[ql06] TORTS; PUBLIC
- From: Sheldon Erentzen <sheldon.erentzen@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: QL'06 newslist <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, law123C-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 10:58:06 -0400
AS APPEARING IN THE NEW YORK TIMES
(For people from section five this article is interesting in
reference to our discussion from last class)
October 15, 2003
A Right-to-Die Battle Enters Its Final Days
By ABBY GOODNOUGH
INELLAS PARK, Fla., Oct. 14 -- Ever since Terri Schiavo's heart
temporarily stopped beating one winter night in 1990, leaving her
severely brain damaged, she has been a woman without a voice.
Mrs. Schiavo, now 39, can open her eyes and moan, her mouth sometimes
forming a smile or grimace. She breathes on her own, but is fed through
a gastric tube. Since she cannot speak for herself, those close to her
-- along with thousands of strangers who never heard of Mrs. Schiavo
before her misfortune -- have spoken and often shouted on her behalf.
Some, including her husband and legal guardian, Michael, say Mrs.
Schiavo would choose death over the life she has now, although she left
no living will or other instructions. Others -- including her parents,
Bob and Mary Schindler, and her siblings -- contend that she fiercely
wants to live -- and that even if she did not, life in any form is worth
holding onto.
The arguments, made in courtrooms, churches and newspaper columns, on
talk radio and even in the governor's office, have been exhausted. A
judge has ordered that Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube be removed on
Wednesday as her husband has requested; without nourishment she would
die within weeks.
In recent days, dozens of people have joined Mrs. Schiavo's parents and
siblings in front of the hospice where she resides in this suburb of
Tampa, waving signs that say things like "Euthanasia Takes Place Here"
and begging Gov. Jeb Bush, who has publicly sided with the Schindlers,
to stop her death.
Mr. Bush told reporters in Tallahassee on Tuesday that while he wanted
Mrs. Schiavo to live -- he filed a brief on her parents' behalf in a
separate, short-lived federal court case last week -- there was nothing
more he could do. That leaves the Schindlers out of options in their
five-year legal battle with Mr. Schiavo, who has declined to speak with
reporters in recent months.
"All we want is to bring Terri home," said Mr. Schindler, who has paced
outside the hospice for much of this week, smoking cigarettes and
wearily repeating his views to whoever will listen. "Our objective is
just to get her the treatment that she deserves."
Mrs. Schiavo's situation is not nearly as cut and dried as some other
right-to-die cases, because she is not elderly, comatose or hooked up to
a respirator. And most of the facts are in dispute. Mr. Schiavo says his
wife once told him that she would never want her life prolonged
artificially; he believes doctors who have testified that Mrs. Schiavo
is in a persistent vegetative state, unable to think or swallow food. A
doctor appointed by the court supported this finding, as did those hired
by Mr. Schiavo.
But other doctors have testified that with intensive therapy, their
daughter could eat and perhaps even speak. On Tuesday, the Schindlers
showed reporters a videotape of Mrs. Schiavo groaning loudly and staring
at her mother as her mother leaned over her bed and spoke to her.
Randall Terry, the former leader of the antiabortion group Operation
Rescue, who is keeping vigil at the hospice in a last-ditch effort to
sway the courts, said the video was proof that Mrs. Schiavo could feel
and comprehend.
"This is someone who's cognitive, folks," said Mr. Terry, who the
Schindlers said called them over the weekend and promised that his
presence could sharply increase news media coverage of the case. "This
is not a person in a vegetative state."
Mrs. Schiavo's family and supporters vow that the debate that has
swirled around her case for years will not die with her. The questions
at the heart of her case -- how much evidence courts need to decide
whether an incapacitated person would prefer death, and if evidence is
lacking, whose opinion should matter most -- is likely to resonate long
after she is gone.
"This is just the precipice," said JoAnne Zappala, who lives in the area
and said she believed that Mrs. Schiavo should die until she met her
sister, Suzanne Carr, a few months ago. "If they pull the plug on this
woman, do you then take other disabled people who can't feed themselves?
This opens a Pandora's box."
Carrie Kirkland, who read about the Schiavo case on the Internet and was
protesting in front of the hospice on Monday, said she would continue
lobbying Mr. Bush and the State Legislature to change Florida's
so-called right-to-die law, which allows courts to consider testimony
about the wishes of someone on life support if the person left no
written directive. Other states' laws, including New York's, are stricter.
"We don't even divine hanging chads in this state," Ms. Kirkland said,
referring to Florida's botched count in the 2000 presidential election,
"and yet we're divining that Terri wants to die. Floridians will take a
stand so that these laws can be revisited."
Kenneth Goodman, director of the Bioethics Program at the University of
Miami, said Mrs. Schiavo's parents had read too much into her gestures.
"Very often, people in persistent vegetative states have reflexive
actions that mimic for all the world an ordinary human action," Dr.
Goodman said. "If it's someone you love, you are inclined to attach
meaning to it."
Dr. Goodman said that disputes as intractable as the one between Mrs.
Schiavo's husband and parents were extremely rare, and that the
animosity was turning the situation into the "ugliest end-of-life case
ever."
The Schindlers use the word "hate" to describe their feelings toward
their son-in-law. They even theorize that Mr. Schiavo strangled their
daughter that night in 1990, pointing to at least one doctor's finding
that she had a rigid neck when she arrived at the hospital. Shortly
before her brain damage, Mrs. Schiavo, who her family described as shy
and insecure, told them she wanted a divorce.
The Schindlers also question why Mr. Schiavo did not spend the $1
million he won in a medical malpractice suit on rehabilitative therapy
for his wife.
Mr. Schiavo's lawyers have suggested that the Schindlers wanted custody
of their daughter just to get some of the malpractice money. On Tuesday,
George Felos, Mr. Schiavo's lawyer, repeated what his client had said
all along: that he loves his wife and is simply carrying out her wishes.
"This is not about what Terri's parents want for her or what Michael
wants for her," Mr. Felos said. "The court has determined, by clear and
convincing evidence, that she made a competent decision not to be kept
alive in this kind of situation."
Mr. Felos said that once Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, her
body chemistry would "swing out of balance" within days and she would
"slowly start to fade away." Her death would be "comfortable," he said,
and would take place within two weeks.
Dr. Goodman, the medical ethicist, said he kept looking for a lesson for
his students in the Schiavo case and saw only this: "It will underscore
that it's never too early to talk to family members and loved ones about
advance care wishes."
Mr. Schindler, who continues to visit his daughter daily, said he had
not begun to think what Terri's death would mean for his wife and him.
His eyes brimmed on Monday as he described how he had kissed her that
afternoon and how she had smiled. Mr. Terry, taking a break from his
cell phone, put a hand on Mr. Schindler's shoulder and murmured, "God
have mercy."
Outside the air-conditioned trailer that the Schindler family has
stationed outside the hospice for the week, cars honked at the pickets
and police officers guarded the building's entrances.
"After today," Mr. Schindler said, "I don't have a plan."
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