END-OF-LIFE CONVERSATIONS NOW LESS LIKELY TO OCCUR (Cynthia Tucker)

Cynthia Tucker - WASHINGTON -- When Congress made its foolish 2005 foray into the heartbreaking case of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman kept alive for years in a vegetative state, I called my brother to reiterate my end-of-life directives. "Don't let Mom interfere," I told him sternly, knowing that parents can be irrational about letting go of a dying child.