Life or Death Legal Battle

This may be a landmark day in the life or death battle over the fate of Terri Schiavo. She's been in a persistent vegetative state for fifteen years after she collapsed from a chemical imbalance that gave her severe brain damage.

The battle is between her husband Michael and her parents, the Schindlers. Terri's husband has been pushing for a ruling to allow Terri to die. She's been fed via a feeding tube for more than a decade. Michael wants that to stop. Her parents want to keep her alive.

It seems like her parents are holding out hope that she can regain some semblance of viable conscious life and go through rehabilitation. Her husband believes her brain is so severely damaged that she could never have any kind of actual living reality, even if she did miraculously regain more than a minimal consciousness.

Ending her feeding seems cruel, as she would die from starvation in about two weeks. But keeping her alive seems equally cruel. She's been in this depressing state for so, so long.

I don't want to pass judgment here. There's a whole lot more to the story than I've outlined. Money, emotion, Terri's unspoken wishes (she did not have a living will). But someone may pass judgment today. A court order to keep her alive expires today, allowing the possibility that her feeding will be stopped. However, Terri's parents and a swarm of protesters are asking Florida Governor Jeb Bush to step in.

Okay, maybe I will pass a little judgment. A lot of people have an emotional stake in this story. They've been following it for years. But why? If a sick woman who's been in a veritable coma for fifteen years were to die today, what makes that such a sad event? If someone can set me straight on this, please have at it.