Thank you for posting it. Terri is clearly NOT brain dead, a point that the much of the public hasn't grasped. If she was brain dead, there would be no controversy. I have some misgivings about the codeblue doc, he seems willing to stick his neck out based on incomplete information, something that most doctors hate to do.
If any of this is truly in dispute, the only course that is sane and humane is to test Terri in any way that might be useful.
There's no hurry about killing her. In fact, when people are in such an all-fired hurry to kill a perfectly harmless disabled women, it only attracts the deepest suspicion about their motives.
I have some disagreements with you here. This case has dragged on for years, her tube has been pulled and re-inserted twice, so using terms like "all-fired hurry" don't seem to fit. In fact, no matter how things turn out I think our justice system has done a disservice to all parties involved.
The other problem is the use of the term "kill". I have had and still have many patients with feeding tubes. Often they are inserted when the family (and I) has hope. A lot of times the family will want tube feedings for a while to see if there's any recovery of swallowing function or consciousness. Over time though it sometimes becomes clear the chance of recovery is negligible and the family will decide to stop the tube feedings, believing this is what their ill relative would want. I would not agree with calling this "killing" although you could certainly argue the opposite. And I sure as hell don't want the government involved in that decision.
2 or 3 times in your post, you state "the family" decides what happens to their loved one. That's not happening here, the only person calling the shots is Terri's so-called husband, who we all know is living with another woman and has 2 kids by her. Terri was in the state that she's in for several years before Michael suddenly remembered that Terri wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive by artificial means. Something is rotten in Denmark.
Don't we both wish. But it was government that enabled this whole sordid incident and deprived Terri of her property and her rights. There is no recourse for her except review by a higher government body.
The only problem is that two nurses testified in an affidavit (not allowed by Judge Greer) that Terri was able to take Jello and pudding through a baby bottle. The fact that she swallows her own saliva also points to the possibility of rehabilitation. The reason she was not allowed to receive any further foods by mouth was due to her husband's adament insistance that no therapy of any kind be given to his wife.
This fact has me troubled. I have heard of family members wanting to PUSH for therapy, but not many who want to BLOCK such therapy.