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I'm glad it didn;t happen. POTUS did all he could and did Jeb too.

This one was tough for several reasons. Frist off, they're Cathlolics as I am. We beieve in life. Secondly, I do believe the autopy reports that she was brain damaged to the extent that only a miracle could have restored her.

Modern medicine can save lives and it can also measure the degree of life. i.e. PVS and the other awful term: brain dead. Now, I cannot and would not make that decision on anyone, be it a stranger or a family member. I truly believed Mrs Shiavo was PVS and I was right. That is not to say I was in favor of removing her feeding tube. My solution was to give her to her parents. in exchange for the parents agreement to leave Michael alone and free him from all obligations.

But, my scenario tramps on the rights of marriage. This was ugly all the way around. Laws must be changed and written clearly, not ambiguously.

In ten years, medicine will think of our previous century as barbarism. PVS is voodoo science executed by Right To Die advocates like Dr. Cranford, Attorney Felos and Judge Greer. PVS, Lockdown State, and Minimal Consciousness are almost indestinguisable.

They are not synonymous with brain death.

If you like an intellectual argument I prefer on Terri:

If you believe she is brain dead and not experiencing anything, there is no harm in keeping her alive (except monetary).

If you believe that you don't know if she is brain dead and not experiencing anything, there is great harm in killing her, and NO downside for keeping her alive (except monetary).

We're growing neurons in petrie dishes today.

Five years from now, who knows?

Terri is gone, and no future cures apply. The money was there. Our will was not.

DK

"I truly believed Mrs Shiavo was PVS and I was right. That is not to say I was in favor of removing her feeding tube. My solution was to give her to her parents. in exchange for the parents agreement to leave Michael alone and free him from all obligations"

The hatred, spite and bitterness among the family would surely have destroyed that woman, if there was ever a chance for recovery. I believe that was the husband's primary driver in this entire nightmare. Then, he was bolstered and his ego fed by the attention and support of the Hemlock nuts, and it was too late to turn back, even if he had grown a heart.

"But, my scenario tramps on the rights of marriage"

Yes, I've been told that too, by people who also tell me that "Michael made a promise not to make her live that way." Mr. Schiavo certainly was picky about which promises he'd keep. As I recall the first one went something like "In sickness and in health, forsaking all others..." but that isn't the one he kept.

"Laws must be changed and written clearly, not ambiguously."

Exactly. Oh, that people spending so much energy on fighting each other over a lost issue, on which no one side will ever convince the other, would spend that energy on what we DO agree on, and what we CAN do something about--changing bad law.