Confessions of a Liberal Puritan

I'm not denying this is a difficult choice, but I think that even among Catholics it is a choice. Here's an article about a Jesuit who thinks Terri should die in peace:

http://www.thehoya.com/news/110403/news7.cfm

I think it comes down to the definition of "extraordinary measures." I and the state of Florida think a feeding tube qualifies in these circumstances, in my case because of the results of the brain scans and the long passage of time. But when my own family faced this dilemma, no one could have the nutrition stopped. In that case, my aunt lingered for months, not years. Still, watching her sons and my mother watch her curl into a fetal position, and her sons put everything on hold, from selling her house to finding a new home for her dogs--my mourning for her was over by the time she "died," replaced by concern for the living. I don't know when we could or would have said, "enough." I think she would have said the words herself much sooner, but the concept of living wills didn't exist then.

Because of this, I've been trying hard to sympathize more with the parents in the Schiavo case, but what they're dragging their daughter through makes my skin crawl.

I have no impulses whatsoever to sympathize with the politicians.