[Jotmo]

Food and water are NOT extraordinary means.

I agree. However our opinion of the matter is irrelevant. The fact is that under Florida law, feeding/hydration tubes are considered life support.

With such contradictory testimony and NOTHING in writing, you don't put someone to death.

There was nothing in writing stating she wanted to be kept alive this way ether. That's the entire point. There was NO evidence of her wishes either way. Since there was not, the authority rests with the husband.

Sorry, bub, when the issue is the serious matter of life and death, and where there is genuine doubt as there was in this case, and no documentation, the assumption should be life, NOT death.

Doubt is not evidence. That's what the courts are for. To establish what is credible evidence. The "no documentation" part is irrelevant. There is a proscribed legal process for handling this, and "no documentation" is not enough evidence to take the legal right from the one who was entitled to it. I won't begin to try and say the husbands motives were pure in this case. But it doesn't matter what his motives were. I would be more concerned if his legal right to speak for his wife were removed without evidence simply because her parents made a media circus out of the whole mess. I for one will NOT question a next of kin's decisions in end of life matters of this sort without solid proof. I do NOT want the government intervening in my family business simply because some group can make enough noise.

If these people who showed up to protest this family's decision really cared about the issue, we'd see them all over the country, where this kind of thing happens every day, protesting and raising a fuss, much like people do with abortion clinics. They're not, and it's instructive. It was a media event, and they wanted to use it for there own means.

[TAdams8591]

My comment was NOT meant to discuss the Florida law in this matter, I am well aware of it so are we all, but was a point made generally regarding law in most matters of importance in the U.S. We don't sell homes or conduct a variety of other business matters without DOCUMENTATION. Thus, no where in this country should someone be starved and dehydrated to death without documentaion. In the abscence of such documentation, LIFE SHOULD BE ASSUMED.

It was precisely because there was no documentation and the parties disagreed regarding Terri's care, that the dispute was taken to the court as MANY FAMILY DISPUTES ARE and is the reason in most jurisdictions, there exists a little thing called FAMILY COURT, which would have been the more proper venue for this case, rather than probate court.

Michael was residing with another woman, with whom he had two children, and therefore his "marriage" to Terri was in name only and was anything but typical. While legally he may still have been her husband MORALLY he was not.

The laws as they currently exist in many places will have to be changed to avoid other similar tragedies.