[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 25308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  STARVATION IS AN INHUMANE WAY TO DIE

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, death by dehydration is a painful, agonizing, 
and arduous process that takes 10 to 14 days. In addition to feeling 
the pangs of hunger and thirst, the skin, lips, and tongue crack, the 
nose bleeds because of the drying of the mucus membranes, heaving and 
vomiting may ensue because of the drying out of the stomach lining, and 
the victim may experience seizures.
  Compared to starvation and dehydration, death by hanging, firing 
squad, or even the electric chair seems humane. But right now that 
death sentence is being carried out not against murderers, rapists, and 
child molesters, but on one of the most disabled in our midst.
  Terri Schiavo is not on a respirator or any artificial life-support 
equipment. Any reasonable person who sees this woman reacting to her 
parents will realize she is not in a coma or, as is sometimes called, a 
persistent vegetative state.
  Have we, as a Nation, become so callous that we have bought into the 
``quality of life'' argument that some people simply are not worth the 
effort to protect and rehabilitate? I hope not.

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