In 25 years, the baby boomers will be on the cusp of 85, becoming what a physician friend has called "history's healthiest generation of Alzheimer's patients." As the tsunami of red ink collapses the struts beneath the tar-paper shacks of Medicare and Social Security (which the Congressional elders say isn't broken) the "scarce resource" argument will re-emerge, with soothing persuasiveness, for triaging the most ill among us, very old or very young.

The outpouring of support to give Terri Schiavo back to her parents may prove quixotic, but it ensures that these future questions of who lives and who dies won't be decided by the professional class alone in conferences and courtrooms. It will be done in full view, where it belongs.