When a loved one falls badly ill, it is simple human nature for family and friends to want to do all they can to aid their recovery or, in the most severe cases, make their lives as comfortable as possible. Which is why it can only lead to more heartache when the families and the doctors clash over whether a seriously ill person should be artificially kept alive.

The most high-profile case of this kind is going on at the moment in the US, with deep divisions within the family of Terri Schiavo. The woman, who has suffered brain damage, needs constant medical attention and a feeding tube to keep her alive. Her husband says she would not want to live like that, but her parents have challenged the doctors' decision to let her die naturally.

Away from the international media spotlight which has created a political hot potato from the Schiavo case in the US, a Bradford family is going through the same torment. Derrick Wilson of Buttershaw refuses to let doctors withdraw the feeding tube which has kept his son Duncan alive for eight years following a mugging which brought on a massive asthma attack.

And both cases have parallels with the tragic story of Liverpool FC fan Tony Bland of Keighley, who spent four years in a persistent vegetative state after being crushed in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. His parents Allan and Barbara successfully fought for treatment to be withdrawn.

Each individual tragedy goes to prove there is no simple yes-or-no answer to the question of whether people in these cases should be allowed to die or kept alive. Like each person involved, every case is different, which is why it is never a black-and-white issue.