The Terri Schiavo Case: An Exchange

Joan Didion's earlier article, to which we
posted a link, has drawn some letters to the editor.

Joseph J. Fins, M.D. writes

... I would hope that Ms. Didion would ascribe to the rule of law and the role of the courts in adjudicating divisive issues. Ms. Didion does a disservice to the standing of the courts—and the impartial process of clinical diagnosis—by omitting these impartial judgments from her piece. Although it is the role of the social critic to question legal authority and received medical wisdom, such skepticism comes with the cost of undermining the two learned professions upon which society depends. When the standing of the courts is questioned and clinical diagnoses are perceived as value choices and not the evidence-based assessments they are, civil society is weakened. ...

Ms. Didion replies,

... As for the complaint that questioning "legal authority and received medical wisdom" undermines "the two learned professions upon which society depends," and so brings about a "weakened civil society," I would suggest only that the sturdiness of those professions rests not on any presumed infallibility but on their willingness to consider and address the very questions that Dr. Fins appears to consider best left unraised. ...

The New York Review of Books August 11, 2005