There's more and more information that's coming out that makes Michael Schiavo look worse and worse. Is he really? I don't know. I end up missing lot of good info and interviews because of my work schedule. Did anyone see the one that was supposed to have run tonight, with a doctor who treated Terri fairly early on when she was being provided rehab? According to what I heard (from a late night talk radio listener, so I'm skeptical of the source as a matter of course) Terri was able to verbalize, and was ambulatory to some degree, although she needed to hang onto stuff to get from point A to point B. The therapy stopped when the husband got the settlement from the malpractice suit, Terri was moved into a nursing home and the attempts at rehab were discontinued.
I'm also a bit surprised that nobody's mentioned the best known "right to die" case up to this point, that of
Karen Ann Quinlan. Many people remember the fight to terminate her life support. Karen Ann was on a respirator as a consequence of her taking drugs and drinking alcohol at a party. She lapsed into a coma, and was put on a respirator. Her parents fought a long court battle to have her removed from the respirator. What many people don't remember, is that she didn't die. She remained alive, but in a persistent vegetative state for another 10 years until she died of pneumonia.