Rabbi Sol said, in part:

It appears that even a convicted murderer on death row has more legal rights for appeal then Terri Schiavo.

Awwww, come onnnn!! There's been legal action after legal action, and appeal after appeal in this case. Nineteen judges, not counting the federal appeals judges. All finding for the husband. You're flat-out wrong on that one.

I submit to you that the lethal injection given in executions is a lot more humane than taking away food and hydration which will cause a slow and painful death that may take as much as a week.

I submit right back at you that lack of food and dehydration does not produce a painful death, despite the evident propagandistic attractiveness of that expression to you. Particularly so in her case, but otherwise too. As the body proceeds to call on fat and muscle to sustain itself, the ketone level rises in the blood, which dulls appetite and hunger sensations. Eventually the ketone levels affect one of the organs (and I'm sorry, I can't remember which one or ones, particularly), which shut down and death ensues.

You express one of several positions of Jewish thought on the subject of removal of the feeding and nutrition tubes. One such position is of course as you seem to express it, that removal of the tube is in effect an aggressive act which kills the patient. This might be a meritorious argument if the feeding and hydration were treating the patient's condition. But another perfectly good Jewish outlook is that if all the feeding and hydration does is to delay death of the body, rather than treating the condition, its removal is not the cause of death.

Dave Oesterreich