The Case of Terri Schiavo

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This situation is very sad. Terri's husband has the right to remove her feeding tube. Written and legal documents are available to eliminate this situation. Bush and his politicians are wrong in what they have done. They are using this sad case to get the right for life people, religous groups and the Roman Catholic groups on their Republican Party side!! The government does not have the right to intervene in these matters. My wife and I are retired and live in Florida now,in the US. I am sad and angry over the government messing with this situation for political gains. It's so phony. -- Dan Droege, USA

Nutrition and hydration are basics for a human being. None should have the right to discontinue it. There is a possibility that she could swallow liquid food and water. She is not in a coma and is able to interact with others. In addition, in the case of Terri Schiavo there are enough suspect circumstances to show that her husband has a conflict of interest in this case. Terri's bone scan shows long term trauma that indicates possibility of domestic violence. There is a nurse's affadavit that Michael Schiavo admitted not to knowing Terri's wishes. He is living in a common-law relationship with another woman and has had children with her. Three months after receiving $700,000 USD in a malpractice suit against Terri's doctors that was supposed to pay for her rehabilitation needs, he ordered doctors to stop any therapy. -- Andrew Jezierski

He isn't "helping" her to die, he's fulfilling her wish as verbally expressed to him within the covenant of their marriage (from what I understand, Florida law allows him to make end-of-life decisions regarding his spouse) as a normally Republican voting American, I find the intervention of the Congress a cynical attempt to placate the religious right. -- Eric Rhyne, USA

I think the term "allowing her to die" masks what is happening -- Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death. There has been little attempt at rehabilitation although her husband promised to use the money Terri was awarded to do this. Her parents are willing to look after her and her husband can get on with his life with his new partner and his two children by her. There have been numerous cases of people who have awoken from so called PVS. In France the editor of Elle, Jean- Dominique Bauby, wrote a book about his life after a massive stroke left him completely paralysed except for being able to blink an eyelid. PVS is a term used to dehumanise a person so that s/he can be killed. -- Janet Secluna Thomas, U.K.

I know that if anything like this should happen in my family we would probably take a lot of time before we allowed the injured person to die. I personally would say yes and let the person die. Better than to see her or him living on tubes. -- Florina Gheorghiu, Romania

I live in San Francisco, California, and I absolutely feel that Ms. Schiavo's parents should decide her fate, not her husband! For one thing, he has resisted allowing her to get the proper rehabilitation she has needed since 1991. Truth is, nobody knows what could happen to her because she hasn't recieved the proper rehabilitation yet. She is still alive and a young woman too!! She has a chance and it is absolutely barbaric to starve her to death! The process of starvation is horrific and gruesome. I am absolutely disgusted with what's going on right now. Her husband has moved on to a new woman and a new family, and he will gain a substantial amount of money from her death. This is sick and I for one, am on the verge of vomitting at the thought of it. Please, people, don't base your opinion on whether or not you believe she should live in this state of being; base your decision on Terri's case alone: After knowing the facts of her case, who should be able to decide her fate, her husband or her parents? -- Julie H. USA

No, I do not think her husband has a right since he is living with another women and has two children. I only believe the parents have the legal right but this should have been done when he left his vow of marriage. -- Catherine Moreland

I am quite saddened to the see the amount of attention this case is getting in the global media. We don't care about thousands of people including children dying of hunger everyday, and at the same time, we have no qualms talking a lot about a single human being who has been in coma for the last several years! Regardless of how iteresting philosophically this case is, don't you think it is unfair to discuss this at such a great length, when there are clearly more pressing issues that the media should talk about? -- Ram Natarajan