Religious nutcases still can't mind their own business

In a remarkable nondeparture from their usual "your business is our business" stance, the religious right has ordered that a woman in a PVS should have her feeding tube reinserted.

Theresa "Terri" Schiavo, 39, had been taken off tube-feeding six days earlier by court order, and had been expected to die within two weeks. But Florida's legislature rushed through a bill on Tuesday allowing Bush to override the court.

The real problem in this case I would hope is that the woman herself did not leave any clear indication as to what her wishes would be. That said, the husband is the obvious primary substitute decision maker, and as such his wishes should have been respected.



Just in case I ever end up in such a situation, this is my virtual DNR order. I don't want feeding tubes, I don't want extreme measures taken to keep me alive. I define my life as my ability to think and reason. If I have permanently lost that ability, then I am a corpse and should be treated as such.



Furthermore, I don't believe in passive euthanasia. In the spectrum of cruelty, death row criminals get a better shake than terminally ill patients. The first gets a clean, quick and painless injection. The latter gets to starve to death over a period of 2 weeks or more. Its completely unacceptable. If we believe that a given individual is better off not living, then we should administer a lethal treatment instead of caving in to the religious sensitivities of the few who want God to make the final decision. Frankly, if God makes decisions around this world, he's doing a pretty crappy job at it. I'd prefer to have someone I know and love making that final decision.