1) There is no case in the news of a woman “awakening after a 20 year coma.” The patient in the cited case was not in a coma. She was awake, but unable to speak. She could communicate through eye blinking. This used to be called “locked-in syndrome” and is a result of mid-brain damage which leaves the cerebral cortex functioning. So Sean Hannity and others are incorrectly characterizing another case to make the point that Mizz Schiavo “could wake up.” But it is an erroneous characterization.

2) Rush Limbaugh has posed the question “Should we feed Alzheimer’s patients?” I pose the question, “What business of it is yours?” It is for the Alzheimer’s patient and the patient’s family to decide.

3) If conservatives are against judicial and other activism, why are conservatives continually dragging this case into court? It’s been settled. The decision is the patient’s and her husband’s. And the only person who has any claimed direct knowledge of the patient’s wishes IS HER HUSBAND. In order to deny him the ability to make this decision, so-called conservatives are demonizing this man, making claims such as ‘He’s only in it for the money,” supposedly insurance money, or he’s in it for his own convenience. The “conservatives” making such a statement should explain why he has turned down 10 million dollars.

4) People who should know better (speech therapists, physicians, nurses, and others) are making completely ridiculous statements such as “with speech therapy she could have been talking in 6 months.” This is patently and blatantly against all medical data to date.

5) So-called “conservatives” are claiming that artificial feeding is not “life support.” If it isn’t life support, then pull the feeding tube and see if life goes on. If it does, then it isn’t life support. You want to make bets? Whether it’s artificial feeding or artificial breathing, it’s life support!

6) Rush Limbaugh is arguing that the judicial activism is thwarting the “will of the people.” Yet he begins his harangue with the statistic that the majority of Americans favor allowing Michael Schiavo to make the decision and statistics noting that the majority of Americans favor terminating artificial feeding in this case. Is it not then Rush Limbaugh’s and “conservatives’” position which is thwarting the will of the people while the judge in the case is promoting the will of the people?

7) For Heaven’s sake, make out an advanced directive. Don’t leave the decision up to your unfortunate relatives and don’t allow the courts to make the decision for you.