Do you think that taking this case to court has been helpful, or would not everyone be just as well off if this decision had to be hammered out between family and doctors?
Not when a husband wants to kill his wife, a wife who is.... 1. not comatose, 2. not on life support & 3. has no Living Will.
The answer to your question is not only no, Hell No!
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.