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“Terri Schindler case, where her brain was damaged but she was still alive and aware.”

I just went back and looked at the medical facts of this case and there is nothing there to support the “Aware” part of your comment. The facts support that she was in a long term persistent vegetative state and could never have recovered no matter what therapy she had. Her parents made many claims but not one of them was ever supported by any medical facts. The conclusions from the autopsy supported her husbands statements not her parents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/15/national/15cnd-schiavo.html?_r=0

Mrs. Schiavo's alleged lack of capacity for responsive behavior was contested. I don't have my files at hand from 2005, but I know there were RN's and LPN's and other eyewitnesses, as well as her brother and her mom and dad, who reported and recorded her responsiveness. Furthermore, nobody disputes the fact that she had a severe brain injury and was very disabled; and nobody said she would "recover" if by "recover" you mean wake up and say to her brother, "Hi, Bobby, gee, what day is it? I'd like to go back to the Community College."

She was not, however, terminal. She was not dying. She was not in pain. And she was breathing on her own. She was also able to benefit from nutrition and hydration,using food and fluids successfully for the same thing you and I use them for: to keep on living.

That's why they had to MAKE her die by removing her nutrition and fluids. Nobody can survive that. Thereupon, this healthy but very disabled young woman died of starvation/dehydration: died the same --- if they had removed our food and water --- as you and I would have done.

It is not medically ethical to kill disabled men and women by intentionally starving them. Period.

And, PS, the New York Times was biased as hell. Does that surprise you?

I would expect severe tissue damage to be seen in an autopsy performed after two weeks (or however long it took) of severe dehydration and starvation which would not have been present while she was fed, hydrated, and healthy. I don’t consider the condition of her brain after such abuse to be reflective of its condition prior to commencement of the murder process. On a side note, you have to be careful when using the NYT as a source, especially on a life issue where that newspaper has editorial policies against anything supporting the right to life.

There were videos that showed her being aware and responsive. The question was not whether she would recover—it was clear to everyone that the Terri who existed prior to the accident would *not* return. What was at stake was her right to live despite the fact that she would never regain her former level of cognition.

Newer technologies are able to directly measure the level of awareness in so-called vegetative or comatose patients. As it turns out, many of them are much more aware than their limited ability to interact with the world would indicate.

It was clear at the time that her husband wanted her dead and was willing to go to any length to achieve that (short of holding a pillow over her face himself). There is a special place in hell for him and the legal team that accommodated him.