I must reply to Manual L. Spencer's letter to the editor March 27 about Terri Schiavo.
He made statements that are not true about her. Terri was sentenced to an excruciatingly painful death by dehydration. All one had to do was view the videos on the Schiavo Web site, terrisfight.org to see that she was not in a comatose or vegetative condition.
Our Judges are on a slippery slope, as there is a real danger of legalized euthanasia. Look at what happened in Nazi Germany. Long before Hitler used gas chambers to purge Germany of Jews and other "defective" races, German physicians were using gas chambers to kill "defective" Germans - mental patients, handicapped children, even bed wetters - children with misshapen ears, and those with learning disabilities.
Instead of providing any kind of guarantee of the right to life, as our Declaration of Independence assures us, our judges and doctors have turned the foundation of American Law on its head, and here we have a court effectively ordering the termination of life of an innocent woman.
Dr. Richard Neubauer, medical director of the Neuralgic Center in Ft. Lauderdale Fla., filed an affidavit rendering his opinion that Terri Schiavo was not "brain dead" nor in a persistent vegetative state, "and to deny her food and water amounts to murder."
Terri Schiavo was not on life support as the media and some Democratic Congressmen reported. She was on a feeding tube and not a ventilator. She could breath just fine on her own. She was disabled, not brain dead. She was capable of saying "mommy" and "help me."
One of the nurses, Carla Sauer, in a sworn affidavit testified, that Michael Schiavo, Terris', husband would say, "when is she going to die?" "Has she died yet?" And "when is that bitch gonna die?"
One other question that bothers me is why Michael Schiavo refused to allow Terris' loving parents to take care of her, when he already has a common law wife, who has borne him two children.
Let's consider Sarah Scantlin. She spent 20 years in a nursing home after being struck by a drunk driver. She could blink her eyes, but no one was sure if she understood the questions, Then after 20 years of silence, Scantlin begin talking during a therapy session in January 2005. Her doctor believes "critical pathways in the brain may have regenerated." In bioethicist terms, she has been similar to Terry Schiavo. Now that she can carry on a conversation with family and friends, it is doubtful that if she had a husband, he would get away with starving her to death. If euthanasia advocates had their way, Scantlin would never have had the chance to tell her parents, "I love you."
Most everyone knows its illegal to starve a dog to death, but that is what was done to Terri. If my own daughter ever comes into a state like Terri Schiavo, I would welcome any congressman, senator or president who would sponsor and sign a bill to help keep my daughter alive.
Harvey C. Roe
Spring Texas
