>>So, now you want to change the definition of brain death to be whatever you think it is?<<
No, I want it to mean the ability to think.
>>Actually, the law was changed AFTER her injury. Terri NEVER could have requested to be starved to death.<<
The final provisions of a person has always been held with the closest family. There is no legal relationship closer than spouse.
>>No, in the ABSENCE of written wishes I think we should presume that a person wants to live.<<
You can presume all you want. Many of us want to be let go when we are are vegetables. Your presumption and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.
>>My point which you obviously missed (perhaps a “higher brain function” issue) was that the woman in the article had the benefit of SIX years of rehabilitation, Terri Schiavo DID NOT.<<
She wasn’t married. Schaivo was.
Ability to "think" is totally subjective and has NOTHING to do with brain death.
The final provisions of a person has always been held with the closest family. There is no legal relationship closer than spouse.
So, in the absence of a legal document you believe that a spouse should be allowed to kill someone?
You can presume all you want. Many of us want to be let go when we are are vegetables.
So, YOU want to impose YOUR desires on EVERYONE else?
She wasn’t married. Schaivo was.
What does that have to do with her response to therapy.
fd: No, I want it to mean the ability to think.
And your excuse is????
All of this back and forth stuff only points to one logical conclusion:
Everyone should have a written document stating their last wishes. This crap about who should be in charge of these decisions and when would have been avoided.
You should talk to an attorney before writing one out, or at least do a ton of research on the web because there are specific issues that need to be planned out.
But in the end, your (meaning everyone that reads this, no one in particular) wishes may be different than mine. But if you can point to a document that has been properly drafted, you can cut out the discussion pretty darned quick.
And waiting until the “death bed” is really not the time for the conversation. As my Dad told me, sitting there with a morphine drip—its a lot easier to talk about it, than do it. But it was the right thing for him.
Just my two cents.