Feline Warrior

Bush, Congress Set to Act in Right-To-Die Case

The Terri Schiavo case is once again gathering huge amounts of attention, and once again, a Bush is involved. This time, it’s George W. (”Dubya”) Bush, whereas last time it was his brother Jeb. The basics of the case are:

14 years ago, Schiavo, then a 26-year-old woman, suffered heart failure due to dramatically lowered potassium levels in her body. It has been said that she was bulimic, which caused the potassium levels to drop. It is interesting to note that those who side with her parents and the religious right never mention the bulimia, instead saying “for reasons unknown.” Schiavo went into a coma, a state she’s been in ever since. Terri Schiavo, her husband Michael, and her parents, the Schindlers, are all residents of Florida.

Her husband, Michael Schiavo, sued the medical folks who cared for her pre-heart failure, saying they should have recognized the bulimia and sent her off for treatment - and he won. The original amount awarded was around $6 million, but it was determined that Terri was partly at fault (being the bulimic), so the amount was adjusted down to $2 million.

The money seems to be at least part of the reason that Micheal Schiavo and Terri’s parents, the Schindlers, stopped speaking to each other a decade or so ago. There are reports (from court documents) that say the Schindlers expected Schiavo to share his part of the reward (around $300,000) with them, which he did not. The money is nearly gone, down to roughly $50,000 - which isn’t a lot, given the legal fees he’s still shelling out.

Terri Schiavo did not have a living will or other directive stating what should take place should she end up in this situation. However, Michael has said (for years) that during conversations they had, she said she would never want to “live like this,” and those statements were also made to his brother and sister-in-law. The Schindlers have stayed firm in their belief that Terri would never have said such things (including statements that she’d “never want to be a burder on anyone”).

The courts and court-appointed doctors have all agreed -over and over- that Terri Schiavo’s brain is damaged to the point of no return. Much of the brain matter itself has been replaced with fluids. These same people have said -over and over- that Terri’s body movements are merely natural reflexes that have been interpreted by hopeful parents as the reactions of someone who “is in there.”

The Schindlers and their medical experts maintain that given the right therapy, Terri will get better, and even be able to speak at some future time. (None of those therapies, by the way, have been accepted by any court as being legitimate modes of therapy, given that there are no studies or records stating that these therapies would work.)

The bottom line of the case: The legal system of Florida has determined that Terri Schiavo did not want to be kept alive by means of artificial support (in her case, a feeding tube). Her parents, the Schindlers, have been fighting against the multiple rulings of the Florida courts ever since the first time the case appeared in court.

Now, there seems to be some disconnect between what is and what is being pushed at the media. Michael Schiavo did not make any personal decisions about the removal of Terri’s feeding tube. In Florida, there is a procedure in which a legal guardian (Michael, as Terri’s husband, in this case) petitions the court to act as a surrogate in order to determine what the patient (Terri) would have wanted. Once Michael started that process, the court took on the role of deciding Terri’s fate - not Michael.

Michael Schiavo currently has protesters outside his home, praying, holding signs about God not wanting Terri to be killed, and so forth. Outisde the hospice where Terri now resides, there are also protesters - on both sides of the fence. There are those who argue a “right to die,” saying that the courts have made the right call, and that keeping Terri alive under these conditions (brain dead, “in a persistent vegetative state”) is wrong.

Those who are arguing that removing Terri’s feeding tube is akin to killing her wave Bibles and do a lot of public praying. But here’s a question: Since when is keeping a person -who is in a persistent vegetative state- alive by means of a feeding tube the Christian thing to do? Is this not “playing God”? Where is the line between “doing God’s work” and “playing God”? I picture God tapping his fingers, saying, “C’mon guys, I needed Terri 14 years ago, and you’re holding me up! I had some projects for her to do, and you’ve got her trapped down there!”

Or, if you don’t believe in God, or don’t care to bring God into the discussion, what about simple dignity? What about letting someone who’s brain is almost entirely liquid finally go?

And finally, what business is it of Congress, the Senate, and the President of the United States what happens with this woman? Why are they convening on their day off to discuss it? Why are they creating “Terri’s Law,” which would ban withholding of food and water from terminally ill patients? Dubya’s part in this seems laughable, given his record on the number of death row inmates who got the needle during his tenure as a Texas governor. (The number is 152, by the way.)

It seems that a woman’s right to choose has gone beyond whether or not to make babies to her right to die when she has ceased to be herself. That the US government has become involved in this mainly Christian argument is shameful.

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Related links/sources:
The Abstract Appeal
Find Law
Terri’s Fight