Personally, I think it's a tragedy if someone feels life is no longer worth living and takes their own life.
But I think it's far worse for someone to look at you and decide that in their estimation your life isnt worth living, and for them to pull the plug on you. I know a couple that has a severely handicapped son that relies on a feeding tube. He's a part of their family and goes where they go in his wheelchair. He interacts with them, but has extremely limited capacities. Should they be allowed to say, "Well, he shouldn't have to live like this", pull the tube, and let him die of dehydration? There's not a doubt in my mind that if they did that they'd go to jail for felony child abuse or even murder.
If you starved a dog to death, you'd go to jail. Terri Schiavo isn't on life support -- all she needs is someone to feed her. Yes, she's pretty far gone. But just how intelligent do you have to be in order to have the right to continued life? This is a question of involuntary euthanasia. If Michael Schiavo wanted to give his wife a lethal injection, how would this be handled? The only difference is that the method being used is more cruel.
Let me ask this -- if that was Laci Peterson in there, would we allow Scott to pull the tube? The only person to claim she stated a desire to die was Schiavo -- and he made that claim seven years into her current state.
People aren't trying to protect Schiavo from herself -- they're trying to protect her from the husband that wants to kill her.