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Using Terri: The Religious Right's Conspiracy to Take Away Our Rights
The Terri Schiavo case was a key battle in a larger political struggle over abortion, stem-cell research, physician-assisted suicide, gay rights, and the appointment of federal judges. The religious Right chose to make it a national spectacle because they thought they could win. They were wrong. But there are many more battles to come. Jon Eisenberg, who served as one of the lead attorneys on Michael Schiavo's side, exposes the religious Right's strategies and follows the money trail to reveal how they are organized, who is funding the movement, and where we can expect future legal maneuvers to combat the American traditions of autonomy and freedom.
Jon Eisenberg has experienced the family struggle of removing a feeding tube from a loved one and witnessed firsthand the Florida drama that will continue to have national legal and political consequences for years to come. What tactics can we expect to see in courtrooms and state legislatures all across this country in the days ahead? Who is behind the funding and what do they hope to accomplish and when? What are the religious and bioethical issues that are at the center of these debates and how will they affect future legal battles? Using Terri gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what happened -- and what's coming.
Jon Eisenberg has experienced the family struggle of removing a feeding tube from a loved one and witnessed firsthand the Florida drama that will continue to have national legal and political consequences for years to come. What tactics can we expect to see in courtrooms and state legislatures all across this country in the days ahead? Who is behind the funding and what do they hope to accomplish and when? What are the religious and bioethical issues that are at the center of these debates and how will they affect future legal battles? Using Terri gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what happened -- and what's coming.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 5, 2010
Sounds like this one will be a fun read :)
August 26, 2015
Full review at my blog at
http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
http://muslimmediareview.blogspot.com...
May 18, 2024
A LAWYER FOR MRS. SCHIAVO’S HUSBAND REPORTS ON THE CASE/CONTROVERSY
[BACKGROUND: Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990, and was said to be in an ‘irreversible persistent vegetative state.’ Her husband Michael (her legal guardian) argued that she would not have wanted prolonged artificial life support without the prospect of recovery, and in 1998 he elected to remove her feeding tube---leading to a 7-year fight in the courts before he was finally allowed to authorize removing the feeding tube, and she soon passed in 2005.]
Author Jon B. Eisenberg (who was one of the lead attorneys on Michael Schiavo’s side in the case) wrote in the Introduction to this 2005 book, “You may not be aware of it, but a fundamental constitutional right is at risk in America today. It is the right of control over your own body---known as ‘personal autonomy.’ … [This] includes the right to make decisions about your own medical treatment. It includes the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment that you don’t want---what some people call the ‘right to die.’ The threat to this constitutional right comes from a small but powerful group of extremists on the fringes of American politics… known as the ‘religious Right’… they are richly funded by a group of ultraconservative foundations and think tanks created … by a handful of the wealthiest men in America. These extremists are waging ‘culture wars’---efforts to turn America into a theocracy where the Constitution is subservient to scripture and all of us are yoke to their religious dogma…. A key battle in their culture wars was an attempt to keep an unconscious woman’s feeding tube attached…” (Pg. ix)
He continues, “This book tells the story of a sustained effort by leaders of the religious Right to force life-sustaining treatment, in the form of artificial nutrition and hydration, on Terri Schiavo---who was permanently unconscious for fifteen years, who could not eat, drink, think, communicate, or see. The forces behind this effort were motivated by a dogma that cared not a whit whether Terri would have wanted to refuse such treatment had she been able to decide for herself. The culture warriors hold the minority belief that there is no ‘right to die’---that our bodies belong to God, not ourselves, and that God alone may decide when we die.” (Pg. x)
He adds, “It is also a wake-up call for America. The Schiavo case was just one battle in the religious Right’s culture wars… The culture warriors will keep on fighting to destroy the constitutional right of personal autonomy. They are not using their millions of dollars of fund new attacks on the judicial branch, attempts to change the right-to-de laws from state to state, and various other social causes that fall within the ambit of their far-flung assault on autonomy. They will success unless we do something about it.” (Pg. xii) He then gives a detailed history of the events, and the various court cases.
