Let them inside

Like many fellow bloggers, I harbor strong, mixed feelings about the Terri Schiavo situation, but let's set aside politics and emotions for the moment. Shall we?

Headline News has just reported that police have denied Terri's parents, the Schindlers, from visiting her hospital room this morning. The parents' "spiritual advisor," meanwhile, says Terri has only hours to live. Surely the doctors would agree. Terri has been without food or water for nearly two weeks now.

Michael Schiavo has final say, I believe, on who gets to be with Terri during her final hours. I disagree with the avenues Terri's parents have taken in their attempts to have her feeding tube reinserted. Michael may very well be bitter about it all.

But this latest report is separate from the notion of Terri's right to live vs. her right to die, a battle that Michael has clearly won. Common decency, which many may argue favored Michael throughout this ordeal, now says he ought to let Terri's flesh and blood be at her side when she dies.