This has become an exercise in futility. Terri has yet to receive proper medical care. She's never had a cat scan, she's in a hospice, etc...It's a complete and total difference.
But since we're comparing. Same thing happened with my father-n-law a year and a half ago. His decision was a conscious decision made between he and his wife. He received the best in medical care and in the end it wouldn't have mattered.
And that is the difference. But like I said, "An exercise in futility."
Yes, and that's the point here. Several here think it is somehow important that Terri hasn't had a CAT scan or an MRI. Why? She probably hasn't had a test for diabetes or AIDS either, but diagnostic tests will not restore her brain. In the end, it won't matter.
The good news is that Terri has no cognizance of her force feeding and her diapers. It is demeaning and abusive to her and her memory, but she doesn't know it. So, one can argue, why not continue to put her through it and maybe someday medicine will perfect brain transplants or cloning or some other futurist remedy.
But it doesn't just demean Terri and her memory to force nutritional slurry through her bowels and into her diapers, it demeans us as a people. When we act as though only breathing counts, we witness to the world that we collectively 'have no hope' beyond the grave. How foolish.
As you put it so eloquently, "an exercise in futility."
When my wife was so ill, one of the things that drove me crazy was physicians ordering up dozens of diagnostic tests which were extremely discomforting to my wife. So, I began by insisting that the ordering physician articulate for me what difference the results of the tests could make in the course of treatment. At least half the time, they could not do so.
I remember one time at M.D. Anderson, a doctor ordered a chemically-induced stress test on her heart (to be performed, remember, on a cancer patient). [The insertion of a chemical to cause the heart to race and simulate physical stress.] I found out when they were wheeling her toward cardiology. I demanded to speak to the head of cardiology who rapidly admitted it would make no difference to the course of her cancer treatment. The test was not performed.
Another 'exercise in futility.'