case of Ms. Schiavo

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Mary Jo Neyer" <maryjo at n...>
wrote:
> ...edited...  Mr. Schiavo has great motivation to have his wife die
:  lots of money.  There is no evidence except his word that she ever
expressed the desire to not be maintained in a comatose state.  None
of her friends or family ever recall hearing her express such ideas. 
So this is not just a simple matter.
> 
> Mary Jo

bboy_mn:

I don't know how many of you have seen the short video clips of this
woman on TV, and I confess that I don't know how old these videos are,
but the woman I see is capable of appropriate facial expressions and
she seems to be able to respond to the world around her, so I'm not
convince just how 'vegitative' this woman is. 

Certainly, she is massively and irreversably disable, but she doesn't
seem 'brain dead' to me. Also, this woman is capable of breathing on
her own, so it's not like 'turn the switch off and she dies'. Being
fed hardly qualifies as being sustained by artificial means. If they
stop giving the most able bodies person food and water, they will
certainly die.

So, I think it is very important for a very neutral and knowledgable
third party to evaluate this situation. It need to be determined that
she is incapable of having any 'quality' of life; that she isn't moved
by music or a sad story, that she is unaware of the presents of her
friends and family, and therefore unable to take comfort in their
presents. 

Personally, I am not convinced that she is truly in a vegitative state.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn