You offered, "People have to make painful decisions all the time when it comes (to) letting a loved one go ..." I am acutely familiar with this, but what happened to Terri Schiavo is far from this scenario: more than a decade ago, after receiving a very large sum of monies into his control via a lawsuit where he pleaded for funds to take care of his severely disbaled wife for the rest of their lives (the award was for funds to take care and rehabilitated as best possible
for 51 years), her then husband forced neglect upon her by ordering absolutely no therapy and forced isolation from even the minimal sensory inputs, while a mounting stack of sworn affidavits that she was aware, with a suspicious incident (actually, there were more, but one had a police report filed in it) involving insulin, and a string of conflicts of interest involving the judge of record for the execution order and the guardian left in charge by the subsequent courts rubber stamping Greer's rulings.
In a capital case where an execution is ordered, the standard of proof is 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. That not only was not the case with Terri, there is a mounting file of material pointing toward an agenda of those who had her 'put down'. Killing a severely disabled woman by dehydrating her to death when there is no terminal disease and no clear evidence that she would want same is a far cry from 'letting her go'.
Killing a severely disabled woman by dehydrating her to death when there is no terminal disease and no clear evidence that she would want same is a far cry from 'letting her go'. I wouldn't describe having the majority one's brain not only dead, but liquified and beyond recovery, as "no terminal disease" and simply being "disabled".
I think most people would describe that state as a living death if there ever was one. And would prefer not to be sustained indefinitely in such a state by a feeding tube.
Listen, this is a horrible decision to have to make. I don't think I could have elected to remove the feeding tube.
But I don't know how I would feel after seeing a person lingering in such a state for 15 years.