Original subtitles

Previously on L .A. Law. Well, congratulations are in order.

Kelly was impressed, and she wants you to adopt her baby.

Yeah. Look, Dave, what I offer a client can't be replicated on a videotape. A

client comes to me for me.

Yes.

Absolutely true.

But you will have to admit there are an awful lot of people who can't afford to

hire you. But the $24 .95 they would shell out for an hour's worth of your

-chosen words could add up to a seven, maybe even an eight -figure income for

you and yours.

Are you making a movie about Arnie? Would you sit at Arnie's desk for a

We need a stand -in. I'm Allison Gottlieb.

Benny Selwick.

I've got some bad news.

Kelly changed her mind.

What? No. I got a call last night from an attorney in New York telling me the

deal was off.

She took another offer.

Why? I don't know. I never saw it coming.

A star is born, you two, and I say that having just watched the tape. He speaks

the truth.

What on earth is that, David? A point of purchase display.

How do you like it?

You should be very pleased.

When's our next shoot?

I'll be editing down this footage over the weekend.

Oh, Benny.

This is a videotape of you.

Mr. Cusack, our recommendation to the State Bar Association is that you be

publicly censured and suspended from the practice of law for a period of not

less than one month, effective immediately.

Whatever happened to freedom of expression?

Right of assembly, does that count for anything or not?

Well, I guess some people just don't like nudist colonies in their community.

Oh, it's the same damn bunch every time.

First they say fire hazard, two years ago it was zoning, and now it's

How the hell are we a nuisance?

Well, basically what they're going to say is ever since you welcomed Miss Nude

Galaxy into the compound, it's become a kind of teenage male tourist trap.

Speaking of which, she's given two separate statements, and I'm going to

review these with her.

She should be right outside.

Martha, if Tracy Sue is here, send her in, please.

This is a wholesome young woman, Mike, and these people are just a bunch of

narrow -minded nature bigots. Well, maybe so.

But the kids did try to scale the walls in the weekends, and it has caused a

stir in the neighborhood, and that's what they're going to base their

action on. The judge can shut us down for that?

Because they can't control their own kids?

Lawrence? Ah, Tracy, come on in.

Michael Cusack, Tracy Sue. Tracy, this is the lawyer who'll be trying the case.

Hi.

Hello. Lauren said you wanted to go over my affidavit.

Sorry. Well, well.

Welcome back, Brother Kuzak.

Freshly returned from exile.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Boy, did that month fly by. I take it you're all ready to plunge into your

defense of the nudist colony?

Yeah, I just came from there. We're ready for trial. Ready for trial?

Do I defect a little unauthorized practice of the law at home here?

not. My suspension ended on Friday, and I prepared over the weekend. Well, in

the interest of the firm and the client, I wish you good luck, but as a

purely... Personal observation, I wouldn't want those perverts prancing

my neighborhood either. Check out the centerfold of this month's flamingo,

It's your star witness.

Yeah, thanks, but I've already seen the evidence.

Moving along, Malay versus Century Partners Limited.

That's actually Abby's case. I'm doing a little tax work on it for her. Abby

Perkins? is hiring Mackenzie Brockman to work for her? That is correct, Douglas.

And am I assuming we're to be compensated for these services?

Also correct. You're assuming that. In re Jamie Ferguson.

Doctor takes a stand today.

How's it going, Victor?

It's rough, Ann, real rough.

This is the girl in the coma, right?

Forgive me, but I can't see forcing anybody to stay alive like that.

Euthanasia's illegal, Stuart. You can't just kill somebody. Even her parents

want her to die. So where do we draw the line?

First we start killing coma patients, and then what?

Babies with Down syndrome? Retarded people? Come on, Victor, the woman's

practically brain dead.

If her own parents want to pull the plug, who are you to say no? Now, we are

representing the hospital.

This is the firm's client, not just Victor's. Which means to the extent that

this draws any questions from the press directed to any one of you, you recite

the company line. Your personal feelings aside, on the record, we stand

committed to keeping Jamie Ferguson alive. On the record, the taking of a

life is wrong.

That is the client's position, therefore it is our position.

Are we understood?

Yeah.

Good. Move along, Douglas.

That's it.

We're adjourned.

Arnie! Hi, Allison.

Final cut. It's stunning.

Hi, Rox. How's the diet? Fine.

