There have been several high-profile court cases in recent years as to whether treatment that keeps these people alive – since they cannot eat or drink – should be withdrawn or not, whether they should be left to die or not. In several cases the judges decided that it was reasonable to withdraw treatment and let the vegetative patients die. This does not happen quickly – instead the law, solemn and absurd, insists that the patients are slowly starved and dehydrated to death, a process that will take several days.
