NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      MANASSAS, Virginia (CWNews.com) - The semi-comatose man at the center of a legal fight over his wife's decision to have his feeding tubes removed died on Friday, eight days after a court ordered those tubes removed.

      Hugh Finn, 44, was in a semi-comatose state since an auto accident in 1995, and his wife Michele argued that he had not wanted to live if he ever ended up in such circumstances. After doctors diagnosed Finn as being in a "persistent vegetative state," the court ordered the hospital to remove the tubes, despite pleas from Finn's family and an intervention on their behalf by Virginia Gov. James Gilmore.

      Finn's family claimed that he sometimes answered questions verbally, and he could blink his eyes to answer them. When told he would no longer be able to receive Holy Communion when the feeding stopped, he reportedly cried. A final attempt to intervene on Finn's behalf was made on Thursday by Virginia Delegate Robert Marshall, but a federal judge ruled he had no legal standing in the case.