The Better End by Dan Morhaim

Author:Dan Morhaim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2012-11-10T16:00:00+00:00

Theresa Marie Schiavo

The case of another young woman, Terri Schiavo, became a contentious issue in the debate over the right to die and the right to privacy. Ultimately the case involved advocacy groups on all sides, as well as the president, Congress, and even the Vatican. Six times over the course of the case, the U.S. Supreme Court was asked to rule, and each time it declined to do so.

Terri Schiavo had been living in a persistent vegetative state since a cardiac arrest in 1990. In 1998, after many years of failed attempts to restore her brain function, Terri’s husband Michael, as her guardian, asked that artificial feeding be stopped “so that she would die a natural death.” He said that this was her stated preference should she ever become incapacitated with no hope of meaningful recovery. Terri’s parents disagreed, arguing that their daughter was not in a persistent vegetative state, and that even if she were, she would not have wanted to have artificial life-support removed.

Beginning with a trial in the Florida courts, the issues were litigated, appealed, and relitigated. Terri’s feeding tube was removed for the first time in 2001, but then was reinserted two days later, pending an appeal by her parents. The appeal was rejected, and the tube was removed again in 2003. Within six days the Florida legislature and Governor Jeb Bush enacted “Terri’s Law,” mandating the tube’s reinsertion. Subsequently, Terri’s Law was declared unconstitutional by the courts, and on March 18, 2005, Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed for the third and final time.

In the meantime, a media frenzy began. The Schiavo case was the number-one topic on the 24-hour news cycle, on talk shows, and at kitchen tables around the country.

Two days later, on March 20, Congress passed emergency legislation (the “Palm Sunday Compromise”) to allow Terri’s parents to petition the federal courts for the feeding tube to be reinserted. President George W. Bush flew back to Washington, D.C., from his vacation in Texas to sign the bill, and Terri’s parents immediately followed up with a petition for an injunction in the Federal District Court. Arguments were heard the following day, after which the judge declined to order the reinsertion.

The next day, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld the Federal District Court’s ruling, and one day later the U.S. Supreme Court once again refused to hear the case. This effectively ended all further appeals. Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, with Michael at her side. An autopsy revealed extensive and irreversible brain damage.

One thing was clear from the beginning: had Terri Schiavo completed an advance directive, her wishes would have been known, and the firestorm of family, legal, and political conflict would have been avoided.

The chapter title says it all: “It’s Not Just about Older People.” The legal and medical circumstances of Quinlan, Cruzan, and Schiavo still apply to any of us. Every time I speak publicly about the need for advance directives, I get a range of reactions from audience members.

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