Terri's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, has been fighting to have her feeding tube removed for more than a decade, contending his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents argue she had no such wish. One Congressman said that Terri has not made her own intent be known, as she did not leave anything in writing about what she would want if she ever became incapacitated. There is no attorney representing Terri as a guardian. Over the years, courts have sided with her husband in more than a dozen cases. When Terri married her husband she trusted him with her life. If a spouse loses the right to represent their husband or wife, will the courts have to decide for each one of us when we live or die, and how? Schiavo's feeding tube was disconnected (for the third time) about 1:45 p.m. on March 18.

Modern medicine is capable of so many things - we can keep people alive who would have naturally died following an injury or illness. But, is it always doing a service if it forces people to live? Are all doctors being humane, or fearful of the law? What about mercy killings of infants, something that happens in all countries, performed on infants who have no chance for a real life? Why is that permitted but not the respectful, compassionate assisted suicide of adults who ask for it, those who have a terminal and very painful disease and no longer want to suffer? What and who are we protecting? What role does religion play in this?

There are so many issues in the Schiavo case, but there is one that still evades discussion: what would Terri's soul want, and how can we find that out? This is another opportunity for us to use the expertise of professional mediums, channels, and our own meditation to ask Terri, to let her speak for herself. Without contacting Terri as directly as possible, we are left with many questions. When the media writes something like Terri cried out to live when her tube was removed, how do they know what she was crying over, or that she was really crying? Maybe she expressed her joy for finally being allowed to die? What if the responses were involuntary? If you were in her place, would you want to be force-fed in order to be kept alive in a vegatative state for another 15-plus years? Maybe Terri was telling her parents to let her go, because she hung in for as long as possible for her parents' sake but now it's enough? I think it's fascinating that her condition was caused by an EATING DISORDER. What does that say about her desire to live before she was in this state? Has she overcome this issue in her soul? Is force-feeding her a form of cruel and unusual punishment in her mind? Eating disorders come from a poor self-image, often in childhood; think her parents might have had something to do with that? It's more than possible.

I watched an interview on Fox News with a nurse who claims she took care of Terri ten years ago. Did anyone stop her from testifying in all of the courts? If she was terminated because of reporting that she believed Terri's husband injected her with insulin and she saw needle marks on Terri's body, and that Terri was eating fine on her own, that's also grounds for a legal suit against the place. Why hasn't she done any of those things? I also question her husband's actions. I see nothing wrong with the man wanting a life of his own but after he divorced Terri or after she dies - without making her die by withholding something that could have made her better. None of us were there these past 15 years and we don't know how their relationship really was. But, she has been in full-time care for fifteen years. And even from what the nurse in the interview said, he stood by what he's always said and that was not to artificially keep her alive because she wouldn't have wanted that. Yet, one nursing home filed a restraining order on him because he demanded TOO MUCH care for Terri. It is said that Terri received EXQUISIT care, and in 30,000 pages of documents there is not one report of her being abused. Other people testified to Terri's wishes, too. Not just her husband. That is what has to be respected above all.

There have also been reports of death threats and other violent acts against those who support Terri's right to live or die on her own. Is that being loving or compassionate for Terri? Hardly. If Terri was an A.I.D.S. patient, would be be making such a big stink over her? What if she had Alzheimer's? What if she was in another country under attack by the U.S. military?

I have a friend whose sister is a medical specialist who read Terri's brain scan - half of Terri's brain is liquified. There is no chance for Terri to have any real life. Also, her husband reportedly brought her to California for treatment some years ago, he was not the only guardian she's had. If there was any chance for her to have any real life, there would have been a change long ago. She has extreme brain damage. What are her parents hoping for? If you believe in God, let me ask you this: Did God intend people to live with tubes in their stomachs?

Should the courts intervene? Should a president have a say? The courts may help open the discussions so all sides of the issue gets heard, and I think had they ordered new tests on Terri it would put many questions to rest. But I think the final decision should NOT be with the courts but with the closest relative to the patient - in this case, Terri's husband. He is fulfilling his wife's wish. We cannot afford to lose more of our rights, and not respecting Terri and her husband is taking away their free will. This could set the stage for every little thing that someone will challenge in the courts: any medical procedure, abortion. Why do some people say that taking Terri off the feeding tube is murder, instead of saying we're allowing her own soul to decide whether she will live or die? Isn't it time we grow up a little in compassion and consciousness?

We need to be very clear about our own beliefs and intentions. Can people start thinking out of the box they're in - whether it be religion or fear or whatever fanasties might be controlling them and stop trying to control other people's lives, and stop being so polarized? If you want Terri to keep living by force feeding, I ask you why. Is it your religious belief that you are projecting onto the situation? (Why is it that the most religious people are the most reluctant to meet God? --- Bill Maher) Is it your fear of death that won't let her go? Is it because you truly don't know what Terri would want so you'd rather keep her alive? If she is kept alive artificially, do you think her soul needs this time to be connected to the body? Do you think she will ever have a life that would be different than what she now has? If you were Terri, what would you say? Ask Terri without any of your own beliefs interferring - what is she saying to you? God does not make mistakes. Do you believe in God, the Source, enough to trust It is doing exactly what it's supposed to for every person? If people truly did trust in God, they wouldn't be so hysterical and fearful.

I find it very sad that Terri's parents and siblings are using religion and protesters, and in turn they are being used over this tragedy. I hope Terri's family get out of denial and can let Terri go all the way now. If they really love her, let her go.

Update June 15, 2005:
Terri Schiavo's autopsy report "backed her husband's contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state, finding that she had massive and irreversible brain damage and was blind, the medical examiner's office said Wednesday. It also found no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused.

"But what caused her collapse 15 years earlier remained a mystery. The autopsy and post-mortem investigation found no proof that she had an eating disorder, as was suspected at the time, Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin said. She died from dehydration, Thogmartin said. He said she did not appear to have suffered a heart attack and there was no evidence that she was given harmful drugs or other substances prior to her death. He said that after her feeding tube was removed, she would not have been able to eat or drink if she had been given food by mouth, as her parents' requested. "Removal of her feeding tube would have resulted in her death whether she was fed or hydrated by mouth or not," Thogmartin told reporters. He also said she was blind, because the "vision centers of her brain were dead," and that her brain was about half of its expected size when she died 13 days following the feeding tube's removal." [Source: AP] Naturally, Schiavo's parents don't accept the autopsy findings, and Bush is still milking this for any attention to find out what caused Terri's collapse in the first place. Oh give it a rest already.