Wow.
You are condemning thousands of people who walk around living normal lives but have to use a feeding tube for one reason or another.
So you would have starved Christopher Reeves to death?
Christopher Reeves was lucid and able to communicate his wishes. Ms. Shaivo had a cat scan showing that most of her brain was black, without function. She was not able to communicate.
If I were in her shoes, to have my body artificialy kept alive for 15 years in that state would be torture. I am not afraid of dying. I would rather pass over than have my body held in limbo preventing me from passing over, particularly if my brain function was all but gone.
My mother had a feeding tube for several months - but not for fifteen years. It was a temporary measure. I have no quarrel with that. Even so, she is now in so much daily agony, she has often expressed that she wished we had let her pass. She said she is ready to "go home."
I work a lot on committees working on the welfare of kids. In a few years, the baby boomers will be aging and more and more of our taxes and personal resources will be going toward keeping them alive at all cost. As a society, I hope we consider where we are putting our resources.
As a boomer, I hope that I will have the grace to appreciate when it is time for me to let go and pass over. I hope my children will let me go when it is that time. I have left instructions as to my wishes in that regard. I hope the Christian right does not deprive me of my right to pass in dignity and peace.