What is "artificial hydration?"...Imitation Water?
Michael wants the state to kill his wife so he can get the money designated for Terri's therapy (that he refuses to let her have) and marry the woman he has been shacking up and fathering children with!.
An especially interesting comment given that I would think somewhat useful amounts of water could easily be given by unquestionably natural means if Michael weren't forbidding them. Or would soaking someone by artificial because nobody ever bathed or swam until the invention of plumbing? [nb: I don't know that the amount of water one could get by bathing or other such means would be sufficient to sustain life, but I would suspect it would substantially aleviate pain]