okay, if I change my mind on the Terri Schiavo thing ......

[datamax]

If she is brain dead then even though her body lives her brain for the most part doesn't, therefore there is no human life there. If that is correct, then the Mind is what makes a person alive or dead - is this true ?

[Aught Six]

If that is correct, then the Mind is what makes a person alive or dead - is this true ?

I think it takes both mind and body. I put more importance on the mind, as that is what determines our individuality and consciousness. But remember that the mind is essentially the brain, and the brain can't function without a body.

[datamax]

I'm trying to sort this out.

Her mind is gone, she's in a vegetative state, yet its still enough there to fully function if she gets food/water ?

A pregnancy is a mother and an unborn child - but there is no cognitive mind until what ? week 12-14 or longer ? Heart beats at like 5 weeks. But we know that its a living human being because its part of the symbiancy that makes a pregnancy what it is.

A severly, SEVERLY retarded person would not have much more than what Teri Shiavo has - would they ? Why aren't they allowed to die ?

[Aught Six]

Her mind is gone, she's in a vegetative state, yet its still enough there to fully function if she gets food/water ?

? Her brain is toast. She's not even close to full functionality. The fact that she can't even feed herself says it all. You need food to stay alive, right?

A pregnancy is a mother and an unborn child - but there is no cognitive mind until what ? week 12-14 or longer ? Heart beats at like 5 weeks. But we know that its a living human being because its part of the symbiancy that makes a pregnancy what it is.

There's no body until the fetus is finished developing, at which point it is birthed. A person can't live with an incomplete make-up. Takes nine months to finish, right?

A severly, SEVERLY retarded person would not have much more than what Teri Shiavo has - would they ? Why aren't they allowed to die ?

Because people feel sorry for them and take it upon themselves to do that individuals living for him/her.

[datamax]

Her brain is toast. She's not even close to full functionality. The fact that she can't even feed herself says it all. You need food to stay alive, right?

Well, lots of humans cannot feed themselves. That in itsself is not a reason to declare them not fit for survival, is it ?

There's no body until the fetus is finished developing, at which point it is birthed. A person can't live with an incomplete make-up. Takes nine months to finish, right?

Viability does not make a life. Its is an undisputed fact that IF there is a pregnancy there MUST be a mother and an unborn child - 2 living human organisms. No doubt, undisputable. That in itsself tells you when human life begins.


but ................. in this case we clearly see a human life - he body is not much different than your and mine the way it functions. What seperates her from you and I is her cognitive functions - her higher brain functions.


But again, if we are placing a line in the sand ......... doesn't it, wouldn't it also apply to severly retarded children ?

Also, lets say you get drunk, your car jumps a curb and you run down a pregnant woman and she loses the child. Buddy, you're looking at manslaughter, aren't you ? BUT .......... if your lawyer can argue that the living human being killed didn't have a functioning brain ............ how would it be any different that this ?

Because people feel sorry for them and take it upon themselves to do that individuals living for him/her.

You use the word LIVING but is it living ? If their brains are that bad, there is no life there, merely a shell of a human body that it alive, with no brain to support it, and thus not really worth "keeping alive" for lack of better words.

Do you see the comparison there ?

[Charlie P]

yet its still enough there to fully function if she gets food/water ?

What's your definition of function fully?

[datamax]

hmmmmmmmm

a living human body that doesn't require machinery to run it - ie does not require life support. She is vital

[Charlie P]

Oh I thought you meant fully functional like you can walk, talk,think etc,my bad.

[tardfarmer]

If they're going to pull her feeding tube, thus making her death inevitable in a couple of days, wouldn't it be worth while to make use of her and do Helmet studies ???

[datamax]

tardfarmer - exactly. If she's dead already and just a living body there, why can't they try some new experimental drugs or something that needs human testing ? No harm, right ?