Diminishing resources....again same here, skyrocketing healthcare costs, health insurance becoming unaffordable, etc. It would not surprise me that some of the families are allowing the starvations because they can no longer afford to maintain the patient ( not Terri, other cases, I mean).
Subtle shifts in social view of the disabled, which has been going on for the last 40 years in this country. Blame the victim, etc. I can give personal examples if you are interested.
Declining sanctity of life, attacks on the Christian life ethic, and rising intelligentsia as the "new" leaders - all this has happened before. In Germany in 1920 or so, in Russia at about the same time.