'Nearly dead'??
'Living Death'??
Can't you even see the moral contortions your chosen position is forcing you into??
Your words are turning downright Orwellian; which of course they must for you to attempt to maintain such an indefensible rhetorical position.
It is not I, who have engaged in moral contortions. When you take umbrage at my description of Terry Schiavo's state, you are refusing to look at the quantity and quality of life. Life and death are not absolutes. (This is discussed at length in my essay, Terry Schiavo.)
By any rational standard, at least from the standpoint of defining the characteristics of a human life, Terry was more than half dead. While that would not take away her family's right to keep her alive, if they could afford to, by artificial means, there was also the question of what her wishes would have been. Her poor body was not yours to order, you know. The whole concept of having a Court weigh these factors is intended as a protection for the unfortunate--intended, among other things, to make sure that the unfortunate are not ideological footballs, either for you or me; either for this side or that side of any controversy; or for one faction or another of any family.