A Wake Up Call

Jim and Betsy Scantlin received an early Valentine's Day present from their daughter Sarah last week, a present they have been waiting since 1984 to hear. For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin has been mostly oblivious to the world around her - the victim of a drunken driver. After two decades of silence, she began talking and remembering her past. This inspirational story contrasts sharply with recent developments in the case of Terri Schiavo and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Terri, you will recall, has been similarly comatose for the past 15 years. Last Friday a Florida judge essentially sentenced Terri to die when he refused to reconsider his ruling allowing her estranged husband to remove her feeding tube and begin a painful week-long starvation process. Cases like Sarah Scantlin's highlight how little we know about serious brain injuries. A new study published in the medical journal Neurology found that brain-damaged people who are treated as if they are completely unaware may in fact hear and register what is going on around them but not be able to respond. No judge has the expertise to decide if Terri lives or dies and the decision should not be left up to a husband who desires Terri's death. Please pray for Terri and her family.