]

While this should be unbelievable, the fact that a section of society makes this argument implies that it is "believable", or at least to some.

sigh. I guess I should be glad that I am approaching the age that I would not be able to have children, and therefore would not be siezed upon by a Church (bypassing the part of me not being a member, but hey) just because I could even in a vegetative state.

[eiredrake.livejournal.com]

Just goes to show that there are a lot of fucked up people in this world.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

you're kidding, right? you *really* don't get the inherent misogyny in this? you really don't see the "making babies is the only reason any woman is on this planet" attitude?

NOBODY IS GOING TO IMPREGNATE A 17-YEAR-BRAIN-DEAD WOMAN. NOBODY.

If anybody does, THEN will you realize *they* have decided *you* are just a baby making factory with no need to have a mind of your own?

BECAUSE THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THIS MONSTER DECIDED SHE IS!

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

I admit that I'm not surprised that the Catholic Church is more interested in having a mindless breeder than in doing what the family of the victim believe is the right thing for her and for them. If their only reason for not pulling the plug is that she could have babies, does that mean that when she hits menopause, then its OK to pull the plug? What sort of life would her children have if she were to have them (AI, statutory rape since she is NOT able to give consent ... and it would be adultery anyway)? My mom was DEAD 18 years before I was born. Her death was old enough to vote when I was born.

And the Church can prattle on about the 'sanctity of life' that this uses even though the money used to keep this corpse breathing could be used for so many other more useful things that would improve quality of life for the living and possibly produce a life for the living. How many vaccines in 3rd World Countries could be purchased? How much food for a starving region? How many mendications? How many birth control medications/devices so that we don't overrun our planet with children who aren't wanted but can't be avoided if you have a 'normal' marriage? How many surgeries for children born with correctable defects (e.g. lack of closure of the pulminary by-pass hole)? Let's say, just for funsies, that keeping her on life-support costs $1000/week (trust me, this is a low estimate). That is $52,000/year. She is 38, if she were to be fertile until 50, that would be 12 years which represents $1,976,000 keeping a corpse breathing. It is one thing to spend that kind of money on someone who can recover and have reasonable quality of life, it is another thing entirely to spend that kind of money on someone who is DEAD and if there is a soul, it has probably already gone to whereever they go.

And yes, someone in Europe is trying to do the right thing. Unfortunately the Vatican is doing its best to screw it up.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

Anger is not hate. if it was, then following Jesus would be the most hypocritical thing to do after his actions at the money lenders tables.

that the Catholic church HAS claimed infalibility in the past, and some still claim it of the pope in spite of obvious recent mistakes regarding antisemites in his clergy, makes it open to criticism.

saying the church is made of humans who make mistakes is a copout. it is easilly pulled when obvious mistakes are made and easily forgotten when things are too close to tell and of borderline morality.

the only mistake is the failure to learn from a mistake. schiavo was a mistake, and this jerk is failing to learn from it.

you have not adressed the claims in the original comment at all. I ask on her behalf again: why keep a brain dead person alive, against the wishes of the family and expertise of the medical profession, when there are far better things to do with that money for those truly still alive?

[blueeowyn.livejournal.com]

I did some more reading, it turns out that it was a Government Official who was saying that "she does this, she does that, she has a regular menstrual cycle, therefore she is alive." That doesn't get around the Vatican and others saying that a braindead patient should be kept alive at all costs and removing anything counts as murder. I guess that means that putting someone on a ventilator to keep the organs healthy while waiting for harvesting means that you can't pull the person off the ventilator ... which is really strange if you are talking about a heart-lung donor.

And yes I know they called it a "Persistent vegitative state" rather than "brain-dead" but they wouldn't even call my sire "brain-dead" even though he had no brain activity beyond some really random neuron firings ... just enough to occasionally cause convulsions, beat the heart (mostly) and breathe (some).