Letter to the Editor-Terri Schiavo

How deeply saddened we all are to have witnessed the extermination of this young woman's life. As a wife and mother, I cannot fathom why Mr. Schiavo did not choose the humane course in moving on with his own life. It would have allowed this matter to remain private for himself and Terri's family and would have shown him to be an empathetic and decent guy - obviously that is not what he truly wanted.

No one truly knows what this woman was feeling, understanding or experiencing. Her brain was functioning strongly enough to keep her alive.She was conscious and breathing on her own, which tells me something within her had the will to live. Denying her the basic necessities that we all require was unconscionable.

If Terri truly was unable to feel or think, what harm was there to Terri in granting her parents the right to take over her care and allow them the time to confirm their own conclusions, or arrive at other realizations? Instead, they, and the rest of the world, had to watch in agony as this poor woman was left to die a slow and very likely painful death. It's not legal to allow a dog to die that way- how could we, with the court's blessing, do this to another human being? We all need to think very carefully on this and decide whether we want our humanity to dictate our laws or our laws to dictate our humanity.

Kathy Biggio
Lindley, NY