Human Dignity and Death

It's been hard to watch the news the past two weeks. It kept me thinking about death and also about respecting human dignity. First there was the Terri Shiavo case, then the death of Pope John Paul II. It was hard not to see the contrast in the two situations. Terri died in the midst of family conflict, congressional debate, judicial review and media frenzy. John Paul II died with dignity in the privacy of his home surrounded by those he loved. The Pope knew he was close to death and had an opportunity to express his wishes about his care at the end of his life and even to state how his remains would be handled following his death. Terri did not have that opportunity or at least not to do so in writing, thus the conflict between her parents and her husband developed. Both sides were prodded on by people with political agendas. As an outsider looking on while family members bashed each other through the media and their respective right to life and right to die organizations and lawyers, I felt like an embarrassed guest in the midst of a family argument. I didn't belong there, and despite their disagreement about Terri's wish to die or stay alive via feeding tube, I bet her family members could have agreed that she wouldn't have wanted them to hurt each other like that or make a national spectacle out of her condition. I bet even the right to life and the right to die advocates could have agreed on that. So where were our moral values on this one? Weren’t we all treating Terri as an object instead of a person who deserved our respect? It is easy to blame one side or the other for violating Terri’s rights, but I say we are all guilty of doing that. The public (myself included for watching it and for not complaining about the media coverage), the Congress, the president, his brother the governor, and the gang outside the hospice who created a media spectacle while Terri was dying, and also failed to respect the dignity of the other people in the hospice and their families.