Too vigorously assisted suicide.

Opponents of assisted suicide have good reasons for persisting in efforts to save Terri Schiavo's life. But supporters of assisted suicide may have even better ones.

The opponents have always asserted that allowing assisted suicide at all, while bad in itself, would lead to further evils: that we would start by allowing people who want to die to kill themselves, but end up allowing the killing of people who do not want to die. If we were supporters of assisted suicide, we would want to disprove these predictions. We would want to make sure that safeguards are in place to prevent such abuse.

The facts of this case suggest that existing safeguards are dangerously inadequate. The evidence that Mrs. Schiavo would have wanted the removal of the tube that brings her food and water appears sketchy at best. Even if we granted that she said both that she did not want to be on life support and that she would not want to be in a coma, it would not establish that she would not even want food and water when she is not in a coma.

Terri Schiavo has had no MRI or PET scan. Only a CT scan has led some neurologists to conclude that her cerebral cortex has liquefied; other neurologists dispute the possibility of reliably making that inference from CT scans. Many of the initial determinations of fact under Judge Greer relied on the testimony of Dr. Ronald Cranford. He is certainly a medical expert; but he is also a right-to-die zealot who advocates the removal of feeding tubes for patients with Alzheimer's dementia.

While several courts have been involved in litigation surrounding the case, the other courts have deferred to Judge Greer's questionable factual findings. The legal conclusions built on those factual findings do not inspire great confidence, either. It is hard to see how Mrs. Schiavo could be found to be in a "persistent vegetative state" when Florida law defines that term as including "the absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind." (Some of the doctors the judge consulted did not believe that she was in a persistent vegetative state.)

The dispute between Mrs. Schiavo's husband, who wants her to die, and her parents and siblings, who want to keep her alive, has perhaps inevitably led to ugly allegations all around. SOme of those who have fought to keep Mrs. Schiavo alive, including some congressmen, have speculated rather too freely about Mr. Schiavo's perfidy. But it is not necessary to believe the worst about him to think that it is madness to accept his word about his wife's wishes. He has fathered two children with another woman, to whom he has gotten engaged. It is not necessary to judge that behavior harshly to think that ...