Terri Schiavo has been lying in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years now. Regardless of your point of view on her 'right-to-die' or the need to preserve all human life, the fight over her treatment and her future has been dragged on through the courts now for a decade and a half with no real end in sight. The Schiavo case underscores the importance of medical proxies or living wills.

Had Mrs. Schiavo left written instructions as to what she wanted done in a situation similar to this one, none of the expensive court wrangling and government debate would be going on. A living will or medical proxy is simple. It leaves written instructions as to what the person wishes to do should he or she be incapacitated and unable to speak for themselves in the case of a living will or in the case of a proxy, designates somebody to make that decision for the incapacitated person.

The documents are usually drawn up by attorneys and witnessed in a manner similar to a last will and testament. It is filed with a county clerk and/or kept on file at a lawyer's office until it becomes necessary to consult it. Consult a local attorney because laws do vary by state.

Had Terri Schiavo left written instructions rather than the verbal wishes her husband Michael alleges she expressed, the entire debate about the disconnection of the feeding tube would become moot. Ms. Schiavo's wishes would be carried out and her parents, husband, judges, lawyers, activists and politicians would not be making a test case out of deciding her future. Fifteen plus years of legal wrangling and court appearances which have taxed the people Ms. Schiavo loves both financially and emotionally would have been unnecessary.

Now, Terri Schiavo lies unaware in a hospice bed just as she has for the past 15 years while other people decide her fate. All of this could have been avoided had she only signed a simple piece of paper...