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 there. Do you know whether it’s permissible to starve an animal in the state of Florida? That would be considered cruelty to animals. The Nazis tortured St. Maximilian Kolbe by trying to starve him. I think he lived for about 12 days. In the end, they gave him an injection of carbolic acid. Most people would say that you wouldn’t do that to an animal. Tim Drake
