Congress Calls Schiavo to Testify

Today's New York Times reports that Congress is going to pass a law forbidding the removal of feeding tubes, etc., from patients in a "persistent vegetative state" if they've left no written instructions. Click here for the full story.

From other stories I've read on this case, and what I've seen on the news, she may, in fact, still be in there somewhere. But it appears that the only thing she can still do on her own is blink. The only way to be sure whether that's an attempt at communication or a random tic would be to set her up for the kind of computerized gear that Stephen Hawking is using. Is that likely to happen? I don't think so. Is she going to be able to communicate otherwise? Only with those who have the patience to play "20 (thousand) quesions", and what kind of conversation is that, really? Only intense frustration for everyone concerned.

I say, either let her try a Hawking-style communication rig, or let her go. I can imagine no worse torture than to be trapped inside my own head for the rest of my artificially-sustained life.

Every time I see a story like this, I think of Stephen Hawking. I imagine him without the communication gear, living on machines, slowly going insane from the inability to communicate his ideas to anyone. And I think of myself, an artist and writer (day job to the contrary). I've thought about how I could continue to create if I lost various abilities: my sight, or the use of my hands, for example. Even if I lost the use of my whole body, I could still create; I could still write. But only if I had something like what Hawking has: a computer that could respond to the tracking of my eyes. But I very much doubt that any health insurance policy covers that sort of thing, and I doubt that my honey could afford to buy it for me (or I for her, if it came to that).

So consider these my written instructions regarding artificially sustaining my body if I am no longer able to operate it on my own:

Let me try a Hawking-style communication system. If I am unable to use it, or it cannot be made available to me, then by all you hold sacred, let me go.