Some well-meaning people will go to their graves insisting the Terri Schiavo case was about the right to life. But, it wasn't. Nor was it about the right to die. It was all about who speaks for a person when she is unable to speak for herself.
And, as I see it, the court had little if any choice in that regard because, when she married, she left her parents to join her spouse. As was probably said in their marriage ceremony, "What God has joined together, let not man put asunder."
Just my opinion, of course.
I don't believe it would be stretching it to expand that to " ...let not man put asunder, nor six feet under." Which is, of course, what her husband did.
Hentoff’s point and mine is that since her wishes were unclear the decision shouldn’t have been made to kill her. Criminals whose guilt is unclear aren’t executed; an innocent person whose wishes are unclear shouldn’t be killed, and that’s what happened in this case, since definite actions were taken that shortened her life.