WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who took a leading role in the Terry Schiavo case, said Sunday it taught him that Americans do not want the government involved in such end-of-life decisions.
Frist, considered a presidential hopeful for 2008, defended his call for further examinations of the brain-damaged Florida woman during the last days of a bitter family feud over her treatment. Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state.
The case became a rallying point for right-to-life advocates, an important segment of the Republican Party. It also drew interest from those supporting the right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment and led to charges that the GOP was using a family tragedy for political gain.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he had any regrets regarding the Schiavo case, Frist said: “Well, I’ll tell you what I learned from it, which is obvious. The American people don’t want you involved in these decisions.”
In other words, Senator Frist was admitting that most Americans do not want the government to get involved in the decision over whether a person in a vegitative state should live or die. And yet, that is precisely what the Congressional GOP, under Senator Frist’s leadership attempted to do less than a year ago.
The Terry Schiavo fisaco was despicable. It was something that Congress never should have gotten itself involved in. And, the manner in which our government responded to it was something that made me ashamed to be a considered a supporter of the Republican Party. The extra-judicial efforts to “save” Terri Schivao were an insult to anyone who believes in federalism, the separation of powers, or individual liberty. More importantly, though, they were an insult to anyone who has had a family member who has been as far gone as Terri Schiavo was.
H/T to The Unrepentant Individual