Well, come on in. Let's put it on. I can't. I'm running way late. Are we

on for tonight?

Seven o 'clock, Clooney's. See you then.

He's a star.

Hi, Benny.

Hi. How are you? Good.

I played my tape. Did you like it?

Yeah. Well, you should. You are very handsome on screen.

Who? Yes, you.

You want a bagel?

For later.

I gotta go now, Benny, but I'll see you real soon, okay?

Okay.

Bye. Bye.

How does a normal, healthy, 20 -year -old suddenly get struck down by an

aneurysm? Well, there's no real explanation.

It just happens sometimes.

In Jamie's case, she suffered a rupture at the apex of the basilar artery.

It's like a time bomb in the head that can go off with no warning whatsoever.

And what is Jamie's condition today?

She's in what we call a chronic or persistent vegetative state and has been

two years.

She has no cognitive brain function and no ability to interact with the outside

world. Basically, she just exists.

And what is the prognosis and recommended treatment for this doctor?

condition is irreversible.

It's my opinion she should be allowed to die.

Thank you, doctor.

Nothing further.

She's not brain dead, is she? Technically, no, but she has no

thought or emotion.

The left side of her thalamus is completely destroyed. But her hindbrain

still alive, right?

Yes. And her EEG measures some forebrain activity, right? But it's completely

dysfunctional. Yes or no, doctor. Does the EEG indicate activity by the

forebrain? Yes.

Thank you. Is Jamie Ferguson terminal, sir?

No. She could live for another 30 or 40 years, right? She could.

And tell me, Doctor, when you say that her condition is irreversible, is that

medical certainty or is that simply your opinion?

My opinion, as well as everybody else. I see.

And to your knowledge, sir, has such a person ever regained consciousness?

Well, that's not going to happen here. The question is, Doctor, has it ever

happened? It's happened, yes.

And despite this possibility, you want to kill a non -terminal patient without

ever giving her a chance to recover? That possibility is so unrealistic, it

can't justify prolonging this woman's misery.

Wait a second. Jamie Ferguson is feeling misery?

I'm just talking about allowing her to die with dignity.

Oh, so she's capable of feeling dignity, then? I didn't say that. Well, I'm

confused, Doctor. You say that she can't feel, but you want to end her misery.

You say that she can't think, but you want to preserve her self -esteem.

You know damn well what I'm talking about. The patient is gone.

There's nothing going on in her head.

Doctor, when you make your regular checkups with Jamie, do you ever talk to

Sometimes I talk aloud, yes.

Well, according to some of your nurses, you often take her hand to comfort her.

You talk to her. You tell her little stories. Once you even sang her a song,

didn't you? That doesn't mean she hears me. No.

But if you're so positive that she doesn't, why do you bother?

I just do. Is it because maybe, just maybe, she somehow does hear you?

I'm sure she doesn't but I suppose you can't ever really know for sure. No, you

can't That's all doctor, thank you

Hi. Hey, Benny.

What brings you here?

Barney has to be late. He sent me to keep you company.

Great.

Would you like something to drink?

Oh, well.

Okay, a root beer.

Coming right up. Could I have a root beer, please?

Sure. Excuse me, is this seat taken?

You want a place to sit?

I got a place you can sit that'll make us both happy.

Go ahead, Benny, sit down. Oh, come on. Just a little barroom humor.

Practically protocol.

More like pro -magnon.

Well, judging from your friend here, it looks like you're into that.

You know, you're kind of cute for an ignorant drunk.

Yeah? And I think you've got a big mouth.

Leave her alone.

Hey, hey, it talks.

Come on, Benny, let's go.

Where are you going? Off to ride Dumbo's pony.

Bitch.

Stop it!

Stop it!

Stop it! I'll hurt you! Let him go, Benny.

Let him go.

Yeah, everything's cool.

We're just leaving, that's all.

Thank

you,

Benny.

Thank you.

Come on.

She was so vital.

She should be remembered that way, not the way she is now.

There's no life for my baby anymore.

What do you think about when you think of your daughter?

I think of a wonderfully giving person, a college track star, an optimistic

little girl who thought she could do anything in the whole world.

You realize, Miss Ferguson, that if the doctors disconnect the G -tube, Jamie

will be gone forever.

She's been gone for two years.

