I wish you would have been specific in noting what you meant by a "comatose person." There's a difference between being in a coma, and being a vegetable, so to speak. In the first type of coma, the brain is still functioning although the body cannot respond to exterior stimuli, or make voluntary movements. Thats whats known as a supratentoral coma. This person in this case has the chance to wake up at some point, and may go on to live a normal life with minimal damage, although it will take time to recover.
When someone goes into a vegetable like state, its known as a infratentarol coma. In this case, the person has no chance of waking up. Their brain is still functioning, but there is such significant damage to it that the sleep cycle is disturbed so greatly that they'll never regain a proper one, making it impossible for them to wake up. These are people we commonly refer to as vegetables. They have no ability to feel pain, make voluntary movements, or respond to or understand others whatsoever. I think its important to distinguish between the two.
Look, Im no expert on the subject, but Ill weigh in with my opinion. Im going to assume for purposes of this thread that you were referring to a vegetable state, from which one will never recover. But even in this case, the person is still very much alive. Their heart is still beating, and their lungs are still breathing. At some point, those things will cease to occur as well as the person will inevitably become "brain dead", but until that point, they are very much alive. Pulling the plug is taking away the life of someone who hasn't given permission. I refuse to debate this with anyone, but unless that person has an advanced directive instructing what to do in such circumstance, then pulling the plug is taking human life, and is murder, in my opinion. Not only in medical terminology, but in my own humble one as well.
