Schiavo Rorschach

I believe that events like this Schiavo tale are more important for showing us how to think rather than what to think. I haven't studied on this very hard because I think this debate is as intractable as abortion. A few thoughts:

• If she had actually indicated a wish not to live like this, then it is her right to die. Right to live one's life in freedom implies that much.
  
• I am bothered by the manner in which they are proposing to kil ... I mean termin ... ah ... assist her ... suicide? If murderers on death row deserve a "humanitarian" means of death like lethal injection, doesn't she warrant that, at least?
• If her parents are willing to continue taking care of her, morally (though perhaps not legally) there is justification in letting them do so. What does her husband stand to gain? I have heard that he does stand to gain something, but I have not heard what it is.
• There is some reason for saying that courts should not be allowed to remove the woman from her husband and forcibly return her to the parents. What if he is right, and that it is her wish to die? Also, what if the parents (not in this case, but in a hypothetical case) were known to have been abusive? The principle is the sanctity of marriage, a voluntary association between two people that supersedes the involuntary association of parents to their children. That's something the secular left should consider as they seek to undermine marriage. It is, also, something the hyperreligious right should consider when they ban certain men and certain women from freely associating themselves with one another in ways that a 4 thousand year old book doesn't countenance.
• What is this costing? Lawyers (either in fees or in opportunity cost), courts, legislators, etc., protestors' lost wages? It seems that if we could add it all up and either support Mrs. Schiavo or distribute it to poor people, we would be better off.
  

Question for utilitarians: given that most of the pain is that being suffered by the interested parties and not necessarily by Mrs. Schiavo herself, would the best solution be for a vigilante to sneak into Terry's room tonight and shoot her up with a lethal dose of morphine?

Question for absolutists: To what limits should society go to keep this woman alive? I heard a doctor/lawyer on Fresh Air talking about how a lawyer pressed Terry's father to find out how far he would go. What if she developed gangrene and we had to remove an arm? Both arms? Both legs, too? What if she develops heart disease and we have to cut into her abdomen? His answers were consistently "yes" to the point of absurdity. The proverbial preserved brain from Star Trek lore.