Terri Schiavo

Now that their daughter has died, I hope that Terri Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, get the psychological help they so desperately and obviously need. The inability to tell that one’s daughter is in a persistently vegetative state and thinking that her responses to one’s voice are anything but reflexive responses shows that you too have problems with your brain–except in the parent’s case, it is repairable.

It is also clear that Bob and Mary had problems long before they started begging Michael to “give my child back,” failing to recognize that, at the time their daughter fell ill, she was 26 and had been married for 6 or so years. She was 41 when she died: she was no child, and if they still think of their 41 year old offspring as a child, they have serious issues.

In the mean time, my heart goes out to Michael-for the long agonizing 15 years he’s spent since his wife collapsed, for having to listen to your shrill in-laws (this case has done nothing to improve the status of “Mother-In-Laws”), for having to go to court repeatedly in order to do the right thing, and, despite all of this, allowing your wife’s parents access to her. Michael is definitely a decent individual, and my thoughts are with him tonight.

I’m also sure that Terri is enjoying her new found freedom.