In the case of Terri Schiavo, why is the denial of nutrition and hydration wrong?
It’s wrong in any circumstance, regardless of whether she said she didn’t want it or her husband says she didn’t want it. It’s inherently evil to deny food and water to anyone unless it’s going to make the person worse or death is within a few hours. It’s independent from what she or her husband has said. What of someone in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS)? Even in the case of someone in a persistent vegetative state, the Pope has said that the person should get food and water. The definition of the persistent vegetative state is basically a person whose brain has been affected so that they make or perform no conscious or purposeful action. You can’t make them follow a command, in theory. They do not talk. My problem is that you don’t know what is happening inside a person, of if they will be changing. Some people in a vegetative state have progressed to higher levels. The Pope has said that you should receive food and hydration, even in that state. There is a real black and white
