Terrry Schiavo case: my (quite nugatory) take

Being in Russia, I feel somewhat shielded from the media frenzy that is apparently going on in North America regarding Ms. Schiavo's life and eventual death by the court ordered cutting her feeding tube off.
It's not very typical of me that I am quite reluctant to take sides.
As usual, I tend to agree with what Mark Steyn has to say but I would like to comment on the following paragraph:

Until a year or two back, I spent a lot of my summer Saturdays manning the historical society booth at the flea markets on the town common, and I passed many a pleasant quarter-hour or so chit-chatting with elderly ladies leading some now middle-aged simpleton child around. Both parties seemed to enjoy the occasion. The child is no doubt a ‘burden’: he was born because he just was; there was no ‘choice’ about it in those days.

That's right, Mr. Steyn. But in those days doctors had much less means in their disposal to keep someone alive indefinitely without even a slim chance that such person would ever get his/her faculties intact. How we should approach this new situation is another matter and I am not saying here to offer any particular solutions. But at least it's got to be recognizes as an issue worth discussing.