No Longer Human {Marlise Munoz}

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177873/no-longer-human#



At this moment in a Fort Worth hospital, Marlise Munoz’s body is hooked up to machines that are keeping her body alive. Her brain function, her ability to communicate, or hold her child, or kiss her husband—all of those are tragically and irreversibly lost as the result of a pulmonary embolism she suffered the week after Thanksgiving. Marlise had expressed to her husband Erick—both of them were paramedics—that she never wanted to be kept alive this way. So why, despite her own clear wishes and those of her husband and her parents, is she still on life support?

Because Marlise was fourteen weeks pregnant when she passed.

According to The New York Times, more than thirty states place restrictions on when a hospital can remove life support from a pregnant woman, and a dozen, including Texas, have laws on the books that require hospitals to keep a woman’s body alive if she’s pregnant. The hospital must override the doctor’s judgment that she will not recover, the family’s wishes and even the expressed will of the individual herself. In the most tragic way possible, Marlise’s case is forcing us to confront the reality that in far too many places, women are literally seen in the eyes of the law as vessels whose primary function is to produce more offspring. Sound dehumanizing? That’s exactly what it is.

While some have compared Marlise Munoz’s case to that of Terri Schiavo, the woman whose case ignited a national firestorm in 2005 when her husband and parents fought over whether to remove her life support, this case is quite different. Her husband and her parents agree that Marlise’s wishes should be honored. No one with standing wants politicians to interfere in what should be a private family matter.

[WhiteTara]

1. Back to that ancient mythology

that women are vessels and that all else comes from men.....sounds just like some fearful man who wanted to make sure HE was supreme...turning the creator of life into a mere vessel.

[okaawhatever]

2. And who will pay for the million dollar bill for keeping her hooked up for seven months? Not to

mention what gives the legislature the right to force surgery on someone? The baby will have to come csection.

If they want to save lives, that money spent elsewhere would save more than one life. So they shouldn't kid themselves, they aren't saving lives.

[LiberalEsto]

3. Let the legislature pay for this

When the state has to cut services to make up for the financial loss, maybe the state's irate taxpayers will boot them out.