per secula seculorum?

I just read a story on Eluana, an Italian woman who has been in coma for 17 years. She died today while in the Italian congress her life was in debate. Mr. Berlusconi (cheered by the Catholic church) was trying to pass The “Eluana law” that prevents hospitals and families to take "a person's life away". What is life, I ask? What makes Eluana’s life… a life? There is no universal definition of life. Scientists define it in broad terms to avoid unequivocal assumptions.  If life is defined in relation to a natural course that exhibits certain biological processes and chemical reactions, Eluana’s life would be considered “artificial”. If she has been attached to a machine that feeds her and breathes for her, and her brain is completely or partially damaged, and she’s been asleep for almost two decades in what science calls a "coma" (a state of “deep unarousable unconsciousness")… how is this type of life not artificial? Should the state decide on these matters? How long is too long to wait for an awakening? How short is too little? “We” (the people) should have the right to decide on our own bodies and lives. What happens to our bodies after we "die" should not be regulated by the State (or by others). If these machines did not exist she would’ve died a good number of years back. How can the Church, and their believe in an Almighty God, apply “scientific” technology to their convenience and deny it when it suits them? The life of Eluana becomes a “diversion”, but not as a past time or amusement but as something that distracts the attention of the public from bigger issues. Eluana’s body is not tight to an artificial machine anymore, it will disintegrate as the rest of her once did.   

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