Guest post - Carlos on Terri

There are enough opinions on the Terri Schiavo case, but let me add one more - hopefully with a little different spin to it. I am not going to argue about the court case, or about the relationship between Terri and her husband. I am concerned about the future of folks like Terri. Terri, if she lives, may never get better, but for as long as she is alive, there is always a chance. When she is dead, there is no longer an opportunity for her to recover. Death is the only state that is not reversible. My argument here is for the possibility. If, for every time a person becomes brain damaged, we kill them, there is never any hope of making the condition better. Science will never advance and victims will continue to be treated in the same fashion. If people decided to lop off the head of everyone that became near or far sighted, the idea of glasses and correcting sight wouldn't have been invented. 50 years ago when solders were maimed in battle we let them live their lives. Because of that and because of the population of folks that are physically handicapped, science and inventors came up with prosthetic limbs. It is the invention that is important. Unfortunately, only demand of these items creates them. In the case of Terri we have a family that wants to help her and is willing to pay money for rehab and for any other technology that might help their daughter. It is unfortunate that Terri and everyone like her may never get the chance to be better.