After Terri’s death, he asks, “Was there a winner? The Schindlers lost their beloved daughter. Michael Schiavo lost his wife and his privacy. Members of Congress lost the respect of the American people. Jeb Bush probably lost his shot at the presidency. The only true winner was the Constitution of the United States.” (Pg. 194)
In a concluding chapter, he recounts, “Terri Schiavo’s autopsy report was public released on June 15, 2005. It undermines the claims by the Schindlers [her parents] and her supporters about Terri’s medical condition and the suggestions that Michael Schiavo might have strangled of otherwise physically abused her. The report concludes: *Terri had severe brain damage from anoxia… *Her condition was irreversible. No amount of therapy or treatment could have regenerated the damaged parts of her brain.” (Pg. 199)
Eisenberg concludes, “It’s not too late to prevent these state-by-state efforts to subvert the right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, but they will succeed unless there is a groundswell of opposition from the vast majority of Americans who value personal autonomy… We in the majority need to use the same sort of weapons to fight back. This really is a war, declared by the religious Right on a fundamental aspect of the American way of life…” (Pg. 225)
This book will be of great interest to those studying this case, or other cases of ‘assisted suicide.’
[BACKGROUND: Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990, and was said to be in an ‘irreversible persistent vegetative state.’ Her husband Michael (her legal guardian) argued that she would not have wanted prolonged artificial life support without the prospect of recovery, and in 1998 he elected to remove her feeding tube---leading to a 7-year fight in the courts before he was finally allowed to authorize removing the feeding tube, and she soon passed in 2005.]
Author Jon B. Eisenberg (who was one of the lead attorneys on Michael Schiavo’s side in the case) wrote in the Introduction to this 2005 book, “You may not be aware of it, but a fundamental constitutional right is at risk in America today. It is the right of control over your own body---known as ‘personal autonomy.’ … [This] includes the right to make decisions about your own medical treatment. It includes the right to refuse life-sustaining treatment that you don’t want---what some people call the ‘right to die.’ The threat to this constitutional right comes from a small but powerful group of extremists on the fringes of American politics… known as the ‘religious Right’… they are richly funded by a group of ultraconservative foundations and think tanks created … by a handful of the wealthiest men in America. These extremists are waging ‘culture wars’---efforts to turn America into a theocracy where the Constitution is subservient to scripture and all of us are yoke to their religious dogma…. A key battle in their culture wars was an attempt to keep an unconscious woman’s feeding tube attached…” (Pg. ix)
He continues, “This book tells the story of a sustained effort by leaders of the religious Right to force life-sustaining treatment, in the form of artificial nutrition and hydration, on Terri Schiavo---who was permanently unconscious for fifteen years, who could not eat, drink, think, communicate, or see. The forces behind this effort were motivated by a dogma that cared not a whit whether Terri would have wanted to refuse such treatment had she been able to decide for herself. The culture warriors hold the minority belief that there is no ‘right to die’---that our bodies belong to God, not ourselves, and that God alone may decide when we die.” (Pg. x)
He adds, “It is also a wake-up call for America. The Schiavo case was just one battle in the religious Right’s culture wars… The culture warriors will keep on fighting to destroy the constitutional right of personal autonomy. They are not using their millions of dollars of fund new attacks on the judicial branch, attempts to change the right-to-de laws from state to state, and various other social causes that fall within the ambit of their far-flung assault on autonomy. They will success unless we do something about it.” (Pg. xii) He then gives a detailed history of the events, and the various court cases.
After Terri’s death, he asks, “Was there a winner? The Schindlers lost their beloved daughter. Michael Schiavo lost his wife and his privacy. Members of Congress lost the respect of the American people. Jeb Bush probably lost his shot at the presidency. The only true winner was the Constitution of the United States.” (Pg. 194)
In a concluding chapter, he recounts, “Terri Schiavo’s autopsy report was public released on June 15, 2005. It undermines the claims by the Schindlers [her parents] and her supporters about Terri’s medical condition and the suggestions that Michael Schiavo might have strangled of otherwise physically abused her. The report concludes: *Terri had severe brain damage from anoxia… *Her condition was irreversible. No amount of therapy or treatment could have regenerated the damaged parts of her brain.” (Pg. 199)
Eisenberg concludes, “It’s not too late to prevent these state-by-state efforts to subvert the right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, but they will succeed unless there is a groundswell of opposition from the vast majority of Americans who value personal autonomy… We in the majority need to use the same sort of weapons to fight back. This really is a war, declared by the religious Right on a fundamental aspect of the American way of life…” (Pg. 225)
This book will be of great interest to those studying this case, or other cases of ‘assisted suicide.’
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews