In a message dated 3/26/2005 2:40:51 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
> None of this would have been
> possible thirty years ago, before modern medicine raised our expectations
> and
> prolonged lives with the help of machinery, etc.

Kat,
For those of us old enough to remember the Karen Ann Quinlan case of 1975,
this was exactly possible, exactly 30 years ago.  The problem was that when her
life support systems were removed, she LIVED for ten years in a persistent
vegetative state.  THERE is where the issue of "is a feeding tube considered life
support in these cases?" question arose.
It is interesting to me that the courts in the Schiavo case applied the same
standards to decide this case as were used in the Quinlan case.  Only
exception being that now feeding apparatus is included in "life support systems."
Just something to think about.
Wanda