Please do not resuscitate me

I, Joseph Hughes, being of sound mind a body, do hereby ask you, my readers – the very select two or three of you whom this concerns directly – to not seek resuscitation should I enter a persistent vegetative state. I do not want to "exist" ad infinitum, my vital life functions performed by complex machinery.

If a debate should arise as to my fate, please do not politicize my condition. Please do not refer to those who rightly want to fulfill my final wishes as murderers, especially if those doing the name calling are former small-town exterminators riddled with ethics violations whom, I'm assuming, are now also going to come out against capital punishment and in favor of universal health care (if they care about life so much). Also, please don't circulate a memo in which my plight is mentioned as something that would excite your party's pro-life base:

The one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators by party leaders, called the debate over Schiavo legislation "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who is up for re-election next year.

"This is an important moral issue, and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a co-sponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."

Please, also, do not bring religion into my potential situation. I do not believe in God. My persistent vegetative state would not be God's will or part of God's plan. And it would also not be part of God's will or plan for you to picket the hospital where I would be staying. Your hurtful signs would do nothing to make my life any better. Keep your American flags and children away from me and my family and friends. You have no idea what they would be going through.

Please, Republicans, don't use me as an excuse to destroy a woman's right to choose. We all know this has nothing to do with Terri Schiavo. It's about your phony "culture of life." Please, everyone, don't allow avowed pro-lifers to speak to my situation, people who have no concern for me other than public relations. Why not let Schiavo, who is clearly not living in your sense of the word, meet her fate in dignity? The party of state's rights can't even let her home state decide what's right and wrong. And Congress can't even let the real physicians decide, either, they all have to play doctors on C-SPAN.

Please, those of you opposed to gracefully ending a life not worth living anymore, please consider the following:

Those of us who read liberal blogs are also aware that Republicans have voted en masse to pull the plug (no pun intended) on Medicaid funding that pays for the kind of care that someone like Terri Schiavo and many others who are not so severely brain damaged need all across this country.

Those of us who read liberal blogs also understand that that the tort reform that is being contemplated by the Republican congress would preclude malpractice claims like that which has paid for Terry Schiavo's care thus far.

Those of us who read liberal blogs are aware that the bankruptcy bill will make it even more difficult for families who suffer a catastrophic illness like Terry Schiavo's because they will not be able to declare chapter 7 bankruptcy and get a fresh start when the gargantuan medical bills become overwhelming.

And should a Republican – especially George Bush – be in power should this tragedy befall me, don't let him (or her, should Condoleeza Rice fool a majority of Americans) make pronouncements based on my situation. Don't let Bush escape scorn for signing into law while governor of Texas a piece of legislation that

expressly gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. It is called the Texas Futile Care Law. Under this law, a baby was removed from life support against his mother's wishes in Texas just this week. A 68 year old man was given a temporary reprieve by the Texas courts just yesterday.

And please, Mr. President, don't rush back from vacation to make an issue of my life, when you stayed at home, silent, when over 100,000 people lost their lives in the recent tsunami. Hell, you couldn't even get home early on Sept. 11. And don't make an issue of my funeral when you haven't – even during a time of war – attended a single military funeral.

If a tragedy should befall me, please let me die in peace. It's what I want.

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Comments

[elmo farnsworth]

So glad the republicans are using this poor woman and her family for political gain. So proud to be an American in these policially cynical times. Maybe next week they'll find a deformed homeless child to exploit.

[saintknowitall]

Somehow, I don't think there will be too many people demonstrating to keep you alive.

As to the exploitation of handicapped children, (per Elmo Farnsworth), I think you will find plenty of exploitation of children (remember: It takes a village) on the Democratic side as well. You should really come out of the DU every once and awhile.

[Hughes for America]

Thanks for the endorsement ... And I think you're wrong, those Jesus types will protest anything if there's a will to be imposed upon. Just today, I saw a whole throng of them outside The Cleveland Orchestra for a right-to-fife protest.