Meathook Reality

Ok, I’m going to give in and talk about Mrs. Shiavo. She has appeared in our Con. Law class, and even in our Civil Procedure class. There’s nothing like hurrying to school and hearing a soundbite of your Constitutional Law professor on the radio. I suppose it is unlikely that we’ll discuss her in Contracts or Property.

Anyway, for those of you who’ve been hiding under a rock for the last month or so, I suggest you read Obsidian Wings’s writeup which goes into some pretty good detail. Actually, it is suggested reading in general.

I personally feel that the constitutional law issues are pretty well settled: people have a right to determine their own medical treatment, and if Terry’s choice was not to be kept alive artificially while in a persistent vegetative state, then who am I, or anyone else, to meddle. It appears that the state-level legal issues are relatively straightforward as well: the husband went to the courts seeking an order and presented evidence that this was Terry’s wish. Her parents disagreed. The court sided with her husband, and even after all the appeals and threats, that’s the way it stands.

Procedure-wise, here’s a great article. It discusses what went wrong at the end, and what possibly could’ve been done to take advantage of the ridiculous last-minute day in federal court that the family was granted. I’m not sure if would’ve helped in the end, however.