Euthanasic death is always promoted as an act of mercy. However, it appears at times to be an act of mercy for someone other than the patient. This was the case with Terri Schiavo, who had to be starved to death in order for her to die; a person who also had family who said they would care for her and physicians demurring to the “persistent vegetative state” (PVS) diagnosis. All she needed was nutrition, water, and love, all of which was readily available, but denied by the euthenists.
Now, we actually heard from a Belgium man, Rom Houben, who was paralyzed in a car accident in 1983 and diagnosed to be in a coma or persistent vegetative state (PVS), as was Schiavo, but Houben was in this comatose state for 23 years. I say that we heard from him, and I mean that because after 23 years he woke up, and here is some of what he said!
Houben, 46, said of his awareness and yet his inability to communicate, “I screamed, but there was nothing to hear.” “All that time I just literally dreamed of a better life,” Houben said. “Frustration is too small a word to describe what I felt.”
“I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth,” he said, “I want to read, talk with my friends via the computer and enjoy my life now that people know I am not dead.” ((All quotes are from the Baptist Press Thom Strode November 30, 2009, accessed same day))
As Christians, we clearly recognize that there is a time to die, but unlike the euthenist, we esteem every human life, and we presume life; moreover, we asseverate that nutrition, water, and love are NOT extraordinary measures, and therefore should never be denied!
