Originally posted by Logan
I think the most important message to come out of this whole thing is to remind each and every one of us of the importance of having a living will that spells out exactly how we want to be treated in situations like this. That way, there is no question when something like this happens.
Once again Logan and I are thinking alike. My brother-in-law suffered two strokes, two days apart, in 1993. He was only 41 years old at the time. He spent a month in ICU and then another month hospitalized in another part of the hospital receiving therapy. He was then discharged and sent to a regular rehab facility as an in-patient and then gradually weaned himself to visiting there on an out-patient basis. From the night of his stroke to his return home, six months had gone by! He had to be taught everything, but at 41 he was able to do it. He told me shortly after all of this that, should he ever have another stroke, we all should just "let him go." He wanted to make sure that someone other than his wife was aware, lest we feel she acted hastily or inhumanely in case something happened. He said he simply could not go through it all again - he had no fight left. By the way, he is now divorced from his wife and he lives alone in the Florida Keys in a handicapped fashion but is doing OK under the circumstances. The memory of what he went through will never leave him though and he e-mailed me today to say he hopes the woman gets to die. We all have a different slant on this and it will take the wisdom of a Solomon to sort it all out.

I say all of that just to say this - we don't know Terry's wishes and that may be the saddest part of this story. She may want to be released from this her non-functioning body but I don't see how ethically and morally it can be done by withholding food. My gosh that sounds barbaric!