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A diagnosis of PVS means a doctor did not find any sign of cognition. Three doctors, hired by Michael, didn't find any because they didn't look very hard (looking seriously for signs of congition requires more than an hour exam, but none of Michael's "doctors" spent even that long). Two doctors hired by the Schindlers spent longer describing Terri, and were able to describe specific signs of cognition that they found

Completely irrelevant to the subject of the thread. Unlike you, I am not a medical specialist is this area. So I will defer to your judgement on Terri's PVS diagnosis. The basic issue, though, is the evidence supporting her decision (or not) to not continue with tubal feeding. And it hardly equates to a Nazi purge.

Completely irrelevant to the subject of the thread.

Actually it is not irrelevant. The reason this is true is because in most states there is a law stating that a person with PVS is considered terminal and therefore an ideal candidate for being dehydrated to death.

The problem with the diagnosis is that it cannot be made from a test of any kind, but is a highly subjective diagnosis. In past court cases similar to this one, patients who used wheelchairs were diagnosed with PVS and sentenced to be killed by a court, as they are killing Terri.

A study reported in the British Medical Journal found that of 40 patients diagnosed as being in a persistent or permanent vegetative state (PVS), 17 (43%) were found to have been misdiagnosed by their referring physicians, 13 (33%) slowly came out of the vegetative state during rehabilitation therapy, and only 10 (25%) remained vegetative. The study also found that the incidence of misdiagnoses increased toward the end of the 3-year study period. In the first year (1992) there were two misdiagnosed patients, while in 1995 ten patients had been misdiagnosed by referring doctors.

"The British study is one of the largest and most comprehensive investigations on PVS to date. Its findings are similar to an earlier U.S. study which found that, of the PVS patients who were referred to the Healthcare Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas, 38% were not vegetative at all and actually responded to stimuli upon subsequent examination."

"All 17 misdiagnosed patients were found to range in cognitive ability from level 5 (aware but severely impaired) to level 8 (nearly normal) on the Rancho Los Amigos scale. [BMJ, 7/6/96]
In a BMJ editorial, Minneapolis neurologist Ronald Cranford pointed out that the quality of life of the 17 misdiagnosed patients was still questionable. "I would speculate," Cranford wrote, "that most people would find this condition far more horrifying than the vegetative state itself, and some might think it an even stronger reason for stopping treatment" (i.e., food and fluids)."

Both PVS and feeding tubes are being used as tools for killing the costly disabled in our society. Many of those killed with a diagnosis of PVS was eating and drinking to some extent on their own, but was put on a feeding tube anyway.

Currently there is a new wave of extensive publications about the terrible "dangers" of feeding tubes. It is almost amusing to see. After 100 years, suddenly the use of these tubes is a great peril to patients.

I will guarantee you that in a short time, feeding tubes will become almost non-existent. I have already listened to physicians explaining to the spouse of a disabled person how a feeding tube would be a dangerous choice.