Isn’t This Rape?

17 Sep, 2008 by Melissa Clouthier

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Glenn Reynolds links to some guy who got caught “having sex” if you could call it that with his comatose wife. Here’s what the guy’s attorney said:

Johnson’s lawyer, T. Christopher Kelly, of Madison, said his client should be left alone.

“Mr. Johnson deeply loves his wife,” Kelly said. “He’s spent every day talking to her, holding her, trying to stay connected with her and bring her back. I think he’s entitled to privacy in this matter.”

The court sided with this guy. Am I crazy for thinking that this result is just nuts? Glenn Reynolds, says this:

I suspect, however, that if the genders were reversed people wouldn’t have cared nearly as much.

Really? Reversing the roles doesn’t make me feel any better about it. Double ew! Sex with comatose people is sick no matter who is doing it.

I would like to go on the record here and now to say that if I’m in a coma, that I revoke conjugal duties until which time I can actively consent to them, and give the hubby permission, after say, a pre-agreed time, to seek solace somewhere besides my hospital bed–as long as it’s legal. Evidently, lawyers are the reason I need to make this explicit when it seems fairly self-evident.

Tangentially, I don’t think we should judge someone who ends up divorcing a spouse who lies in a state of suspended animation for years. The medical realities mean that some people who would have died, live and for years and years.

Cross-posted at MelissaClouthier.com