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One could argue there was a built in boundary. When spoon feeding was no longer possible then it was time to go. Terri seems to be on the very edge of that boundary. She could possibly live on very careful spoon feeding and I think Michael has been very callous in this regard. Why should he care if she possibly chokes now and then, if the alternative is to die altogether? Something ulterior is up and it isn't pretty.

Of course we also see people who go on artificial feeding for months on end then come back lucid. It's agonizing.

And there are two types of tube feeding. With one, regular food in a balanced diet is purreed and pushed through the tube; with the other, a formula is pushed. Patients on regular food thrive over long duration; patients on the formula do not last so long as Terri has survived. She has a strong will to live, IMHO.

One could argue there was a built in boundary. When spoon feeding was no longer possible then it was time to go. Terri seems to be on the very edge of that boundary. She could possibly live on very careful spoon feeding and I think Michael has been very callous in this regard. Why should he care if she possibly chokes now and then, if the alternative is to die altogether? Something ulterior is up and it isn't pretty.

Of course we also see people who go on artificial feeding for months on end then come back lucid. It's agonizing.

Thanks for the calm and reasoned reply. You are correct. A hundred years ago, you died if you were unable to breath or eat on your own. New medical technologies do create new moral dilemmas. The question still is: do people have a "right" to endless medical care, no matter how expensive, no matter how hopeless, who is going to pay for it and provide the care?