A Long Week's Journey Into Night

This is absolutely inhumane.

I'm talking about what's happening to Terri Schiavo. As of this writing, she has been off her feeding tube for eight days and her family members are starting to admit the lack of nourishment is taking its toll.

Let's forget, for just a moment, all the legal wranglings, and Congressional attempts at intervention and everything else outside that hospice room. In the end, which her family says is near, this comes down to a woman who can't feed herself, being starved to death. Doctors say she can't feel it, but she can't speak for herself, so we don't truly know. It's illegal for doctors to administer drugs to kill her, because that would be murder, or assisted suicide. But it's okay to let her wither away without food because that's a "natural" death since she chose to refuse it.

In a case like this, I can't help but wonder why a medical coma is not an option. It would neither prolong her life nor hasten her demise, but if, as her family says is true, she CAN feel and is TRYING to communicate, then they would know for sure that she at least felt no pain as her last wishes were carried out.

There is so much more to be said here, but I'll bite it off one bite at a time. Perhaps I'll tackle the legalities or the ethics of it all a little later in the week.