It's so tough, but I feel like we might want to strive for getting people to give advance directions on what treatment they wish to receive if they become unconscious. Shouldn't it be up to the individual? And in the case of Eluana Englaro, you can't get much closer of a relative than one's father, and he insists she did not wish to be kept alive artificially.

My gut feeling is that she would be more at peace if she was not made to exist in a vegetative state, and that whatever higher power you believe in will understand a father's desire to let his daughter rest in peace, even if it is not His or Her first choice...
Source(s):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7867197.stm

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I think it is ok if it can be proven the person would really not want to live in a vegetative state. It should be written clearly in a living will, when it can possibly be done in the first place. For minors, wow. I just can't imaging having to make a decision like that. In an ideal world, having the living will would make it easier for everyone in the long run, but impractical at best, as most people don't have one.

In the case of Eluana Englaro, she was only 20 at the time. Much too young for most to have that kind of conversation that it would require. After 17 years of living (if that's what you want to call it) I would hope that people would have compassion for her and what her family has gone through and allow her to die.

I would never want my family to have deal with this, but if it ever happened, they all know that if there was no chance I could recover, to let me go.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/02/03/italy-euthanasia.html
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