Right to die? Right to live?

Have you followed the Terri Schiavo case? She collapsed in her home from what doctors believe is a potassium imbalance in 1990. Oxygen flow to her brain was interrupted for about five minutes, causing permanent damage. Eight years later, her husband Michael petitioned the court to have her feeding tube removed so she could die. He insists she would not want to live in this manner and doctors have said she is in a persistent vegetative state and is not going to recover. Her parents disagree and have been fighting to keep her alive. They have doctors who say she could recover with therapy. On this website you can read their point of view. (I searched for a website with Michael Schiavo's point of view, but didn't find one.) Most interesting to me is that Terri has had no therapy for ten years.

I had superficially followed this case in the news over the years and in all that time my most common thought was "Let the poor woman die in peace." But in researching it today, I found that the poor woman is not in the condition I had thought. Check this out from that website I linked to above:

Terri's behavior does not meet the medical or statutory definition of persistent vegetative state. Terri responds to stimuli, tries to communicate verbally, follows limited commands, laughs or cries in interaction with loved ones, physically distances herself from irritating or painful stimulation and watches loved ones as they move around her. None of these behaviors are simple reflexes and are, instead, voluntary and cognitive. Though Terri has limitations, she does interact purposefully with her environment.

Okay, this is not what I had imagined at all. Why does her husband think she would want to die? Apparently, money is not the reason is either as most of the money that Terri was awarded in a malpractice suit is gone. If he can't take the stress of this situation, he could divorce her and move on with his life. Either he has a horribly stubborn nature or he truly believes that is what Terri would have wanted.

I doubt that Michael Schiavo doesn't believe in what he is doing. He waited 8 years before asking that her feeding tube be removed. Maybe he's right and Terri doesn't want to live that way. But maybe her parents are right. What do you do in cases like this? What is the moral action? What is best choice?

I don't know.

I suppose in cases like this, one should err on the side of life and not death.