Our children and grandchildren will continue to live in the aftershock of the Terri Schiavo case. We can expect that the life and death issues of the future will only become more complex. We offer six policy suggestions for citizens, legislators and doctors to consider:

1. Food and water should never be seen as extraordinary medical treatment, but should be treated as ordinary care – something to which every American is entitled, no matter what their physical or mental condition.

2. Whether a person will ever “get better” should not be a valid reason to end their life under the law. A judge should not have the power to determine the quality of life a disabled person must attain in order to be permitted to live.

3. If ever a court sentences to death an innocent, disabled person who cannot speak for him or herself, the law should provide at least the guaranteed same judicial review a convicted death row prisoner would be entitled to receive.

4. At the very least, no court should be permitted to order death by starvation and dehydration without first having a legally sufficient statement such as a written living will or health care surrogate in writing, with signatures and witnesses appropriate to those required for any other legal document.

5. Because persistent vegetative state (PVS) is reportedly MIS-diagnosed approximately 43% of the time, states should require an appropriate cognitive assessment review be done before a feeding tube may be removed.

6. A spouse who has entered into another committed relationship has a conflict of interest with the patient and should not be permitted to continue to serve as a guardian for the disabled spouse.

If we are to err, as a Christian-based society and as believers, let us do so on the side of life.