Not in the consciousness area. That portion of the brain IS dead.
Robert,
You're trying to use logic and reason. That doesn't work on pro-life fanatics. They use a different rule book.
I agree with you. There is no point in keeping someone's body alive if the "person" inside is gone. Why have an empty shell take up valuable resources that could be used to actually save a life?
With regards to the "Nazi" picture...we're not talking about killing retarded people, we are talking about letting someone who is essentially already dead finish the dying process.
"That portion of the brain IS dead."
And your authority to state that is?
"A brain-dead individual has no electrical activity and no clinical evidence of brain function on physical examination (no response to pain, absent cranial nerve reflexes (pupillary response (fixed pupils), oculocephalic reflex, corneal reflexes), absent response to the caloric reflex test and no spontaneous respirations). It is important to distinguish between brain death and states that mimic brain death (eg. barbiturate intoxication, alcohol intoxication, sedative overdose, hypothermia, hypoglycemia, coma or chronic vegetative states). Some comatose patients can recover, and some patients with severe irreversible neurologic dysfunction will nonetheless retain some lower brain functions such as spontaneous respiration, loss of both cortex and brainstem function. Thus anencephaly, in which there is no higher brain present, is generally not considered brain death, although it is certainly an irreversible condition in which it may be appropriate to withdraw life support."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_death