IF IT AT LEAST MAKES YOU THINK...

The uncomprehensible situation regarding Terri Schiavo is at least making people think...

Last evening in Bartow the Polk County Tiger Bay Club held a forum on end-of-life decisions. Among the panelists were former Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd of Plant City, who supported the Legislature's intervention through "Terri's Law", and Barbara Coombs-Lee, president of the Oregon-based Compassion In Dying Federation. Also participating were Hospice of Citrus County CEO Anthony J. Palumbo, Hernando-Pasco Hospice Medical Director Dr. David McGrew, and end-of-life expert Dr. Timothy Quill, who was the plantiff in the landmark Quill -vs- Vacco Supreme Court decision in 1997 overturning New York State's ban on physician assisted suicide.

Of course, the discussion would quickly get to the current case regarding Terri Schiavo, whose husband is seeking to have her life ended after 15 years of a coma. Her parents have made numerous attempts to challenge Michael Schiavo's attempts to remove his wife's feeding tube, most recently seeking a court's permission do dissolve the marriage on grounds of adultury (Michael has been in a live-in relationship with another woman for several years, with whom he has fathered two children) and not working in the best interests of Terri.