That isn't Jamie living in that body.

And you're convinced that this is what she would want you to do?

She wouldn't want to be seen this way.

It's so degrading.

God should just take her now.

Thank you, Ms. Ferguson.

Nothing further.

Ms. Ferguson, do you understand exactly what you're doing here?

I'm asking that my daughter be allowed to die.

Well, forgive me, ma 'am, but it's a little more than that.

You're asking that she be killed, aren't you?

Objection! My daughter is dead.

I'm just... No, ma 'am, she's alive.

She's being kept alive by that machine.

Well, she's not connected to a respirator or any artificial life

She's hooked up to a gastrosomy tube. Yes, she is, ma 'am, and what is that

Nutrition and hydration.

Nutrition and hydration. That's food and water, right?

You see, what's happening here is you're asking permission to starve your

daughter to death.

Starving her, Mrs. Ferguson.

That's not allowing her to die. That is deliberately causing her death.

I hope you never have someone you love look like this. I hope you never have a

daughter who ends up lifeless on a hospital bed, drooling, staring at

day after day, unable to die.

Refusing to die.

Maybe, because somewhere deep inside her, she wants to live.

Why are you doing this to me?

I'm doing it because you are trying to end another human being's life, and I

really want you to consider that fact.

Oh, I've considered it.

And given the alternative, it's a decision I can live with.

But your daughter can't, ma 'am.

You see, she dies with that decision, doesn't she? Your Honor.

Doesn't she, Mrs. Ferguson?

I'm ready for it.

Hey, hey, hey. Look who's at McKenzie Crackman. With the long -awaited file.

Good. I hope you're a genius, Stuart.

What, you doubt me?

Well, the offer came in at 40. I don't even know if that's ballpark. So if you

would just run down the stock valuations and the tax contributions.

I'll just wade through it and I'll let you know. Great.

Now, do I ask you the question that Douglas Brackman will inevitably ask me?

My contingency is one -third, so I'll give you 25 % of whatever mine take is.

But I'd want the use of your office support staff.

Well, how about if we charge you by the hour with a cap of 25 %?

That way, if you peddle in a couple of days, you won't owe us a big chunk of

change for a couple hours' work.

Thanks, Stuart. I appreciate it. And now, more important things. How are you

doing? Good.

It's a struggle, but I'm making it so far.

Really?

Ann says there's a little something with a certain detective.

Blabbermouth. Well, hey, if you're doing it, flaunt it. I think it's terrific.

Yeah, I guess I think it is, too.

Listen, Ann also told me about the adoption thing.

I'm sorry.

We'll keep trying.

It may take a little while, but it's going to happen, Stuart.

It is. Yeah, the worst part of it?

How damn determined we are never to get our hopes up again.

I mean...

Isn't that half the fun of having a baby?

All the runaway hopes.

You'll get your baby.

I know we are.

I mean, we are.

Wow. Are those for me?

Don't think so. Benny Stulwit?

Benny?

You can set them down there. I'll find... Benny, look.

These are for you. Me?

Yes, you.

Look. There's a card.

They're gorgeous.

They're from Allison.

For me.

To Benny Stolwitz, my fearless hero.

Love, Allison.

Thanks for saving her life, you stud.

I bet they cost a lot of money.

They're for me.

They're beautiful, Benny.

They're from Allison.

Well, that was very nice of her. I'm going to go pour water in them.

What they do in their private homes is their business.

But when they cause our streets to be congested, when they drive our property

value down, we have to be concerned.

And when did the nudist colony start causing all this, Mr. Wiggins? It's been

going on for years.

And it's been getting worse, especially when that woman arrived, the one who won

that contest.

And how did she change things?

Oh, lewd little juveniles started flooding into the area, driving all

blasting their horns, shouting out their car windows, Tracy,

Tracy.

But, Mr.

Weeks, Tracy Shue didn't really do anything to encourage this madness, did

Oh, but she did. Three months ago.

Three or four of our neighborhood boys snuck into their compound, and she

engaged them.

And how did she engage them, sir?

Nude wiffle ball. The boys were nude as well? Completely naked nude.

And when the word got out, every kid in town lined up for batting practice.

Objection sustained.

I have nothing further.

Mr. Weeks.

Isn't it true you've been trying for a long time to shut down this nudist

colony? Going back a long time before Tracy's shoe ever appeared?

