Terri Schiavo

Courtesy of Walt, here is a handy link regarding Persistent Vegetative State (PVS).

I've mostly been trying to avoid the Terri Schiavo case in the media, but it's practically inescapable. As a general rule, PVS does not seem severe enough to merit withholding of feeding (it's not precisely a 'brain-dead' state), but then there may be other considerations involved - each case may be different.

Mostly, I'm appalled that Congress and the President are inserting themselves into this case, trampling all over federalism and the U.S. Constitution in the process. Every controversial PVS case henceforth is likely to become a legislative football (Persistent Legislative State, as 'Slate' puts it). Even more ironic is that George Bush, when Governor of Texas, signed a law allowing authorities there to pull the plug whenever care becomes onerous. Life is cheaper in the West, I guess. The evangelical leaders (not the evangelical rank-and-file) must really be yanking Bush's chain pretty hard for him to interrupt his vacation to return to Washington and sign emergency legislation to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

It will be interesting to see what happens next, for sport, if nothing else!