PVS is NOT a medical diagnosis; it is a legal decree that morphs a person into a (nonendangered) plant. Once decreed, this decree is irreversible; no plant ever has transformed itself successfully into a person. Terri looks human, has human genes, acts human, and feels pain as a human; however, she is not a person. "Person" is, as the Supreme Court ruled in
Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857), a legal status accorded to some humans (and later, corporations and other entities). In that case, the Court ruled that Dred Scott never could attain personhood because of the color of his skin; instead, he was an animal. (The Constitution allows genetic humans who are not persons to be counted as three-fifths of a person in the Census.)
My solution: have the president decree that Terri participated in José Padilla's conspiracy (however erroneous that must be), send federal law-enforcement agencies to whip the plant from its pot (drab, windowless hospital room), and imprison her in solitary (except doctors and occasional visitors permitted by the guards [which curiously must exclude its owner]) at a military brig.
72 posted on
03/23/2005 4:48:35 AM PST by
dufekin
(The genocide, terror, communism, and tyranny of the Arab world are falling like dominoes.)
If I were the new U.S. Attorney General, I would be preparing to swoop down upon the probate court system of the jurisdiction in question, and seize all documents related to this case and others, in addition to seizing all Terri's medical records and those at the hospice.
There does seem to be a R.I.C.O. case brewing, but I doubt that the AG can act as fast as he'd like, unless he has directed a special task force to see what crimes are being committed.
We may not save Terri, but life is going to get harder for Felos, Greer & Co.