Re: [QUAD-L] Shedding light on terri's situation

[Oconnelldb]

so do you think there is any possibility that terri is inside that mostly dead shell saying, "yes yes keep that feeding tube in me.  i love living like this - not talking, not responding, messing myself, and partying in here all by myself."?  if you decided to not eat or sit up or interact with people anymore, would you be really happy to continue that after 15 years or would you welcome any way out no matter how cruel (starvation). you don't have to answer. dave             In a message dated 3/25/2005 1:42:54 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Stacy, I had a nurse who had a son who was severely disabled from birth. The doctors did not expect him live long. He is now in his early 20s. He is ventilator dependent and tube feed. He does not communicate in any real way but he does respond to his family.  He even went to school when he was younger. His family made a lot of sacrifices to keep him home and to take care of him. When I met him I could not tell at all if he was aware of what was going on around him. His mother and sister thought so. I would not chose to live like that. I'm not about to decide another person's quality of life based on my personal criteria. If someone is willing to care for a person in that condition what is the harm in letting them? Jim At 11:05 PM 3/23/2005, Stacy Harim wrote: You respond to people and you KNOW you are eating.  She has no idea what is going on.   Stacy ----- Original Message ----- From: Jim Lubin You can put food and water before me and I would die if no one was there to feed me. So how does a person like me fit into your analogy? At 05:11 PM 3/23/2005, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:   A dog feeds and drinks themselves-- we just SUPPLY the food. In terri's case you can put food and water before her and she would still die-----Some human must force a tube into her bowels then constantly feed the tube with food and water just to keep her living-----so completely different issue here.                                                      Dan   The moral flabbiness born of the bitch goddess Success. That- with the squalid cash interpretation put on the word success- is our national disease.  -William James  1906