Do you think it is murder if the respirator of a brain-dead person is turned off? I don't. And do you think that people who are of sound mind can put their wishes in writing in the event that some accident or medical event like a massive heart attack or stroke causes massive, irreparable and irreversible brain damage, resulting in being on a ventilator? Imagine that is the case, there is no brain activity, the cerebrum is basically gone, and said hypothetical patient can't breathe without a machine. Is it murder to turn off the respirator in such cases? Is it not reasonable for people, like me, for instance, to direct in advance that if I end up in such a circumstance, that I want the electricity turned off? And since I wouldn't want to be kept "alive" in such a circumstance, does that make me not "in my right mind"?
Terri Schiavo was not brain dead.
"Do you think it is murder if the respirator of a brain-dead person is turned off? "
Terri was NOT on a respirator and she was NOT braindead.
Do you think people whose diagnosis has a 40% chance of being wrong, who left no instructions, where there is no clear evidence as to their wishes, should be denied food and water, even by mouth, i.e. summarily murdered?
The only thing that might make you of questionable mind, would be to let a doctor (or several doctors) who spend less than 30 minutes "assessing" you, decide from an cat scan that they know your cognitive status, prognosis, and worthiness to live....better than the people who love you and have known you for much of your life, and who ALL sense that "you" are still there....and who all sense or know innately that "you" want help to live....and that "you" are wanted and will be cared for by them, even if your disabilities are severe.
The principle is that you have the right to refuse unwanted intervention or invasion of your body. That is why you may refuse a ventilator, or any other medical treatment, or even food and water.
You do not have the right to force another to do your will. And, being "inalienable," you do not have the right to deny or give away your right not to be killed.
However, the fact is that Terri did not write down her wish not to have food and water. Evidently, there were opposing stories about her wishes, the judge discounted her college friend's statements and her mother's recollection and believed the man who stood to gain from her death and his brother and his brother's wife. And then, in addition to ruling that low tech, use of the tube in place would stop, he ordered a medical intervention. Next, the judge ruled that no one could give nutrition and hydration by "natural means." These are not analogous to the refusal of a competent patient or following the express, expressed wishes of a formerly competent patient.