Andrew C. McCarthy: Is Prosecution the Solution?

This article appears on today's National Review Online. The headline is "Is Prosecution the Solution?" The subhead is "Terri Schiavo is being tortured, torture is a crime, therefore..."

The U.S. Congress and the Florida state legislature are struggling to overcome impasses in their efforts to enact laws that might save Terri Schiavo's life, or at least have her case reviewed by federal courts. But is there a more straightforward solution? Excruciatingly slow starvation and dehydration is clearly a form of torture. Torture is a crime. So why don't the state law-enforcement authorities in Florida prosecute Michael Schiavo and any person who is aiding and abetting him in carrying it out?

After the feeding tube that sustains Terri Schiavo was removed on Friday afternoon, National Review's John Miller asked a question (on NRO's weblog, The Corner) which was penetrating in its trenchant simplicity: "If somebody put a pistol to [Terri] Schiavo's head and pulled the trigger — you know, to give the "dying process" a little nudge — would the shooter be guilty of murder under Florida law?" Well, given that we've had no small amount of propaganda from right-to-die activists about the purported humaneness of letting Terri wither and die, why doesn't someone just shoot her — or at least administer the procedure employed to execute in capital cases. It would, after all, be quicker and thus more humane, right?

It is not being done because its crude blatancy would too obviously spotlight that what's happening here is cold-blooded murder...

Michael Schiavo is reported to have said, when they pulled out a tube that could have been capped (cruelty on top of cruelty, that was), that he 'just wants to put all this behind him'. There's no statute of limitations on murder, Michael, and I'm willing to bet that the loopholes you've so painstakingly utilized will get you only so far. For pity's sake, stop saying 'if I can't have her, no one else can'.