[NonValueAdded]

The general rule of spousal supremacy comes from an age where golden anniversaries were common. Today, people are amazed if a couple makes it to 10 years. Sure, there are plenty of exceptions but the current divorce rate should be factored into the equation when it comes to current day application of that general rule.

[smoothsailing]

You have an point. Marriage in todays culture is not as widely practiced as a union of permanent devotion and fidelity.

I should add for those on this thread who may not know, Charles Krauthammer is a Medical Doctor who is confined to a wheelchair.

[Badray]

You make a good point and one of the reasons that the law is silent is that, IMO, such situations have been rare, if not non existant despite claims that it happens tens of thousands of times a day.

Rather than the travesty that Krauthammer suggests, I think that the Congress took a necessary first step to protect life when such a conflict arises.

The states SHOULD do this themselves, but that doesn't mean that Congress was wrong to pick up the ball when Florida dropped it.

The travesty, if there is one, is that Congress took so long to take this issue up. By waiting, Terri is now 5 days closer to death than she should be.