>>Well, now, not so fast, k2!! Some people thought that a mistake was made about her status. Not everyone thought she was in a "persistent vegetative state." Some people felt that she was just in a diminished state of consciousness and that she might even benefit from rehabilitation. And I'll bet there are others who still think it was a mistake for the court to conclude as it did about about "what Terri said she wanted" under these circumstances.
>>My point is perhaps just a minor one. If we want to give courts the power to make life or death decisions that depend upon findings of fact, we have to accept that mistakes will be made.
No we don't have to accept that mistakes will be made in life and death "fact" determinations, we can do like criminals and make it very very difficult for mistakes to be made, like Jim says if 1 out of 12 persons is doubtful, you dont execute. Murders also have the 'do-over' option for a trial de novo. Those are all safeguards to virtually eliminate mistakes with life and death.
I think your ORIGINAL point was sarcasm, since you used a smiley face. Then in post 240, you are both saying about the same thing, but different ways: that mistakes were most likely made. Don't forget the word HONEST, though. There is no good reason to believe it was an HONEST mistake.
Why, even Michael and his attorney in 1992 maintained that Terri was NOT in PVS, they said she was "somewhat responsive", and since that time, some of her medical tests, (brain scans around 2002 I believe) had even improved slightly...
Her parents, siblings, friends, caregivers, priests, paralegals, etc, were all just saying in 2005, the same thing MICHAEL said in 1992: That she was somewhat responsive (and better than PVS)
This says there WILL BE testimony in the malpractice trial by Michael and his witnesses that Terri is NOT in PVS.
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/terri.html