Tragedy Repeated as Farce

A minor league collection of the loons who went agog over Terry Schiavo surfaced last week up in Wisconsin to spew their peculiar form of bile:

Staff Sgt. Chad Simon was laid to rest this week with full military honors, a hero who gave his life for us in Iraq.

Of course, the folks at Pro-Life Wisconsin couldn't resist taking a kick at his flag-draped coffin.

Three days after the Monona Marine's funeral, the Pro-Lifers put out a press release claiming that Simon was "murdered by those in charge of his medical care." Late Friday, under legal threat by the lawyers for the Don and Marilyn Anderson Hospicecare Center in Fitchburg, the Pro-Lifers backed off the murder charge.

Still, the Pro-Lifers warned that this could happen to you. Julie Grimstad of Pro-Life called Simon's health-care power of attorney document "signing your own suicide note. It may be legal, but it's most certainly immoral."

Then, if it's possible to get more appalling, the group goes on to tout Grimstad's seven "End of Life Decisions" brochures.

Know what, Julie?

Taking advantage of a family's grief for your political purposes is truly immoral.

Simon, 32, and the father of a 6-year-old son, was severely injured Nov. 8 by the same roadside bomb that killed Lance Cpl. Shane O'Donnell of DeForest, and two other members of their Madison-based company.

Simon came home from Iraq and received medical care here until mid-July when his doctors determined he would not recover. His family honored his "health-care power of attorney," which gave the ability to make decisions to his wife, Regina.

Jack Schuster, the family's attorney, said Regina Simon made the decision after much soul-searching. A judge OK'd the removal of the feeding tube.

"It was all done legally. If they want to debate the morality, who are they to judge?" Schuster asked. "Hospice provided the highest level of loving care. To accuse them of murdering him is the height of immorality."

Schuster said Regina Simon wondered why Pro-Life, "if they were really so concerned about my husband, why didn't they contact the family before he died?"

Well, because it's not about Chad Simon.

It's about a group of publicity-hungry hard-liners that lost its favorite poster girl when Terri Schiavo died this spring.

"Taking advantage of a family's grief for your political purposes is truly immoral." Exactly.