It's been interfering with the quiet enjoyment of my property, yes.

Come on, Mr. Weeks. Transportation studies reveal only a marginal increase

traffic, and police records show that there's been no substantial rise in

criminal activity. Just because we don't call the police doesn't mean we're not

upset. Well, tell us about the time that you did call the police.

Last Fourth of July?

When they put up the big tent?

That was an eyesore.

That's not how you described it to the police, is it, sir? You said it looked

like a giant condom. That's what it looked like from the South Bridge.

I've changed my position on that.

Well, isn't it true, Mr. Weeks, that what you're really trying to do here is

impose your own sense of morality on how these people live?

No.

That is not true. You visited my client's colony for the event of the

cook -off, didn't you? I was just curious.

And I was fully clothed at all times.

Would you tell the court exactly what you saw there?

There were naked breasts all around me, bare buttocks, and the men.

They just walked around with everything out.

And you found that to be horribly disgusting, didn't you?

Yes, I did.

Thank you, Mr. Weeks.

I have nothing further.

And, Dr. Lacker, as chief of staff, you made a decision to overrule Jamie's

position.

That's correct.

Can you tell us why, sir?

It's against hospital policy.

If a doctor comes to me and tells me he wants to discontinue medical treatment,

that's one thing. But food and water, those are basic human needs.

Doctor, could you tell us exactly what would happen to Jamie if her nutrition

were to be cut off?

Well, first her mouth would dry out and her lips would crack.

Her tongue would swell.

Her eyes would recede to the back of their orbits.

The lining of the nose would crack and bleed.

The brain cells would dry out, as would the stomach lining.

She'd have convulsions. She'd vomit.

Her bladder would burn.

Eventually, all of her organs would just shut down.

And, uh...

Will this cause Jamie to suffer?

We can't rule out the possibility of tremendous pain.

There are many experts who describe death by dehydration as cruel and

Thank you very much, Doctor.

Do you think this death would be painful for her?

I honestly don't know.

And, Dr. Lacker, you concur with Dr.

Allard's opinion that Jamie Ferguson has no capacity for cognitive thought,

don't you?

Yes, I do.

Do you think she'll ever regain consciousness?

It's possible. I didn't ask if it was possible.

I asked, do you think it'll happen?

No, I don't. Thus, it would be your medical opinion that Jamie Ferguson's

vegetative state is irreversible.

That would be my opinion, yes. And although it's against your policy, many

hospitals would in fact disconnect the G -tube under these circumstances,

wouldn't they?

Perhaps. Perhaps.

In fact, the reason that you have refused to authorize the transfer of

patient is because you're afraid that another hospital might do just that.

Correct?

Yes. Thank you, Doctor. Nothing further.

You may step down, sir.

Your Honor, I'd like to adjourn until tomorrow morning, at which time I'd like

to call my last witness, Ms. Jamie Ferguson.

What? According to hospital officials, there's no problem with bringing her

court. You can't be serious.

Mr. Cifuentes. They've characterized her as being lifeless, Your Honor. They are

asking you to pronounce the sentence of death upon her. I think that you should

at least look at her first. This is cruel and sick.

I'm not going to sit back and take... Bringing her in here is more cruel than

killing her? More cruel to them. This isn't about them. It's about Jamie. And

she's as dead as you say she is, it won't make a damn bit of difference.

you be quiet now.

Mr. Cifuentes.

I have no intention of turning this thing into a sideshow.

It wouldn't be that way, Your Honor.

Jamie's capable of sitting up. We can bring her in, in a wheelchair.

All right, coordinate it with the hospital.

Your Honor, please.

Mr. Ferguson, I grant you this is extraordinary, and I don't like it

But you're in here seeking an extraordinary measure.

I'll see Jamie Ferguson in this courtroom tomorrow, 10 o 'clock.

We're adjourned.

So, Miss Shue.

You don't accept the label, then, of being a sexual provocateur.

By walking around naked.

Psychiatrists will tell you if you want to stop men from yearning to get inside

your pants.

Don't wear pants.

Have you or any of your fellow members ever purposely done anything to inflame

the neighborhood teenagers?

Of course not. Do you consider your community to be promiscuous?

We just said our clothes, Mr. Cusack, not our morals.

Thank you, Miss Shue.

