Munich Coma Patient Dies

Six days after the death of Terri Schiavo in the US, a patient who lay in a waking coma in Munich died this week after his feeding tube was removed. The 42-year-old man, who suffered a heart attack earlier this year, was lying in a Munich clinic ever since with severe brain and organ damage. According to his lawyer, Wolfgang Putz, the patient had made it clear several times before his severe deterioration that he didn't want to live in such a state. "We have to let him go because we love him," the man's mother and wife are reported to have said. The doctors apparently respected his wish. Putz pointed out that several coma patients in Germany -- much like Schiavo -- had been helped to die, adding that his practice alone had overseen 65 such cases. "None of our clients however was tortuously starved because all cases were attended to by doctors and nurses trained in palliative medicine," he added.