Euthanasia Is More Than Just Teenagers In Hong Kong

Don’t intend this to be the downer blog or the fundraiser blog, but for those interested, the Guyanese High Commission is holding a cultural show at Centrepointe Theatre in Nepean on April 23, from 6-9 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children. Proceeds will go to flood relief efforts, specifically to get schools back in working order. Call 613-235-7249 for tickets. Also, our NGO is hosting another fundraiser on April 30th for tsunami relief in Sri Lanka; this will be a $50 evening of dinner and entertainment. Details forthcoming.

It strikes me that my position on the Terri Schiavo affair has been too vague. I’ve discussed it as a a medical issue, a patients rights issue and as a political hypocrisy issue. But what do I think should actually be done? Well, to put it bluntly, it seems to me that the husband is no longer Terri’s de facto next-of-kin, having abdicated that role by starting another family with another woman. That should be the end of it, legally and ethically. The parents should be designated as the true next-of-kin, and whether she should live or die or be turned into a cyborg or given a new haircut should be their decision. Both the “santity of life” people and the “euthanasia, please!” people should both shut the hell up and let the true de facto family assume power of attorney, and get this bloody story off the front pages.

In other words, the issue to me is not one of whether she deserves to live or die, or whether she would want to live or die, or whether it’s more moral to let her live or die, or whether government should be involved in this process —rather, the only relevant question at hand is who is the appropriate guardian of her interests? Based solely upon the scant facts provided by the media, I fall on the side of granting the parents dominion over her interests.