mr. speaker , i shall not try to influence the opinion of anyone on this issue . 
i will simply share with you my opinion , the opinion of a physician of almost 41 years duration . 
i am a head and neck surgeon . 
i have done cancer surgery almost all of those years . 
i have done much maxillofacial trauma all of those years and dealt with situations like this on numerous occasions . 
terri schiavo has spontaneous respiratory activities and respontaneous cardiac activity . 
she is not on life support , as we routinely define it . 
she is not intubated and she is not on a respirator . 
and i give the gentleman from the state of washington credit for his knowledge of the physiology of the brain stem . 
he is right , it is very robust , and that certainly is one of the things that is driving her now . 
but she does have some cognition and some cortical activity . 
removing her gastrostomy tube will ultimately cause her demise , a commissive act that will cause the death of a human being . 
how many others in this country are now in long-term care facilities with feeding tubes , but able to breathe on their own , their hearts beating strongly ? 
should their feeding tubes be removed as well ? 
i think not . 
i believe it is wrong to remove a feeding tube from an individual whose cardiopulmonary function is stable and who has some remaining cognitive abilities . 
it is unfortunate in many ways that this venue is where this issue will be decided , but removal of this feeding tube under these very public circumstances is a slippery slope down which we and the united states should not tread . 
this bill deserves our support . 
