Tuesday, March 22, 2005
About the Schiavo Case
I am bothered by the case of Terri Schiavo. The two factions in the case publicly curse and insult each other. The President and a majority in Congress have taken the side of the parents who want to keep Terri Schiavo alive. A majority of the public appears to sympathize with the husband who wants to let her die. In spite of all the insults and curses, I think the disagreement is a result of the two factions not agreeing on the facts. The husband believes that his wife is brain dead and can not be revived. The parents believe that their daughter is not brain dead and can be revived and advanced to some form of consciousness, given time and a medical break-through or two. The parents and the husband are not talking to each other but past each other. The judges in Florida have done their best to adjudicate the situation. I can’t believe that federal judges can do any better.
I don’t take sides in the conflict between the husband and the parents. It is traditional in our culture for relations between husbands and mothers-in-law or fathers-in-law to be strained. I sympathize with any judge who has to render a decision in this case. While it seems to be true that Terri did not leave any written statement of her wish to be allowed to die if she were in the state she is in, it also seems to be true that she uttered such thoughts to her husband and to a friend. Naturally, the parents deny that Terri ever said any such thing. There is no objective proof that she did. There is only the testimony of the husband and the friend.
I am annoyed particularly by the persistent mispronunciation of the name “Schiavo.” Recently I heard one radio commentator give it what I consider the correct pronunciation: “ske-AH-vo.” Nearly ever other person who utters the name, including our President, calls it “SHY-voh.” The form of the name seems to be Italian. The “chia-” combination in Italian is pronounced “kee-ah” as in Chianti wine. I wish Americans would pronounce foreign names better.
I don’t take sides in the conflict between the husband and the parents. It is traditional in our culture for relations between husbands and mothers-in-law or fathers-in-law to be strained. I sympathize with any judge who has to render a decision in this case. While it seems to be true that Terri did not leave any written statement of her wish to be allowed to die if she were in the state she is in, it also seems to be true that she uttered such thoughts to her husband and to a friend. Naturally, the parents deny that Terri ever said any such thing. There is no objective proof that she did. There is only the testimony of the husband and the friend.
I am annoyed particularly by the persistent mispronunciation of the name “Schiavo.” Recently I heard one radio commentator give it what I consider the correct pronunciation: “ske-AH-vo.” Nearly ever other person who utters the name, including our President, calls it “SHY-voh.” The form of the name seems to be Italian. The “chia-” combination in Italian is pronounced “kee-ah” as in Chianti wine. I wish Americans would pronounce foreign names better.
