By ADAM P. BARR

Staff Writer

Brain-damaged and believed to be in a vegetable status, Terri Schiavo was pronounced dead March 31 as a result of the removal of her feeding tube two weeks prior.

Ongoing debates around campus infuriate many as the value of life is weighed.

"It is a hard decision to make between keeping someone alive or letting them go, no matter the situation," Steven McKinney, a senior English major, said.

McKinney said it is difficult to determine the right thing to do when there are so many intricacies.

"The man who made the decision to cut her food supply had another family and no real stake in her life anymore," McKinney said. "He had moved on and has another family."

Lacie Frazier, admissions counselor, said it was inhumane to starve and dehydrate someone to death, but it has to be a family decision.

"I think it was a situation that the government should have never gotten involved in," Frazier said.

Amber Richardson, a senior interior design major, said it was a part of Schiavo's living will.

"[Schiavo] and her husband had talked about it before and wanted it to be pulled if her quality of life was poor," Richardson said.

She said Schiavo's husband made the decision through power of attorney.

"If I had talked about it with my family, I would expect them to honor my last wishes," Richardson said.

Claire Bagley, public relations officer for Christus Schumpert Health System, said the hospice, a place where terminally-ill patients are treated, provides necessary medicinal care for those who have fatal impairments.

"We assess the benefits and burdens of a particular treatment through the patient's health," Bagley said.

Bagley said all treatment of patients is guided by a Pope John Paul II statement in 2004 saying that each life is precious and we should help those in need.

"The medically administered nutrition or hydration will only be pulled if it offers no proportionate or reasonable value," Bagley said.

Ryan Madden, a local attorney, said that the living will is a document that executes the patient's wishes in regard to their medical treatment when in a comatose or vegetable status.

"It is the person's direction to the physician," Madden said.

Madden said if there was doubt to the living will in context or wording, the person with the power of attorney would need to make decisions.

McKinney said the judicial system made the final ruling even though it was controversial.

"Death is never easy, no matter the situation; it is always hardest on the family."