No, don't think he divorced her. But did move in with another woman, to whom he is not married.

The tragedy that happened to this woman was years ago when she was brain damaged. And now she can't say whether she wishes to continue in this state indefinitely.

Because her husband received a large financial settlement contingent on using it to care for his wife, the money and the new girlfriend create a bad odor about this.

IMO, the money and the custody of this woman should be transferred to her blood kin.

It is unfortunate that medical technology prolongs these situations seemingly forever, when maybe the best thing is to let her rest in peace. Too bad she can't express an opinion on the subject. Which suggests that all of us better get our legal paperwork in order so that such things cannot happen to us when we are unable to say what we want done.

I have very mixed emotions. Being a former nurse, caring for patients in comas and trying to help the families is extremely difficult.

My dad (at age 80) had a living will which I tried to "enforce", but my mother and sister were not willing to let my dad pass on. It was a very trying situation for me for days. He had only 1 kidney remaining which was destroyed by 4 IV abxs. to attempt to stop a post op infection. To let him "live" would have meant remaining life-time on dialysis. (At his age, the likelihood of a kidney transplant was extremely remote. Not to mention the anti-rejection drugs.)

If you have any understanding of dialysis...and have talked to patients who are on it, most say they wish they had never started the treatment. I talked to 2 such patients. It reconfirmed my decision to fight for dad's choice to die.

I guess the best way to face this is to ask yourself, "Would I want to live like Terry has for 15 years?"

If not, then get a living will (very easy)witnessed and have it available for your loved ones. I have one.

Her brain scans were shown on television and showed massive destruction.

He killed her pets, melted down her wedding ring, he is a pig. Pat Boone has a grandson in more or less the same state and he works with him everyday.

Having conversations about moral and ethical issues can make people uncomfortable and feel unwelcome. There is a place on this website for questions that are off topic.

Michael Shiavo has no monetary interest or material gains to be had by allowing his wife to die. Yes, they are still married. He has two children with another woman he has since formed a relationship with. As of two hours ago he was at his wife's side in her hospice setting, along with his brother and her parents. According to interviews with his brother and other family members and friends, he is not a monster and up until relatively recent times has been considered to be on friendly terms with his wife's parents.

It truly seems to be that the only issue at hand is what Terri's wishes were. He feels very strongly that they discussed this type of situation before the accident that left her so severely brain damaged/dead (depending on how you view the definition of life and what constitutes being alive) and that they agreed neither of them would let the other suffer being kept alive via artificial means if there was no hope of a true recovery. Hence, he has done what he feels he vowed to her he would do...and what he feels she asked him to do while she was still alive and healthy.

I know most of you may not understand that kind of a promise, but it's exactly what I asked my mate to do for me when we first got together, and it's a wish I would ask of any mate. If you were in her condition and had no thoughts...would you want all the attention she's getting? Would you want to live? Would you expect every politician in the U.S. who could see the possibility of political gain to get involved..."on your behalf?"

Gimme' a break. We just went through a similar situation with my little sister. She had cancer that started in her spinal cord, left her paralyzed and then moved into her brain. It was totally untreatable. So...do you do all you can to keep her alive and suffering, or do you allow her to die in peace? Unfortunately, in her case as well it wasn't necessarily a matter of what she wanted. Others in her life tried very hard to make it an issue about what they thought she wanted...but it was really about what they wanted and what they were comfortable with emotionally. Fortunately for my sister, she had sense enough to video tape her wishes while she was still concious enough to do so.

Anyway, best for Terri if we all just but the freak out and let her family figure it out. They know her best. We don't know squat, as evidenced by the rash statements, judgements, and accusations made above.