Exactly the point.
Even if Terri had a written "living will" stating she would rather die than live in a handicapped state, such wishes could not be respected by law.
The right to life is an unalienable right. Since unalienable means "incapable of being surrendered or transferred," a person cannot terminate his own right to live. So long as America stands on its foundation of unalienable, God-given rights, there can be no right to suicide. Sadly, abortion has numbed the American conscience against the absolute protection of rights and life.
One disturbing thing about the Terri Schiavo case is that it goes beyond even the "right to die," and uses the same language to order a handicapped woman to death. This shows the inevitable consequence of the right to die, when that "right" becomes a order.
No person can have that kind of power, not even over himself.
In the latter case, it seems unconstitutional to me. Thanks for pointing that out.
Sure they can, because it is their choice regarding medical treatment. It's a choice just the same as any decision made regarding other goods and services offered in the marketplace. It involves Free will and is a gift from God, just as life is. There is no one that has the right to interfere with those decisions.
"For Christians, even supposed wishes, written or otherwise, might be considered a form of suicide. Playing with our own fate seems to me to be possilbly taking things from God's hands."
It is not suicide, it is the refusal to partake of the goods and services someone else is pushing. It's an exercise in Free will. Free will is a gift from God, just as life is. He does not interfere with it either before , or after death in these matters. Just as God honors a persons decisions, based on the reasons given, so should everyone else.
Suicide is killing yourself on purpose, when you would not otherwise die, or have to rely on the constant care of technologically competent others and their machines to live.