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The problem is Jim King of Jacksonville. He must be voted
out in 2004 ! He's the Kingpin in these new death camps
for profit...operations.

He's a evil man, and why in God name is he the president
of the Florida Senate ??

Sen. King did help get Terri's bill passed, so I commend him for his efforts on her behalf. I think the scenario painted by Larry Spalding, legislative counsel for the ACLU, "...of a physician tending to a patient in a vegetative state who has no written instructions. Even if all family members agreed withdrawal of treatment was what the patient wanted, the doctor is setting himself up for civil or criminal penalties if he abides [Spalding said]" is misleading.

According to Spaulding, the doctor "would have to say, `I'm sorry, we're going to have to continue to provide treatment whether he would have wanted it or not' which gives the impression that extraordinary measures would be forced on a patient even when the family is in agreement that the patient would refuse those measures if they were able to do so.

In fact, the proposed bill would apply to feeding tubes, which is simply an alternate means of food and water delivery. Patients on ventilators, respirators and other means of life support would not be affected by the change in law. I do not think most people's concept of "forced treatment" includes food and water.

Also, I think it's better to "err on the side of life" by assuming all incapacitated patients would prefer life over death (in the absence of a living will) than to presume the reverse; that without a living will specifying they would WANT a feeding tube, they would prefer to die.

The problem with creating a default where death is assumed to be the patient's preference in the absence of a document to the contrary, is that in American law, the value of life is presumed. The impetus for Living Wills began with premise that a person has the right to refuse treatment. I think it's very wrong to expand that to assume that all who do not have a living will automatically are presumed to want to refuse treatment.

This is completely against the practice of law and medicine, where great emphasis is placed on the value of life.

These FL "Republicans" -- Greer, Baird, King -- show how destructive it can be to vote the straight Republican ticket in election after election, something I have long done.