Agreed. That is why its important to have your wishes written down, even notarized, and given to someone you trust to provide that evidence of your wishes to the necessary authorities. That is still no guarantee that out of love for you, family won't try to keep you around in basket condition, but at least you tried. Love is often irrational and if you are in no condition to care, what can it hurt if your loved ones want to provide for your continued existence for their own piece of mind? Is it necessary to deprive them? More importantly, should the state get involved in such things? My distrust of gov't and our justice system strongly resists such intervention except in cases where no family or loved ones care.
>Therefore, the proper role of the state is to assure that the
> person's will is honored regardless of his/her physical condition.
> If there is doubt, I would rather err on the side on honoring the
> person's rights to have his/her will honored rather than trampling
> it.
I completely agree. But it requires real evidence of your wishes, not testimony of people who claim they heard you say this or that, which is entirely too easy to abuse, not necessarily intentionally. The human mind can convince itself of the truth of some of the most outrageous things.
> You would not advocate questioning an incapacitated person's
> other rights, say property rights, by subjecting it to inquisition
> by doctors, parents, priests, moralists and politicos, would you?
I wouldn't advocate anything other than the desires of the loved ones involved and any real evidence of the wishes of the possessor of that life or property, such as a will. I think all these other people or groups have no right at all to be part of the final decision making process, only to contribute any requested opinion, evidence, or knowledge for use by those who are involved.
IMO, Mr. Schiavo had no right to ask the state to resolve the issue of pulling the plug, when it was so clear that other important loved ones were wiling to care for Terri, with their own resources if necessary. The state is given far more power than it should be allowed and it is unlikely to be willing to give up such power. Indeed as we've seen, federal powers want some of that action. The ramifications here go far beyond the case of Terri Schiavo.
--tully