She died 15 years ago, let the meat rest.

[dvandom]

Yes, this is a Terry Schiavo post. Thanks to the media blitz, I know far more about the case than I really cared to. I know that bulimia led to the brain damage. I know that her husband spent eight years trying in vain to find a cure before giving up and starting the long road to pulling the plug. I know that she's lost so much higher-function brain tissue that gerbils can outsmart her. And I already knew that most people fear death so much that they'll fight to the last breath to avoid any implication that it might not be worth keeping a vegetative person alive.

There's no "there" there. Hasn't been for fifteen years. This isn't a case of a functioning mind being trapped in a non-functioning body. Let the shell go already.

Comments

[zamiel.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to figure out how being a functioning mind trapped in a non-functional body is an argument for keeping her alive.

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Well, the idea there is that if her mind is still functioning (and not hopelessly insane after 15 years trapped), there's a chance she'll recover. Or that the extropians can figure out how to download her someday.

[z4nd4r.livejournal.com]

and then they will download her brain into a robot and she will kill her family in a rage screaming in her cold metallic voice "Why didn't you just let me die?"

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

We can only hope.

[zamiel.livejournal.com]

I figure if you're going to be that big a dreamer, have her cryogenicly frozen and save on the nursing costs.