Imagine that you took the time to write a living will spelling out in great detail under what circumstances you would like to be allowed to die. And imagine that you were sent to Iraq, hit by a roadside bomb, and suffered a terrible brain injury. And imagine that you lingered in a coma for nine months but never regained consciousness. And imagine that your family respected the wishes spelled out in your living will and removed your feeding tube. Finally, imagine some wingnuts having the gall to criticize your parents. That’s what happened to Marine Staff Sergeant Chad Simon, of Monona, Wisconsin:
He died nine months later, on Aug. 4, at a HospiceCare facility in Madison, after his family, following his wishes, disconnected his feeding tube. “He did have a living will, and it was very explicit. There was nothing to question,” said the Rev. Jeff Mannel, pastor at Madison Church of Christ, and a close family friend.
Jack Schuster, the family’s attorney, said Chad’s wife, Regina, made the decision after much soul-searching and with a judge’s approval.
While the family seemed to be at peace with carrying out Chad’s wishes, others who didn’t know the Marine weren’t happy with the family’s decision.
Pro-Life Wisconsin, which calls itself “your 100% pro-life voice,” accused HospiceCare of murder.
“Sgt. Simon was rendered handicapped by the bomb in Iraq; he was murdered by those who were in charge of his medical care,” the group’s press release declared.
The Shepherd Express
More about Pro-Life Wisconsin below the fold.
Pro-Life Wisconsin is a group that wields influence in the state Capitol and endorses candidates. Twenty-five members of the current Legislature were endorsed by Pro-Life Wisconsin last year. To get that endorsement, candidates had to agree to oppose abortion without exception—for rape or incest victims, or even to save a pregnant woman’s life.
They want to restrict birth control as well. And they want to interfere with a terminally ill patient’s right to die. They say they are “dedicated to defending innocent human life, without exception and without compromise.”
The anti-choice lobby in the Legislature, including Wisconsin Right-to-Life, has far more influence than it should, given the attitudes of the state’s voters.
Only one legislator, state Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink (D-Milladore), had the courage to criticize Pro-Life Wisconsin’s behavior. “Formulating and following through with [living will] directives is not murder. To suggest otherwise is misleading and shockingly disrespectful to those dealing with a tragic loss,” she said in a release. Everyone else was silent.
This is a group that thinks it wants publicity, but which would not thrive in the spotlight. Those who defend and support a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions and an individual’s right to make his or her own end-of-life choices would do well to highlight and publicize Pro-Life Wisconsin’s extremist views.
That could make an endorsement from such a group a liability in the future, and force candidates who accept their endorsements to defend their radical views. Ignoring them simply emboldens them; exposure could destroy them.
Why are we cursed with these people? Is there something in our water supply? Is it the hormones in our beef? Why do we have so many crazy people in our country?
