Thomas Sowell: 'Cruel and unusual' punishment for being an inconvenience

Tough question. I have been following this case on the fringes for awhile. I came to it with the initial feeling that the parents really need to let go. I am a parent myself and I had to stop and think about it and read and think and so on. As I dug into it more, I could see why the parents were having a difficult time with this (to say the least) and why they were resisting. I still see that. This case has been beneficial to me personally before the govt involvement because it made me recheck my documents, talk to my spouse, my kids, etc. That is always a good thing. Has it been 'beneficial' to Terri to have this pulled into such a public arena. I don't know that answer. It's really about her after all. If she is truly unaware, then I guess it makes no difference. If she is truly wishing to die, she is probably not happy about it and if she is truly wishing to live, she is probably hopeful. Who can say? I imagine the husband (nor the parents)didn't count on this sort of attention to the situation. God knows how they all handle it. It's painful to watch but that doesn't mean the discussion are bad. I am disappointed in the lack of compassion expressed by those participating in the legal discussions and the lack of expression of mercy in the legal decisions. I think there are a few of us in the public that have an even greater dislike for the judicial types in general after having seen the faceless, humanless decisions reported in this case so far. I don't have an answer to your question, not a clean one anyway.

A lot of conservatives and idependent thinkers not necessarily identified with the "religous right" have come out for Terri.

One of the ones who surprised me most was James Q. Wilson. You have to scroll down to his column "Killing Terri" which appeared in Monday's WSJ.

I think you are correct and I am concerned about the now popular theme of everybody should have a living will. I see such pre ordered instructions as an invitation for a variety of interpretations which may be at variance with the intention of the patient-to-be. We do not know who may be in our lives at the time of execution of a living will, and whether they would act in our best interests or their own. I think at this point we can expect to be helped to a quicker death by this society should we ever have the misfortune to lose our capacity to take care of ourselves, at whatever age. I also do not trust body parts harvesting for the same reasons.

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