M
mlchance
Guest
Food for thought:
People of a delicate sensibility were made uneasy by Terri Schiavo’s being forced to die of hunger and thirst. Hurrying to the aid of the morally scrupulous, offered the assurance of Dr. Sean MorrisonNew York Times of Mount Sinai School of Medicine that such a death is very quiet, very dignified, and very gentle. “Experts,” the Washington Post reported, “are virtually unanimous in saying that it does not appear to be painful.” And the Los Angeles Times offered the comforting information that “going without food and water in the last days of life is as natural as death itself” and that “contrary to the visceral fears of humans, death by starvation is the norm in nature—and the body is prepared for it.”Christopher Levenick of the American Enterprise Institute was among the many who were much relieved. He suggests that Governor Jeb Bush should introduce legislation requiring that the State of Florida use forced starvation as the preferred method of execution for its 368 inmates on death row. The objection might be raised that we do not know whether Terri Schiavo knew what was being done to her, while a prisoner would certainly know. To that objection, Levenick responds, “It is the tranquility of the death itself that should concern us. Conscious or not, if deprived of food and drink, a human being will enter into a uremic coma, chemical imbalances in the brain will induce a sedative-like effect, and the heart will, in due course, stop beating.” The experts are virtually unanimous in saying it is so.
– Mark L. Chance.
People of a delicate sensibility were made uneasy by Terri Schiavo’s being forced to die of hunger and thirst. Hurrying to the aid of the morally scrupulous, offered the assurance of Dr. Sean MorrisonNew York Times of Mount Sinai School of Medicine that such a death is very quiet, very dignified, and very gentle. “Experts,” the Washington Post reported, “are virtually unanimous in saying that it does not appear to be painful.” And the Los Angeles Times offered the comforting information that “going without food and water in the last days of life is as natural as death itself” and that “contrary to the visceral fears of humans, death by starvation is the norm in nature—and the body is prepared for it.”Christopher Levenick of the American Enterprise Institute was among the many who were much relieved. He suggests that Governor Jeb Bush should introduce legislation requiring that the State of Florida use forced starvation as the preferred method of execution for its 368 inmates on death row. The objection might be raised that we do not know whether Terri Schiavo knew what was being done to her, while a prisoner would certainly know. To that objection, Levenick responds, “It is the tranquility of the death itself that should concern us. Conscious or not, if deprived of food and drink, a human being will enter into a uremic coma, chemical imbalances in the brain will induce a sedative-like effect, and the heart will, in due course, stop beating.” The experts are virtually unanimous in saying it is so.
– Mark L. Chance.