Libertarian Librarian

Interesting discussion here at Libertarian Librarian, and six million other places, about the Terri Schiavo case, mostly revolving around that invisible and oh-so-hard-to-define line on when life is no longer life worth living, who has responsibility for that decision, and what each of us would choose in that situation. Okay, here's a new one. The goal posts have been moved-- this woman is apparently not in a permanently vegetative state and has a living will saying she does NOT wish to be malnourished to death. Yet that is apparently what is happening.

Think on this quote, from the woman who had 85-year-old Mae Magouirk admitted two weeks ago:

"Grandmama is old and I think it is time she went home to Jesus," Gaddy told Magouirk's brother and nephew, McLeod and Ken Mullinax. "She has glaucoma and now this heart problem, and who would want to live with disabilities like these?"

I'm not a big fan of the slippery slope argument-- you can make it on both sides of nearly every argument, but in this case... well, it certainly didn't take long to get from persistent vegetative state to just plain old, did it? In the Schiavo case, though I disliked the result, the system worked as it was designed to work. In this case, it seems to be F'in up pretty spectacularly. Hopefully, that will be corrected in the near future, or Ms. Magouirk will likely pay for it with her life.