By Staff
Our View
Death can come in many forms. In Minnesota last month, death came in the form of a rampaging student. Here in Atmore last month, six-month-old Elias Ocean Johnson was murdered, allegedly by his father. Throughout the country the past couple of weeks, thousands of people have been glued to the television to see the latest news on Terri Schiavo.
But one interesting case we haven't heard of is that of Sun Hudson, a six-month-old, much like Elias, who had a rare form of dwarfism. Doctors had determined the case would be fatal. When the fact that Sun's mother was unable to pay for health care, the Texas Futile Care Law went into effect.
This law, signed by one George W. Bush in 1999 while he was governor of Texas, allows hospitals to pull the plug if there is little to no chance of recovery and the possibility of huge unpaid bills piling up is present.
Thanks to this law, two weeks ago Sun's feeding and breathing tubes were removed and he was allowed to starve to death.
Why weren't the president and Congress "erring on the side of life" in this case?
Where was the outrage here?
Terri Schiavo's case is unquestionably a tragedy, and she deserved better than to starve to death, but it's doubtful that Schiavo would have wanted to live this way. Now her suffering is over, and her despicable family has found another way to argue with one another. Now they are fighting over her remains.
If one good thing has come from the Schiavo situation, more people than ever are certainly filling out living wills over the next few months.
We pray citizens of Atmore are never faced with these difficult circumstances.