There are many, many people who have given the order to pull the plug on a loved one. I suspect Terri's case troubles them, because they want like hell to believe they did the right thing, and not for selfish reasons.
Sigh - do not use that language, please. "Pull the plug" has to do with vents, etc -
Food and water is a separate issue. And we won on that tonight.
You have correctly intuited the motivation on many of them. I responded to a gentleman last night.
Stopping treatment, food, fluids or otherwise on a patient that is near death and has no hope for recovery is a far cry from stopping food and fluids on someone with a nearly perfectly functioning body.
In their hearts they are uneasy. It is also a comparision between apples and a dropped melon.