you will know a brain dead person when you see one, and that is not Terri Schiavo....
her brain is not working properly, true...
but it is well enough up to now at least to tell her body to do all the bodily functions like breathing and metabolizing nutrients.......
a stroke is a type of brain damage....yet, with physical and occupational and speech therapy, these people can live good lives, maybe even normal lives.....
did you forget that Terri has not had any therapy for over 10 yrs...forbidden by her loving, cheating husband....
Mrs. Schiavo had a heart attack, brought on by malnutrition because she was bulemic. She did it to herself. This is SO documented it's unbelievable that people just don't READ it. Michael and her parents dialed 911, but the attack was so traumatic and so dire her brain was oxygen-starved. Michael took her all over the COUNTRY to specialists and for experimental treatments, and nothing worked. Her parents were on-board with it, too. They KNOW all this.
AFTER all reasonable avenues were exhausted did Michael say it was time for his wife to pass on, and just about ALL the doctors agreed. Just Mommy and Daddy didn't, because they couldn't let go of their little girl. Understandable. Sad. But true.
All anyone needs to do on this is get a new CT scan, to see once and for all how much brain matter Mrs. Schiavo DOESN'T have left in her head. Docs say she has just about nothing qualifying as human left, only the "reptile" brain (the one that keep autonmoic systems functioning and manages basic reactions, like to heat and cold and pain).
It's a tragic situation, but it's NOT THAT COMPLICATED.