Whatever my other opinions about the Terri Schiavo situation, or the facts of the matter, I can find no circumstances that justify starving and dehydrating her to death.

Either let her continue on in her present state, or mercifully and quickly kill her, but the present course is absolutely outrageous and unjustifiable on any ethical ground or circumstance, in my opinion. Even if the consensus medical opinion is that she’s insensible to it, there’s insufficient reason for it (in my opinion, none) to take the chance that she’s not.

I do find this aspect of the case a judicial travesty, beyond my comprehension, other than to maintain a legal fiction that she’s not being euthanized. Given all the outrage over how we’ve been treating prisoners, most of whom are trying to kill us, is that worth torturing an innocent human being to death over a matter of many days?

[Update at 6:30 PM EST]

When they remove (or reinstall, if that happens) the feeding tube, do they use either a local or general anaesthetic? If not, why not? Because they are operating on the assumption that she’s vegetative? That seems wrong as well.

[Update on Wednesday morning]

Here’s a link to a doctor blogger who is disputing the characterization that the “cortex has been replaced by spinal fluid,” based on the scans.