Because I'm sure you're just as sick (in many ways) as I am about this case...

[quidditchgrrl]

Cutting this to spare the uninterested my biased, half-assed opinion.



Terri Schiavo had bulimia.  Her current condition resulted from an electrolyte imbalance (brought on by a bout of bingeing and purging) that triggered a heart attack.

Ever wondered about the parents of people who suffer with eating disorders?  How do women end up starving themselves to 90 pounds or eating cart-fuls of food before throwing it all back up?  Surely it must be all of the pressure society puts on girls to be thin, right?

Not really.  Just as there is a profile of people who have eating disorders, there is a family profile as well.  Overwhelmingly, one or both parents are overbearing, highly critical and judgmental, and attempt to exert some form of micromanagement in their child's life for as long as possible.  In many cases the parents deny any culpablity, claiming that their actions were "for her own good" and often placing blame on the girl herself for not being "normal." (Which is kind of telling in it's own right, eh?)

Sound familiar?  I've followed this case for a while now (because I'm interested in the right-to-die issue, and now the issue of marriage rights), and it seems to me that Terri's parents are acting as they must always have, trying to control their daughter's life.  Now, literally.  They can deny blame for her condition (they have a most convenient scapegoat in Michael Schiavo) and assert that they are the only ones with Terri's best interests at heart. 

The Schiavos are not long-suffering, blameless parents who beileve that their daughter might truly respond someday, although they think they are all of those things.  Long story short, however, is that Terri's husband has the ultimate authority under the vaunted, all-important Marriage Law, to make decisions affecting her health and welfare.

Thank goodness the courts stuck to the law.

Comments

[didi75.livejournal.com]

Interesting theory. I haven't really been following the case, but it makes sense. The grandstanding in Congress was unbelievable! It's absurd, really. I hope she finds peace.

[(Anonymous)]

You bring up a lot of interesting things here. I've struggled with an eating disorder since adolescence (which is incidentally my reason for commenting anonymously, not that you couldn't figure it out if you wanted, but it's not something I'm proud of), and there is some truth to what you say about parents' responsibility, for lack of a better word. Though I suppose it has to be said that what I perceived as control-freak-esque micromanagement when I was 14 really was for my own good, in 20-20 hindsight. But on the other hand, it was as much about thinness as it was about control-- and at some point the lines between the two became irreparably blurred. I suppose it's different for everyone.

I'm not sure if I'm about to disagree with you or not, because I don't think I know everything about the case. I don't have all the information on the husband or on the parents, and I'm not really sure I even have an opinion as to who's in the right here. Don't get me wrong-- I'm big on the right to die, if it's by conscious consent. What got me was a news report I saw tonight, which gave me the impression that they've yanked out her feeding tube and are basically waiting for her to starve to death. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but the thought horrifies me. I mean, if you're going to pull the plug, pull it. Give her a freaking injection. There's no reason to extend suffering. And I guess by that last statement, I've just utterly agreed with you. Or more rambled, rather.

[authenticjoy.livejournal.com]

I sort of accidently listened to "Doctor" Dobson's radio show a couple nights ago, D. I was trying to find my favorite classical station and I heard this being discussed, so I left it on. I was floored.

We wonder where the misinformation comes from in this country and now I know where. You should have heard some of the idiotic crap that was being said. They made it sound as if Ms. Schiavo was about to get up and begin her next semester at Bob Jones University if it weren't for her awful husband who was keeping her in the hospital! It made me sick.

You are spot on. They will have control over her until the day they die. She can be the baby that never grows up or leaves. Unfortunately, they will pass away before she does. Then, after years of indignity at the hands of her parents, she will be at the tender mercies of the system.

Listening to Dobson was an eye opening experience.

[jennlee2.livejournal.com]

I agree that it sounds more about control than love. Who would want their child to suffer in such a state for so long?

There's a lot of spin going on in this whole case - my mom's boyfriend, a fervent Fox news watcher, has this big spiel about how the husband put her in a coma because she was going to leave him - because she was perfectly healthy before and suddenly gets a heart attack which never happens, so therefore it must have been attempted murder, and therefore the parents should win out in their wishes.

I only wish some doctor would give her a medication overdose or something so the end would be quick and painless (not that she's probably feeling the pain, but you know what I mean).

[kirixchi.livejournal.com]

I should have already left for work by now, and haven't even crawled out of bed, so I can't comment much now except to say that you make a very good point. It is just as fair to point the finger at her parents as it is her husband.

I too am grateful for the protection of the courts.

[rachet.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've been thinking about that, too (the bulimia/parental control thing). It's very interesting.

But I breathed a sigh of relief when I read the plea was denied. Sorry...but once you're married, your spouse has way more power than your parents.

It's all very sad, though. And aggrivating that so much time/money/etc. of the goverment was used on something that should have been cut-n-dry from the beginning. My heart goes out to them for losing a daughter but...

[dejaspirit.livejournal.com]

My heart goes out to them for losing a daughter but...

EXACTLY. At some point it becomes selfish, not selfless. They want her to live for them, not for her. Her life is gone.