Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 5/6/05 Section: Culture

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One month ago, Terri Schiavo had more media coverage than the Iraq war or any other current event. There are a number of reasons to explain why this case has become such a controversy. The biggest issue is whether or not Terri would have wished to die under the circumstances that she was in. Her parents persisted that she would not have wanted to die, but her husband Michael argued that she would have. Her parents also publicly questioned Michael’s notice, specifically, that he only remained her husband to inherit the settlement of Terri’s medical malpractice suit. If Michael had divorced Terri, her parents would have inherited the remaining portion of the settlement instead of him. The judicial and legislative battles to disconnect her feeding tube generated tremendous media coverage during the last two weeks of her life and prompted a fierce debate over legal guardianship, federalism and euthanasia.

 

Background

Theresa Schindler was born in December 1963 to parents Bob and Mary Schindler. Theresa, also known as Terri, married Michael Schiavo in November 1984. Tragically, the happiest of times suddenly became the worst of times just six short years later. Terri Schiavo suffered cardiac arrest, apparently due to an imbalance of potassium in her system, on Feb. 25, 1990. Her husband, Michael, found her lying in the hallway and immediately dialed 911. The paramedics came and took her to the nearest hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, she never regained consciousness and she remained in a comatose state. 

At first, both Terri’s parents and Michael worked together to try and help Terri.  In 1992, Michael Schiavo sued Terri’s physicians that were treating her prior to her cardiac arrest. The case was settled with Michael receiving $300,000 and the Guardianship of Terri receiving $700,000 for her damages. In February 1993, Michael and Terri’s parents ended their friendly relationship. Although both sides claimed different promises were broken, Florida Circuit Judge George W. Greer said, “It is clear to this court that such severance was predicated upon money and the fact that Mr. Schiavo was unwilling to equally divide his award with Mr. and Mrs. Schindler.”

 

Petition and Testimony

Terri’s parents filed countless lawsuits challenging the authority of Michael as Terri’s guardian. However, the most significant legal ruling occurred early in 2000. Schiavo filed a petition for authorization to discontinue artificial life support and the case was heard without a jury in January 2000. Greer presided over the trial with Schiavo being the Petitioner and the parents of Terri being the Respondents. Terri did not have any written declarations in regards to her feelings on the issue of life support. Thus, the court was left with the testimony of five persons about her feelings on the subject. Terri’s parents focused much of their testimony on the time when another woman had a similar situation where a father attempted to have life support removed from his daughter, Karen Ann Quinlin. Mrs. Schindler testified that Terri had said something to the effect that they should just leave her alone. Another witness testified in accordance with Mrs. Schindler. However, the court was troubled by this testimony because of the timeframe that the witnesses first stated and then later recanted. By newspaper accounts, Terri’s remarks were made when she was 11- or 12-years-old. Michael Schiavo testified about several conversations that he had had with his wife concerning life support. Terri’s sister-in-law and brother also testified that she would have wanted to die if she was in a persistent vegetative state. The court took this testimony into account, but Judge Greer also looked at the medical issues of the case.

 

Medical Issues

The court found beyond all doubt that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state, as defined by Florida statutes due to the testimony of Dr. James Barnhill and Dr. Vincent Gambone. The doctors testified that she had no hope of ever regaining consciousness, and without the feeding tube she would die in 7 to 14 days. The court concluded the medical evidence by stating that Terri had been unresponsive for 10 years since her cardiac arrest. Her movements were reflexive and predicated on brainstem activity alone, the court said, and she suffered from severe structural brain damage, and to a large extent, her brain had been replaced by spinal fluid.

The court concluded: “With the exception of one witness whom the court finds to be so biased as to lack credibility, her movements are occasional and totally consistent with the testimony of the expert medical witnesses.” 

 

Legal Precedent

Greer ruled on a past decision (Guardianship of Estelle M. Browning) where the Florida Supreme Court issued a three-pronged test in which the surrogate must pursue in exercising the patient’s right of privacy. The surrogate must meet the following conditions:

1. “The surrogate must be satisfied that the patient executed any document knowingly, willingly and without undue influence, and that the evidence of the patient’s oral declaration is reliable;
2. The surrogate must be assured that the patient does not have a reasonable probability of recovering competency so that the right could be exercised directly by the patient; and
3. The surrogate must take care to assure that any limitations or conditions expressed either orally or in the written declaration have been carefully considered and satisfied.”

