The death of Terri Schiavo has focused attention on euthanasia. With her feeding tube removed, the 41-year-old American woman died in Florida last week after 15 years of living in a "vegetative state." The long and bitter dispute, in and out of court, that continued through her last days suggest the need to create conditions that encourage use of the "living will," which says what kind of medical treatment a person in the final stages of an irrecoverable disease wants, or does not want, to receive.
Euthanasia is defined as an "act or practice of causing painless death, so as to end suffering." The living will is regarded as a voluntary way to ensure that a person dies in peace and dignity following a halt to life-extending treatment during the final phases of a terminal disease.
In 1990, Schiavo suffered a cardiac arrest that left her brain severely damaged. Ever since, she had remained "in a persistent vegetative state," according to her medical reports. Her husband, Mr. Michael Schiavo contended that she would not have wanted to live in such a condition and requested that the feeding tube be disconnected. Her parents, who are Catholics, wanted her to be kept on life support.