I, like many of you, have been following the Terri Schiavo case quite closely these past few weeks. Terri is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Terri's husband is fighting to have her feeding tube removed while her parents fight to keep it in place.
It has become quite the hot topic of debate in the United States. From my clearly Canadian perspective, this isn't all that controversial. I believe if Terri lived in Canada, removing her feeding tube after fifteen years in a persistent vegatative state would have barely caused a ripple. Terri clearly has the right to die in this instance and although she is being kept alive by this tube she is in no way living a life. The moral and right thing to do for Terri is to remove it and allow her to pass away.
If Terri were my wife or daughter, I have no doubt what I would want for her. A few years ago, my Grandmother and I had a conversation about her having a living will created. She told me that should something happen and she enter a state like this, she wouldn't want to be kept alive. I agreed as I feel the same way, and we visited a lawyer to draft a living will for her. Below is an except from this document:
If at such a time the situation should arise in which there is no reasonable expectation of my recovery from extreme physical or mental disability, I direct that I be allowed to die and not be kept alive by medications, artificial means or "heroic measures".
The only way to be certain your wishes are adhered to is to create a living will such as this. The document my grandmother signed says it all. We should be allowed to die.