This was the heart of the issue that went before the court.

 

Legal Ruling

The court found in favor of Michael Schiavo with his petition because the court decided that the patient “does not have a reasonable probability of recovering competency,” that her oral declarations led the court to believe that she would have wanted to die and that those oral declarations were reliable.

 

Government Intervention

The controversies over Terri’s intentions were fueled by Congress and the Governor of Florida’s continual intervention in the case.

The Florida government started intervening in 2003 when state Rep. Frank Attkisson (R) helped push the Florida Legislature's unprecedented decision to intervene in Terri’s case. According to www.sptimes.com, the Legislature passed what became known as “Terri’s Law,” which gave Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to reverse a judge's decision and order the reconnection of a feeding tube.

Terri’s feeding tube was once again reinserted because of Bush’s order. However, Michael challenged the constitutionality of the law, and the Florida Supreme Court ruled in favor of Schiavo saying that the law was, in fact, unconstitutional. The Governor appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the High Court refused to hear the case, which led Judge Greer to once again order the removal of Terri’s feeding tube on Feb. 25, 2005. On March 17, 2005, U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Michael Enzi announced that Terri Schiavo would be called to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on March 28 in Washington. Of course no one expected Terri to testify, but the move extended witness protection to Terri, which required the reinsertion of her feeding tube. Greer struck down the subpoena and had the feeding tube removed for the third and final time. On March 21, U.S. Congress approved what is known as the Palm Sunday Compromise that allowed the case of Terri Schiavo to be moved to federal court. President Bush returned from vacation and signed the compromise into law at 1:11 a.m. The Schindlers appealed to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa where Judge James Whittemore refused to order the reinsertion of Terri’s feeding tube. On March 31, 2005, Terri Schiavo died at 9:03 a.m. 

 

Local Reactions

In addition to debate as to whether or not Terri’s feeding tube should have been pulled, there has also been argument regarding the government intervention in this case.

 “It’s not good when the government tries to stop what one person wanted by using all forces of the government instead of trying to help the majority of the people with their needs,” said Senior Communications major, Joel Coupens.

Dr. Mark Henkels, Political Science professor, believes the future will hold similar cases to that of Terri’s. “With our aging population, there will probably be tens of thousands of such decisions per year within the next few decades. Obviously Congress could not intervene in each case where family members dispute what to do, so this is clearly a symbolic act.”

Henkels also noted the huge financial burden that would ensue if this continued, “End of life care is expensive. Even Schiavo was receiving some coverage from Medicaid, and that was to supplement the very large malpractice settlement the family won,” he said.

According to Henkels, congress needs to be prepared to greatly increase Medicaid finances if they are to support keeping all people biologically alive as long as possible.

“I do not think they have that commitment,” he said. “They understand the sheer impracticality of spending thousands of dollars per month for keeping all the people in vegetative states alive as long as possible.” 

The Schiavo controversy also boarders on partisan lines even though the Palm Sunday Compromise was passed on a voice vote in the Senate. As Senior Political Science Major Kevin Malstrom noted, “I think that the government intervention is a sign that the religious right has hijacked a once respectable party.”

Some believe that Terri’s death was indeed a tragedy that should have been prevented. Senior Political Science Major Kiya Boardman commented, “I don’t think Congress should have been involved.  I don’t think her feeding tube should have been removed; I think it’s cruel and unusual.”

Still others believe that her death could have been done differently. Senior Forensic Chemistry Major Aleisha Rosse said, “Terri’s death was saddening in the manner it was preformed…euthanasia should have been put into effect.”

Although this is just a general overview of the specifics of the Terri Schiavo case, hopefully students can gain a better grasp of the pertinent issues of the case. If we can learn one thing from Terri’s tragedy it should be the power of a living will.

 

 

Sources:

Judge Greer’s quotes come from: http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/trialctorder02-00.pdf

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