Violation of Human Dignity

Its unreal to think of how many violations of human dignity have taken place in just my lifetime. For this blog assignment I decided to explore the case of Terri Schiavo that I'm sure many people remember seeing on the news. 

In case someone hasn't heard of the case, or needs a refresher this case is about a 26 year old woman from Florida who collapsed in her home one day and when 911 rescuers arrived she was not breathing and didn't have a pulse. She was rushed to the hospital but despite the medical teams efforts she remained unaware of her surroundings and a feeding tube was inserted as her only way of gaining nutrition. Within one year of her cardiac arrest she was diagnosed with persistent vegetative state. 

Very simply put, throughout the next several years a legal case developed between Terri's Husband, and her parents. Her parents were fighting to keep her alive, while her husband wanted the feeding tube removed, which would lead to her death.  After several court appearances and judges decisions, her husband won and the feeding tube was removed and Terri died from starvation. 


This is a major example where human dignity was violated. The video below also gives a summary of Terri Schiavo's story. 

Looking at this example, and thinking about what it means for our society going forward I get a bit confused. It seems as though taking food and water away from a human goes against everything that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is working towards. In this case a woman was deprived of two items needed to live, and from my point of view was completely stripped of her human dignity. 

This example also brings in the issue of when a person loses the capability to make decisions for themselves. It was definitely an extremely ethical dilemma, but it was left in the hands of the government to make the right choice, and I don't feel that they did what they stress so much in the principles of Human Rights.