I have nothing further.

So, I suppose when these boys swarm your gates every weekend, they're just

hoping to see a little high -quality volleyball.

I wouldn't know. Maybe you should ask the boys.

I did ask the four who snuck in to play nude wiffle ball with you.

They told me what they got to look at.

Were they pleased?

Oh, yes.

You, naked, pitching to four buck -naked teenagers, letting them take their

pokes.

Objection. Sustained. Come on, Miss Shue, level with us.

You enjoy working the neighborhood boys into a frenzy, don't you?

I'm not ashamed of my body, Mr. Knotts.

If it happens to give rise to a frenzy, well, that's not my problem.

Well, in fact, it's a thrill, isn't it?

No, it isn't. Are you telling me Miss Nude Galaxy doesn't get a charge out of

being admired by the teenagers?

Is it flattering to know that I arouse them? Yes.

Do I enjoy seeing their young, hard, streamlined bodies? Of course I do. Do I

often wonder what it would be like to unlock that teenage passion, feel the

fury of a lean 16 -year -old Adonis? Uh, Your Honor.

Excuse me.

They're just fantasies. I wouldn't necessarily indulge them.

Thank you, Miss Shue.

That was just fine.

You killed us.

Buried us. I was just telling the truth.

Truth? I never heard about this hard -bodied truth before, for God's sakes.

Look, I'm not going to apologize for my sexuality, Lauren. And neither am I

going to deny it.

Your membership is hereby terminated.

What? You heard me. You're not representative of my community.

You can find yourself another camp.

Well, how about that?

It's okay for us to expose our bodies, but we should just keep our thoughts

completely covered.

That's just fine.

So what do we do now?

Well, I'm not going to lie to you.

We got very hurt in there.

Oh, to hell with it.

I'm selling the place.

Come on, don't start getting rash on me. I'm not being rash.

A buyer offered me $11 million for the land, and I've been seriously thinking

about it. Well, think about it for another week, but don't... I can't risk

injunction, Mike.

I'm barely floating this place as it is. If I lose membership dues, I'm going

down. The banks would foreclose even before we could complete the sale.

Set up a settlement conference.

I'll agree to close the camp if they'll agree to suspend the trial and give me

time to sell.

I don't know, Lawrence.

Do it.

You've got no choice.

which is I've seen her.

With the court's permission, I'd like to ask her a couple of questions.

Come on, she's certainly not competent to testify.

Well, then let me do it as a demonstration.

Your Honor. We have already heard testimony that her own doctor addresses

Now, that puts an issue to the question of whether she is capable of responding.

I don't see the point, really.

But I don't see the harm either, so... Go ahead.

Jamie, do you understand why you're here?

I want you to listen to me.

Your parents tell us that it is your wish to die.

And they are asking this judge here if it would be okay for them to starve you

to your death.

Oh, God, thanks.

They think that you should be killed, Jamie.

Stop it. Mr. Suplentes. They think your life has no value and that it would be

best for you to be dead. Stop it. Stop it.

Leave her alone.

You're out of line. I'm only out of line, Your Honor, if she understands me.

if she doesn't, we shouldn't even be here. What the hell's wrong with you?

Ferguson, that's enough. Everybody just settle down.

Mrs. Fuentes, I've seen her, and you've asked enough questions.

We're recessed for 15 minutes, then I'll hear closing arguments.

That's all.

We don't want you to suffer anymore like this.

We're doing it for you. Please understand.

Please.

Hi.

Hi, Benny.

I have a package here to be delivered to Peterson and O 'Brien.

Thank you.

Hi, Dorothy.

Have you lost weight?

Four pounds.

Can you tell?

Oh, yeah. Even your face looks a little thinner.

Really? Really?

Go look at yourself. You look great.

You know I should be reading these first. I'm a lawyer, for God's sakes,

blindly signing contracts that directly involve me.

They are just promotional releases, Mr. Lawyer. Sure, which give you the

unfettered right to commercially exploit me.

Would you like me to exploit you in some other way?

Oh, yeah. Now there's a video we could sell.

Come on, let's go to lunch.

Vinnie. Hi, Vinnie.

Roxanne said you had a package.

Yeah, it's right on her desk.

Well, I can't do it now. I'm busy. Vinnie.

Maybe I should talk to her. No.

I'll do it.

