As to regards a feed tube, that's a matter of individual opinion, and if a
person has expressed the wish not to be on one, that should be honored.

Foul play by whom?  I have heard that many investigations have been done and
no evidence has been found that the husband has meant harm.  In fact, he
strikes me as a person who is stubbornly stuck to the principle that he wants
to honor his wife's wish that she not be kept alive if she were in a
vegetative state.  If his motive were truely money, he could have accepted
one of several offers of huge sums of money and simply walked away.  True, he
and his wife got a million dollars in a malpractice suit settlement but most
of that has gone to take care of Terri and to lawyer fees.  Yes, he's living
with another woman, but I think it shows a certain level of committment to
his wife that he has not divorced her to let her parents take over and keep
her alive against her wishes.  If he'd thrown up his hands and said, "Let
them take over, I don't care any more," he could have divorced her and no one
would really have blamed him.  He's still a young man and has his own life.
There is no real evidence that he abused her, so again, no real evidence of
foul play in that regard.  If anything, if there has been foul play, I'd say
it would be the doctors if they  misdiagnosed Terri's condition, and the
lawyers because sure as hell no one else is making any money out of this.

Therefore since there has been no evidence of foul play on the part of
 Michael Shiavo, the government has no business stepping in and intervening
 in an end-of-life decision that properly belongs to the husband.   I
 sympathise with her parents - it's horrible losing your child - but he is
 her husband, he is her legal guardian, and he has the sole right to make
 decisions for her since she has no means of expressing her wishes.  Even the
 State of Florida, when it tried to take guardianship away from the husband
 couldn't succeed as the courts found no evidence that he is an unfit
 guardian.

I'd bet if Terri were the child and Michael her parent, none of this would
have been in question.

Kat

On Thursday 24 March 2005 5:12 am, Tamar Raine wrote:
> Many people do not consider feeding tubes to be artificial means. I have
> met a few adults with cp who ate that way. It's just an alternate means of
> feeding. I agree however that Terri should die in peace, but I do not
> believe she should be starved for two weeks to do it, for heaven's sake,
> give her an injection.  I furthermore believe that even in marriage, if a
> spouse is suspected of foul play that the spouse should not have the right
> to terminate their partner, and this is what I think has happened in the
> Schiavo case.

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