Marcela's Musing

On break, mostly relaxing, watching reruns with some shopping and reading thrown in. Couldn't get computer at home to work despite an hour worth of tech support so stuck with an hour at the library.

News all about woman whose feeding tube was disconnected so she's starving to death. For some reason the media wants to present it as a Democrats vs Republicans issue related to pro-life vs pro-choice. I guess I see it differently. For one thing I don't see a feeding tube as assisted life support. Everyone in a hospital is dependent on someone bringing them food. If that service is denied, they would all starve. How is this different?

Secondly, the situation is also contingent on whether you trust the husband who claims she had told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive this way. The latest reports leave out the fact that he's been living with his new girlfriend for several years. Apparently he would inherit a lot of money from the legal settlements once this woman is dead and he could finally marry his girlfriend. Her parents had repeatedly asked him to divorce her so they could care for her, but he refused. So legally spousal rights outrank immediate family rights. This is actually something many of my gay friends are fighting for, but in this situation I'm not sure it would be a victory. Too many other channels show one spouse killing the other to inherit their fortune or get revenge or whatever so that link seems pretty tenuous.