Editor:
In reading the Chronicle opinion article, “The Chronicle’s View: Is death a family matter or political matter?” I had to question whether the Chronicle shares the same biases that are prevalent in the mainstream media or is the Chronicle’s opinion formed solely by the biased mainstream media news reports that we all see and hear every day. The way this issue is reported by the mainstream media is so liberally slanted that it leaves many siding with the their point of view based on slanted information. I have to admit that when I first heard this story my first thought was in agreement with the mainstream media’s point of view that it is the husband’s decision.
Many of the reasons cited in this article are, at the very least, questionable in their validity. For example, the Chronicle makes the statement that the “(Florida Supreme Court) ruled in favor of Schiavo’s husband, who is honoring his wife’s living will.” This statement is very misleading because there IS NO living will. It is Michael Schiavo’s word against the word of Terri Schiavo’s biological family. I don’t think the “husband” holds the best interest of Terri Schiavo anymore because he has moved on with his life by having two children in a situation that is the same as being married, it only lacks the legal paperwork too make it official. I can’t fault the guy for moving on, but why not allow the parents to take care of her? The parents should have that right in this situation.
One other part to the story that is seldom reported is the questionable nature in which Michael Schiavo brought to light Terri Schiavo’s supposed “wish” to “not live that way”. It was February of 1990 when Terri Schiavo collapsed at her home. There were several court proceedings between 1993 and 1998, in which Michael Schiavo did not mention this “wish”. He waited until 1998 to mention Terri’s “wish” and by that time he was on his way to starting a new family. It seems to me that the “husband” has one marriage without the legal paperwork and has the legal paperwork for another marriage without actually having the marriage. I can’t understand how anyone can think the “husband” has Terri Schiavo’s best interest in mind.
The Chronicle shows bias again by accusing conservatives of “trampling on the freedom of Schiavo’s husband to make a decision in his wife’s best interest and Terry’s right to a living will.” Once again, there is no living will and does he really have her best interest? If there were a living will conservatives and others would respect Terri Schiavo’s wishes. The accusation against conservatives is also somewhat biased when you consider that Democrats were also divided, voting 47 for, 53 against, and 102 not voting.
The Chronicle finds themselves once again in-line with the mainstream media by comparing the Terri Schaivo case to the Utah case of a 6-year-old boy that occurred in Utah a few months ago. In that case the boy was completely on life support and diagnosed as brain dead, while Terri Schiavo is not on life support. This is the same kind of biased reporting that I have seen over and over again in the mainstream media, where article after article refers to “pulling the plug” or “artificial life support”. There is no “plug to pull” in the Schiavo case. There is no “artificial life support” in the Schiavo case. There is only a feeding tube that provides nutrition and hydration.
Why does the mainstream media continue to report on this issue and many others in a biased manner? In my opinion a large portion of the mainstream media articles are reported from a liberal point of view. In many cases key information is withheld from articles simply to continue defending a liberal cause. In this case the liberal cause that is being defended, in my opinion, is euthanasia.
The ACLU wouldn’t allow the most vicious murderer on death row to be killed this manner so why should this happen to Terri Schiavo? In this particular case I agree with our elected officials that removing the feeding tube is a method of euthanasia that is just too slow to allow.
David Olson,Senior, Mechanical Engineering