Vinnie.

Want to tell me what's going on here?

Is she your girlfriend?

She is my friend and she is a girl.

She shouldn't be your girlfriend.

Look, Benny, whether Allison is or isn't my girlfriend has nothing to do with

her feelings for you. You know how much she likes you.

She doesn't like me.

She's just nice to me because I'm retarded.

Everybody's nice to me because I'm retarded.

Not only is that a mean thing to say about yourself, Benny, but it's a mean

thing to say about me.

I don't want to talk right now. I'm busy. Go away.

Benny. Leave me alone.

Okay.

Okay, we'll go.

She cannot think, Your Honor. She has no memory, no personality, no emotional

state.

She's not living.

This is modern medical science sustaining her body.

Forced medical treatment that financially devastated these two people.

They sold their home.

They don't have anything left, Judge, except the daily horror.

Of looking at their little girl that way.

She is irreversibly brain damaged and she will never get better. She is

incapable of having a life.

Please let her have her death.

Let her parents bury her.

Let her have her dignity.

And let her have her final peace.

They are wrong, Your Honor.

They are wrong when they call food and water modern medical science.

They are wrong when they say the life of their daughter is now without value.

And they are wrong when they ask a judge to measure the quality of a person's

being, to decide whether that person has a right to be.

A little while ago, this whole courtroom erupted.

Mrs. Ferguson was hugging her daughter. Mr. Ferguson was screaming at me. You

were ready to hold me in contempt.

That all happened... because in that chair...

sitting there...

is life.

Life.

Whatever its definitions by you or me or some other fancy doctor, it's something

that we as human beings instinctively cling to.

And Jamie Ferguson is clinging to it with all of her 80 -pound might.

No, it's probably not going to get better.

But the microscopic chance that she might, that belongs to her. That is all

she has left, and no judge should ever take that away.

We're always told that...

That the laws and the courts of this country exist above all to extend

protection to its weakest and most vulnerable individuals.

Well, no one needs that protection any more than does Jamie Ferguson at this

very moment. I know they love her.

They love her very much, but they are asking you to play God.

We're asking that you allow for that fraction of a hope that God will be God

all of this.

Not only for their sake, but for hers.

Mr. Cusack, I got your message. It sounded a little urgent.

Yeah, thanks for coming in.

I wanted to commend you personally on your little performance in court

yesterday. Well, I'm really sorry about that, but I felt I had to be honest,

even if it meant losing sight of our objective.

You're not sorry, Tracy.

And you didn't lose sight of your objective for one single second.

You see, I did a little checking on that investment group.

Spying the colony?

Imagine my surprise at seeing your name listed as one of the limited partners.

So I like real estate.

Yesterday's testimony was designed to lose that trial.

So Lawrence Stone would have to shut down the colony, making him more

to sell the land.

Yesterday's testimony was the 100 % truth.

I like being physical.

I enjoy entertaining a few sexual fantasies.

And that was just me on the stand being my honest self.

And when you joined the camp six months ago, when you enticed the boys into

playing nude wiffle ball, and when you inflamed the neighbors into bringing

lawsuit, you were still just being your honest self, right?

That sounds real calculating for a dumb, nude beauty queen, Mr. Cusack. Well,

I'm going to tell Lauren Stone about this.

He's going to cancel the deal. Too late. Offer's been accepted.

Then I'll have it nullified.

I can vitiate it on the grounds of fraud.

Spare me, Counselor. There's nothing fraudulent about my testimony, and

nothing fraudulent about me being one of the buyers. And Lawrence Stone needs

the money. If you clear the deal, you'll be sending your own client belly up.

All right.

You want the land so badly? Fine.

But the purchase price just went up to $11 ,500.

In your dreams.

You think you have all the cards.

Well, maybe I can't win on a fraud count, but I can sure as hell make one

long enough to take the fun out of things.

Maybe you forgot that Lawrence Stone's personal residence is on that property,

which means I can put him into bankruptcy, I can break this deal, and I

protect him from his creditors, and I can make this thing drag out forever.

So you go to your partners, tell them to come up with another $500 ,000, or tell

them to get ready for a long, expensive, ugly fight.

I'm sorry I yelled at you yesterday.

Come on in.

Have a seat.

Look.

I don't care.

That you got mad and yelled at me yesterday, buddy. That's gonna happen.

