Day 13 For Terry

I've gone back and forth on this issue. I've now reached the sadness of it all. How can it be that a judge decides if a mother and a father can give nourishment to their daughter? How can it be that a husband who, it has been reported, wished for a speedy death for his wife and is now put in a position of deciding what she 'said' she wanted if she were unable to speak for herself? How do you just let someone go without really knowing what they want? On the other hand, I would never want to be kept alive for 15 years in the state she is in. Is this the same as "pulling the plug?" Definately not. Don't mistake a person's inability to express their will to live or die as the automatic right for some authoratative figure (ie a judge) to declare that she be deprived of food and/or water and allowed to slowly die. We must all learn from this horrible story as it unfolds for us on the news; we should all be rushing to our computers and downloading the appropriate papers to complete, outlining what we want to happen if the time should come when we can't express those wishes to our loved ones. Pay your attorney to draw them up or download them and save the money. Most importantly, talk to those who may have to tell a doctor what you want or don't want. Picture yourself in Terry's position. Even worse, picture yourself as her mother or father, helpless to do anything to help the daughter they love. Terry will die, but her parents will be left to know that as parents, they did everything they could....up to the point when a judge told them to stop.