“Terri’s Day” Established

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and Priests for Life have announced the establishment of “Terri’s Day.” From the story:

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and Priests for Life jointly announced that “Terri’s Day” will advocate for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life stated, “Those of us who were with Terri will never forget her life and her death. For the sake of all the vulnerable, it is critically important that those who never knew Terri likewise remember the lessons that God taught us through her.”

“No family should ever have to witness what my family witnessed, watching a loved one slowly dehydrate to death,” added Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri’s sister. “We want Terri’s Day to remind us all that persons with disabilities are never burdens and should be treated with nothing but our unconditional love and compassion.”

Futile Care Theory cases like the current one in Canada, dehydrating people who have not asked to have sustenance removed, castigating and denigrating people with profound cognitive disabilities as mere “V-words,” as if any human being can be reduced to the status of a turnip, are among the crucial moral issues facing the country that advocacy actions such as Terri’s Day seek to address. I honor the Schindlers for their continued commitment to these issues—in the face of some of the most disgusting denigration and vituperation to which they are continually subjected.