Not to sound over-the-top, but maybe Jeb should send in the National Guard. Or SOMETHING. Can't the government overreact and stomp over our rights for a GOOD reason this time? It seems to do it often enough for bad reasons...

Judge Greer and Michael Schiavo should be arrested and charged with murder.

Let them defend themselves in, ahem, court.

But why should we trust what Kate Adamson says? She has an agenda, after all. Are we not gullible to believe her story?

ghost:

No, you believe whoever wanted her dead.

Not that it matters much, but you misjudge me. I find her case fascinating and do, in fact, tend to believe her. Life is both comedy and tragedy, no? The case would be even more tragic (comical? certainly O. Henryish!) if she had overtly given a trusted, loved one the power of the plug. (As my wife and I have both done.)

Ever experience sleep paralysis, OJ? (The Wife will relate, if you can't.) At least twice here, that I can remember. Absolutely terrifying. I don't know for sure whether I would want to persist indefinitely in that state or not, but I need to decide now, don't I?

No. It makes rather little difference what you decide. Someone else will make the decision for you when the time comes.

In these parts I get to state my wishes, at least. Those wishes could be for eternal life suppport, but I'd rather not. (Yes, even if I did, there are no ironclad guarantees. Who can you trust anymore? No human more than my mate of 41 years, for certain.)

You can state them anywhere--they're routinely ignored.

Not by my trusty and willful mate. (You "osmosed" her karma from that old building in South Roylaton, I swear.) She knows better than to simply surrender a loved one to the tender mercies of the medical and insurance communities. Likewise, actually, my Indian physician.

ghost:

Yes, that's what folks tell each other when they're young, healthy, and flush.

Slid that one right past my knees. Healthy? Check. Flush? Check. Young? All relative, I suppose.

Yes, but when you still think your life relatively worth living the folks with a financial interest in your death will be wielding the needle.

Inevitable, no? Unless we're each our own doctor, insurer, and what Donne warned us against.

ghost:

Not inevitable at all.

Inside corner at the knees. I'll bite: how so?

Patently inhospitable.

ghost:

It's only inevitable once you start allowing murder instead of protecting life.

Once you're no longer conscious, seems to me, others control your fate. Simple as that. Whether or not you have a "living will". Whether or not your state has a Death With Dignity law. "They" ... whoever they turn out to be in a particular situation ... are not going to keep your brain alive indefinitely no matter the cost. Happens all the time. Even at Hitchcock, I'll wager.

Do you advocate taking whatever measures might be necessary to artificially prolong every life, as long as technologically possible, regardless of costs?

So just the loss of consciousness justifies our killing each other? What slippery slope?

Nonresponsive. I neither said nor suggested any such thing. But let's narrow the question further. If the patient is "alive" only in the sense that his brain is functioning, do we artificially keep him going forever? We'll soon be at that point technologically, don't you think? If the answer is "by all means", best not expect the payers of taxes and health insurance premiums to meekly comply. If one can afford that kind of "care" with one's own wealth, I for one won't object. Otherwise ...

Once you're no longer conscious, seems to me, others control your fate.

Que sera? I, like Jeff in this instance, would not count on divine intervention to save me from eternity-in-a-brain-tank. Nothing I can think of sounds more like hell. That nightmarish vision first came to me a half century ago, before my first experience with sleep paralysis.

ghostc: by sleep paralysis do you mean coming awake while the muscle inhibiting chemicals are still present ? if so, i have experienced that a couple of times, and found it odd but hardly terrifying. now those damn flying monkeys in the wizard of oz, that's terrifying.

cjm;

It's a quite serious medical problem if you've ever had actual sleep paralysis.

Sounds like the opposite of lucid dreaming.

Sorta, creeper, and I've experienced that too. (Dreaming and simultaneously realizing that you're dreaming.) With sleep paralysis, your brain wakes up before your body does. (Or, in some cases, goes to sleep after your body does.) It's more often terrifying for folks than not. For a hypomanic, Type A personality (moi), it's incredibly scary. Happened to me once in college, again in my 50's. Not considered a serious problem unless far more frequent than that. Ever experienced sleep apnea? (Stop breathing, bolt awake gasping for air?) Equally scary. Happens to me with some regularity if I sleep in my back. How self-referential can one get here w/o being excommunicated? Good thing for me The Wife (Mrs. OJ) is a bona fide sleep expert, no?

ghost:

Hopefully you've sought treatment? Your wife may want to pull the plug but we don't.

(Self-reference is welcome on comments, limited in posts.)

Never even occurred to me to mention it to a professional, OJ. (I was raised working class, Catholic, Vermont Yankee stock, remember?) I'm pretty sure the symptoms don't rise to the level of treatment, in any event. The apnea is easily avoided (side sleeping) and the paralysis happened just twice and not within the past 8-10 years. I'll tell you, though, if either occurred regularly I'd seek assistance.

My bipolar daughter sometimes thinks I need medicating, but I'm just a garden variety hypomanic carrying the bipolar gene(s). Self-awareness has never been an issue between these two ears. On some appropriate thread, I'll share my $0.02 worth on the relationship between brain chemistry, creativity, intuition, "brain flits", and clues to the eternal soul. So there.

And wordplay.

ghost:

It can be deadly. Class doesn't justify stupidity.