Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo was a disabled woman forced to die by dehydration over the objections of her parents, her brother and sister, her church. Congress passed a special law to prevent her dehydration, but it was unsuccessful as interpreted by federal courts.

Schiavo was diagnosed by physicians as being brain-dead after her husband reported that she had collapsed in their home early in the morning. Her husband later started a new family with another woman whom he did not marry, instead retaining legal authority over Terri. An attorney prominent in the movement described by some as "pro-death" represented Mr. Schiavo and applied to a probate court for the right to deprive Terri of water until she died. The probate judge ordered that doctors remove the feeding tube, and that anyone attempting to bring her water be arrested.

Terri Schiavo was not terminally ill, she was not “end stage,” and she was likely not in a persistent vegetative state[citation needed]. The parents were denied the right to have a comprehensive medical examination of her by independent physicians. Many patients observed to be in a brain-damaged state like Terri's have surprisingly recovered, including several highly publicized cases shortly after Terri died from dehydration[who? This claim is highly disputed].

Legal dispute

The legal dispute over Schiavo's death lasted seven years, beginning with the filing of a petition in 1998 with the Pinellas County (Florida) Circuit Court for permission to remove her feeding tube, and ending with her death in 2005. Following her death, an autopsy showed her brain to have half the normal mass for a woman her age and confirmed the extensive damage shown on CAT scan.

In 2003, a court ordered the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube. This prompted the Florida legislature to pass 'Terri's Law' in under a week, authorizing the personal involvement of Governor Jeb Bush to overrule the finding of the court. The governor immediately ordered the reinsertion of the feeding tube. Terri's Law was lated ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court, finding that state and federal constitutions prohibit the interference of the governor or legislature within a specific judicial case.

Neither an Act of Congress nor any federal court overturned the probate judge's order that Terri be dehydrated to death.

Autopsy

The State and Schiavo's estranged husband refused to allow an independent autopsy, and Schiavo was cremated after her death. The State did perform its own autopsy and reported these results:

1. “Neuropathologic examination alone of the decedent’s brain—or any brain, for that matter—cannot prove or disprove a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state.”
2. The changes in the cortex were most severe in the occipital lobes, “with relative preservation of the frontal and temporal lobes.”
3. Oral feedings, based on autopsy findings and past medical records, were “potentially harmful or, at least, extremely dangerous to Mrs. Schiavo’s health and welfare” because of the risk of aspiration. [Better to dehydrate and starve the patient and cause certain death than to risk an aspiration pneumonia?]
4. The only evidence for an eating disorder was the initial low serum potassium, which could have resulted from the fluid load and epinephrine administered during her resuscitation.
5. The autopsy showed no signs of remote trauma to neck structures, but with 15 years delay, “even bony anomalies would have likely resolved.” External signs of trauma should have been apparent on her hospital admission just after her collapse. “Subtle trauma related to commotio cordis or nontraumatic asphyxia is also possible,” as are “drugs/toxins not typically detected by hospital toxicologic screening.”

Similar cases

[links or supporting entries are required]

• Nancy Cruzan. An American woman left in allegedly vegetative state after a car accident.
• Sue Rodriguez. A Canadian woman with a terminal illness who desired an assisted suicide.
• Spiro Nikolouzos. An American whose life support the hospital wished to end. His family fought this, claiming that the hospital wished to end his life purely because his Medicare coverage was running out. Under the Texas Futile Care Law, signed into law by George W. Bush, then governor, the Texas hospital could legally override the will of a family if given approval by an ethics committee.
• Haleigh Poutre. An American child beaten into a coma by a foster parent whom the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is attempting to remove from life support.[1]