This is a tough one for me too because what can be humane to one person can be inhumane to another. I'm not sure a law can solve such a moral dilemma.

I've known my next door neighbor for some 40 years. I used to babysit her when she was a toddler. Like me, she and her husband moved into her parents former home when they moved out. They were both very healthy.

In June, 2002 (at the age of 46) her husband Christopher had a massive heart attack while working out at a nearby health club. There was a delay because no one noticed him at first, and defibrillators (though present) were never used on him.

He was rushed to the hospital, underwent emergency surgery, and doctors fixed his heart. His brain, after going without oxygen for so long, never recovered.

When he was still "hooked up," my friend had the option to pull the plug. She was given hope that he might recover. Local church members were praying their hearts out and bringing her food. Everyone promised their little daughter her daddy would recover because "God works miracles."

NADA - nothing. She even traveled to Tijuana for a controversial stem cell transplant. No improvement....just wiped out their savings.

Doctors have given up on them - so have all the church members. With the help of her mother, she cares for her husband all by herself. It is a LOT of work - a LOT. She can't even maintain eye contact with him - no response whatsoever. Their hopeful little girl has turned into a bitter handful - same thing with their teenage daughter.

My friend tells me she would have opted for pulling the plug if she would have known it would turn out like this. We knew Christopher well enough to know he wouldn't want to live in that way or be such a burden to his wife and children. However, at this point we're talking "murder," not "assisted suicide." Pulling a plug is one thing - starving a loved one to death is another matter. She doesn't have the heart to do that to the man she loves, and I don't blame her. It doesn't help that the little one says she'll never speak with her again if she kills her "dead daddy."

She placed him in a nursing home, but they dropped him the first week he was there. She no longer trusts strangers to care for him.

It has been very hard for me to watch. I care very much for my friend, and it's taking it's toll on her. I worry sometimes that she may end up in the same boat, but I don't feel I have a right to tell her what to do. This is something she'll have to live with for the rest of her life - not me. I don't think lawyers and politicians in Washington care any more for her than I do - or know what's best for her any more than she does.