A brain-damaged woman whose parents and husband are locked in a battle over her life looked gaunt, with red-ringed eyes, as a tube inserted in her abdomen pumped in nourishment after a week without it, the parents' attorney said. .
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was replaced Wednesday at Morton Plant Hospital, where the woman was taken after Gov. Jeb Bush - empowered by emergency legislation by state lawmakers - ordered her kept alive. ("Comatose Woman on Life Support," 1-2).
The above is a common occurrence all across the United States. Case after case goes to court as people try to answer the question of who has the right to withhold life support. So far, nobody has an answer. Understandably, it is a hard issue to discuss, not to mention the difficulty of going through it yourself. Imagine trying to decide if a close loved one should live or die. Imagine also family and friends fighting with and against you as you try to decide. .
One important factor that makes the life support issue so difficult is the lack of laws that dictate who has the authority in the matter (Feiman 52). Many argue that it should be the decision of the family. At the top being the decision of the spouse, then of the parents and then other family, respectively. Others argue that, due to money hungry family members, it should be up to doctors and the government. Although, what about the possibility of greedy hospitals that push to keep life support so that their services continue to be used for as long as years to come? In one case the Supreme court said that life support may not be stopped "absent clear and convincing evidence that the conservator's decision is in accordance with either the conservatee's own wishes or best interest." They explained that their ruling only affected those who where conscious but had not left any legal instructions about their health care and would die without life support. For example, if a man is severely brain damaged in an accident, but conscious, yet requires life support to continue living, who ever is making the decision must prove that it is what he would have wanted.