What does concern me is how wrong you were about something.

The people in this office aren't nice to you because you're retarded.

These people are your friends. We care about you.

Not because you have a handicap. Not because you bring us donuts every

It's because you're kind, generous.

Honest. We can share our trust with you.

Those are the things that go into a friendship, Benny.

And those are the things that you have.

Now, with boyfriends and girlfriends, it usually takes something more.

You have to have a real lot in common and you have to be alike in a lot of

And if you don't, they're not meant to be together as a couple.

They can still be very close friends.

Do you understand?

I should be with somebody more like me.

Someday you'll find a woman you love, Benny.

She'll love you back even more.

I don't know.

I know.

I know.

Would the parties in council approach?

I think it's ironic, maybe even stupid, that while euthanasia is against the

law, we're legally entitled to starve people to death and call it the

withholding of medical treatment.

Frankly, I find it hard to call food and water medical treatment.

But other courts have done so, and I was prepared to do so as well. I was also

prepared to find that Jamie is incapable of cognitive thought,

condition is irreversible, and that if competent, she would probably want

the G -tube disconnected.

What I wasn't prepared for, having never done one of these cases,

was my own personal feelings about something like this,

and how those feelings would pervade my professional judgment.

And I have to tell you, with the slightest chance that she could improve

that starvation could cause her pain or that the not -so -remote

chance may be that she would like to go on fighting, when I combine that with

my basic presumption in favor of life,

I cannot terminate the nutrition and hydration.

Oh, my God.

Your Honor, please.

This is not easy, believe me. I wish I could hide behind the law and tell you

that I am bound by some legal precedent.

But I'm not. I'm free to go either way on this.

Then why must she spend the rest of her life like this? Why?

Because I'm the judge here, Mrs. Ferguson.

And this thing turns.

On my judgment alone.

Nobody else's.

And this is the call I'm making.

You can't do this. You just can't. I'm sorry.

I hereby deny the plaintiff's petition and order the continued provision of

nutrition and hydration to the patient, Jamie Ferguson.

This matter is adjourned.

Hey, Mr. Subuentes.

I hope you're happy about your big win. I'm sorry. It must be really nice just

to be able to walk away, huh? Just waltz on out of here.

Put it out of your mind.

Move on to your next case.

Mr. Ferguson, you're represented by counsel. It's really inappropriate for

be talking with you right now.

Inappropriate? Tell me something.

How appropriate is it for my daughter to lie there like a vegetable for 20

years? And how appropriate is it for us to have to watch her run away day after

day after day? You think we get to walk away, huh?

You think this is over for us?

You're late, Cusack. Late nothing.

Reservations are for 7 .30.

Can't we do something besides dinner or a movie?

Like Las Vegas, maybe.

Las Vegas?

Well, I don't know. I'm just in the mood for something other than what we do

every single night of our boring, mundane, monotonous, hideous,

stagnant lives.

Oh. You know, it just so happens I've been invited to a party, but you

A party?

Let's go.

No, I don't think so.

Well, come on. Grace, trust me on this one. You wouldn't be caught dead at this

party.

That'd be silly.

Michael,

I feel so conspicuous.

That's their whole theory. They figure you take your clothes off, you become

more anonymous.

I agree, Counselor.

Michael.

Thanks for coming.

We figured we at least had to throw a farewell bash.

Grace Van Oren, Lauren Stone.

Hi. My pleasure.

I don't know how you jacked up the purchase price, Counselor, but boy, I

you. Well, where do you see my bill?

Oh, my God.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I imagine you must find all this rather embarrassing.

Well, no, really, no.

A little.

This is the way we live, Miss Van Horn.

It may seem funny or embarrassing at first, but I can tell you this. If the

openness and the warmth and the loyalty that exists among these people is a

product of our lifestyle, then the lifestyle's well worth an occasional

believing.

Well, enjoy.

I'll catch you two later.

Larry. Thank you.

Nick, do you suppose they really are happier with their lifestyle than we are

with ours?

I don't know.

They all seem so at ease with themselves.

You thinking of running off and becoming a nudist? No, but it might be fun to

try it for an hour or two.

You're kidding.

Well, why not? We could hang around and get, you know, visible.

You are kidding.

When in Rome, Mickey.

Great.

Hey, it's a party.

Great.

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