Reply #19: Not too far from my position

[Az]

I agree that removing the feeding tube does nothing for or against her. She is dead and gone. Her body lingers on.

Some may try to reduce it to a financial descision and ridicule it for that reason. But I dismiss this as well. There are emotions still invested in this on the part of those still involved. They are being held hostage by a body. Some cannot let go and some can. The one that can let go happens to be the one that has the authority to make descisions. This creates a problem for the rest.

While it is true that in a purely rational sense she is dead her body still carries all the reminders of her identity for those that loved her. In a very real sense they cannot move on until the body is as dead as her mind. Its time. The husband asked the courts to decide what was in her best interest. They decided it was time to take out the tube and he agreed. The rest of the family cling to a fruitless hope.