I think you guys are missing the point here. The science here points to an inescapable conclusion.
Ms. Shiavo's brain, the organ that made her distinctly human, has been irreparable damaged. Her cortex and neo-cortex has died due to oxygen starvation, and will not grow back or otherwise recover. All that is left of her brain is the brain stem, which controls the only the most automatic of functions.
She will retreat from pain, turn her eye to light, awaken and sleep because these are the most primitive functions of the central nervous system. She is incapable of doing more, because there is nothing left of her brain to do it with.
I know it is hard to hear this, but Ms. Schiavo is aware of her environment the way a plant is aware. She lacks the neurological capacity to be aware of her environment to the degree an insect is aware.
It is time to stop this insult to God, and God's nature, and let her go.
Lorne
Lorne4202,
You speak with all the certainty of a parrot who knows how to mimic sounds but is bereft of comprehending their meaning. You know nothing of Terri's condition other than what you were served in popular press snippets drawing on statements prepared by the Felos camp.
The so-called medical opinions used in these statements come from court whores dispatched by a well-funded pro-euthanasia movement. Despite the fact that Michael Schiavo thwarted all attempts to have Terri be examined by independent neurologists, a good number went on record noting the flawed methodology beneath the shrink-wrapped medical pronouncements touted by Felos. Nurses, physicians and family members outside of Felosite control find Terri's behavior to be inconsistent with signs of a persistent vegetative state.
Before you continue spouting nonsense like "her cortex and neo-cortex have died" you should do some more homework. Unless, of course, your own cortex is perfectly happy aspiring to no more than parroting propaganda. In that case your grandiose "the science here points to..." is rather ironic, don't you think?