Give your initial conclusion about whether Terri Schiavo has a right to all Seifert's four

levels of dignity. Show that you can apply the lessons from the study texts, the definition
of dignity (Guardini), readings from Seifert and Lebech.

With the case of Terri Schiavo, I believe she has every right to dignity but not all
of Seifert’s four levels. Basing on the excerpt on Seifert’s four levels of dignity, the only
level Terry Schiavo is entitled to would be the level of “ontological dignity”. Having said
that, we can’t deny the fact that in some periods of her life, she had the right to the three
other levels of dignity. But given the circumstances of her Persistent Vegetative State
(PVS), she is only entitled to Ontological dignity. It is this fundamental level of dignity
that Lebech describes as “intrinsic to the individual” and “inherent in their nature”.
Dignity here is not reduced to just the “manifestation of autonomous activity”. Quoting
the excerpt of Lebech, “Consciousness and autonomy are important features of the
human being, a manifestation of his personal and rational nature, but the dignity of the
person is not dependent on their actual exercise”. What this means is that regardless of
the absence of cognitive function that Terri Schiavo has, she is still entitled to the right
to life. To euthanize a person of PVS would be a form of killing someone possessing
human dignity.