As a general rule, I don't think the state should be involved in end of life decisions. There are cases, like the Schiavo case, where different parties have different opinions and the lack of a written living will requires litigation. When the state involves itself in that litigation, then the subject of that litigation should eb entitled to all the due process rights of any common ordinary criminal.
Probate judges should not have the power to order the death of citizens.
Be a bit more specific in your next question.
From the very first word on this thread Manifesto, to the last, question, and with all the words in between them, not one solitary thing can change the simple fact that a disabled, helpless woman who depended on the kindness of others for her very survival, was murdered...starved to death with the full knowledge of the Congress, the Senate and the President of the United States of America.
Can you please for a moment put aside all the legal mumbo jumbo, the he said's and she said's and see the big picture. A woman who harmed no one, who broke no law, was legally murdered in our country that we are so proud of. Well, I'm not so proud of my country at the moment.
A FReeper asked me the other day if I would send the National Guard in to rescue her and I said Yes. I said heaven and earth should have been moved to save this poor woman. And she reacted to me as if I was insane. That's how divisive this issue is.
I am taken aback by the callous disregard for Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that was denied Terri. Are none of you able to see this? Have you stepped so far into the void that you cannot see that this goes against the grain of everything we have been brought up to believe in our country. That every life is precious. With Terri's murder, this country has taken a new tact.
Those of us with disabled children feel that but by the grace of God go I. Our government has started on a path that permits disabled people to be murdered in their beds. Will some bureaucrat someday down the line decide that my little girls life is not worth living because she is disabled. That's how WE see Terri's murder. That's why we wanted her to live...she did nothing wrong. She was innocent. Terri represents for us that it could have been one of our children. It isn't something so lofty as fulfilling her last request, she had no terminal disease. No fatal illness, she had a philandering husband and a egotistical judge. I'm sorry, I wandered.
A dark chapter in this country's history has begun. A chapter where murdering our disabled has now been sanctioned.
I would appeciate your being more specific as well. You said you didn't think the state should be involved at all, then amended it to say that the state should become involved where there is a dispute.
Would you suggest the state intervene in all cases where there is a family member who does not agree with the patient's previously chosen power-of-attorney?