Dead wrong

By Lady Liberty
web posted April 11, 2005

I suspect there's not a person in the world with access to mass
media that doesn't know about the sad case of Terri Schiavo.
And of all of those people, I don't imagine there's a single one
that doesn't have a strong opinion—one way or the other—on
the matter. Here's mine:

I support in no uncertain terms the so-called "right to die." I think
pulling the plug on brain dead patients should be standard, not
optional, medical treatment. I think that doctor-assisted suicide
for terminal and suffering patients is not only okay, but is the
most compassionate thing to do if that's what the patient decides
he wants. In fact, I've never understood why suicide of any kind
is illegal. What are the authorities going to do, put the corpse in a
jail cell? Under most circumstances (mental illness aside), I
consider suicide to be a cowardly and extraordinarily selfish act.
But if we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness, then surely we ought to have the right to decide on
our own death!

The problem with poor Terri Schiavo is that she wasn't brain
dead, so "pulling the plug" (respirator, etc.) wasn't an option. She
also wasn't terminally ill, and so doctor-assisted suicide was out
of the question (forget for a moment she couldn't choose that
option for herself). The only way that Terri was going to die in
the near term was to take some proactive measure that didn't
somehow circumvent the law. That measure was found in the
contention that a feeding tube might be defined as artificial care,
and its removal guaranteed death albeit at a slow and painful
pace.

Terri's husband maintained that she would not have wanted to
live by artificial means. The courts upheld that contention despite
the fact that Terri never wrote it down. In Florida, an oral
statement of those wishes is sufficient, and Michael Schiavo had
a couple of relatives who bolstered his claims that those were
Terri's wishes. As such, it's impossible to say that the courts in
Florida and at the Federal level ruled wrongly when they decided
that the feeding tube should not be restored. The judges
rendering the decisions adhered to the law, as they are supposed
to do (never mind that there are just as many instances where
any number of judges ignore the law all together).

Of course, when Florida law suggests that an oral statement as
to one's wishes under such circumstances is sufficient, it relies on
several factors that I tend to doubt were present here. First, the
law assumes that the people claiming to have heard such
statements really know what the patient would have wanted, and
that they do have the patient's best interests at heart. Secondly,
the law assumes those same people won't lie about what they
claim to have heard. Although there's no way we can no for sure
that Michael Schiavo was or was not telling the truth, there are
some pointed pieces of evidence that suggest he may not have
been.

When Terri was first stricken, it was obvious that the loss of
oxygen to her brain—however it occurred—had caused
catastrophic damage. (Terri's parents say they think her husband
might have tried to strangle her; her husband says she suffered
from an eating disorder and her heart stopped as the result of a
potassium imbalance. Interestingly enough, if Terri did have an
eating disorder, her condition might still be laid directly at the feet
of a husband who purportedly once told her that if she ever got
fat, he'd leave her.) At the time, Michael Schiavo fought tooth
and nail to get some medical settlement money so that he could
see his wife rehabilitated as far as was possible under the
circumstances. In fact, he repeatedly promised that he'd use the
money to care for her as long as she lived, and even that he'd
spend some of it to go to school to become a therapist so he
could care for her himself.

It might be forgivable when, after some years without results, a
man might finally acknowledge that perhaps there was less hope
than he originally harbored. But Michael Schiavo's timing was
more than a little suspect when, up until he received the
settlement, he claimed to want to care for his wife. Yet after the
settlement money was safely in the bank, Mr. Schiavo
announced that there was no hope for Terri's "meaningful
recovery" and that the feeding tube should be removed forthwith.
Later testimony indicated that Schiavo had put an early stop to
therapy for his wife, and that he had, in fact, actively prevented
anyone from trying to do anything even remotely therapeutic for
her. The settlement money, of course, wasn't Michael Schiavo's.
It was to be used for Terri's care. But if she were to die, her
guardian would get the funds. And that guardian was—you
guessed it—Michael Schiavo.

It seems that Terri's husband also conveniently glossed over his
wife's religious beliefs. Terri was described as being "a devout
Catholic" by members of her family, but as "not devout" by her
husband in a recent interview with Larry King. Devout or not, as
a Catholic, suicide is out of the question. So is, as it happens, the
removal of nutrition and hydration. While the Catholic church
has, in recent decades and with the advent of extraordinary
medical advances, determined that certain types of care may be
discontinued or foregone when death is imminent and inevitable,
it has specifically stated that this does not include the removal of
feeding tubes. Even not-so-devout Catholics aren't likely to toy
with what the church would consider a significant sin. (The Pope
himself, who had issued statements pleading for the restoration of
Terri's feeding tube, ironically ended up being supported with a
feeding tube during the last days of his life.)

There are those who support Michael Schiavo's determination to
remove his wife's feeding tube, commenting on such things as
"quality of life." Those same people suggest that a number of
doctors have said that Terri Schiavo's brain was so damaged
that she had no cognitive abilities left to her. (Some other doctors
and Mrs. Schiavo's parents disagreed, but their testimony was
largely disregarded as essentially being wishful thinking or
mistaken interpretation of reflexive behaviors on Terri's part.)
That's an interesting argument since quality of life is dependent on
recognizing that one is alive. If Terri truly was not cognizant, then
her quality of life wasn't bad. It didn't, in fact, exist at all for her.
So suggesting a poor quality of life as a reason she should die is
a specious argument at best.

The same contingent that lobbied for the feeding tube to be
removed has also said that dehydration is painless and that, in
fact, it can result in euphoria as death nears (contrary to those
claims, death by dehydration is extraordinarily cruel and was, in
fact, the subject of heinous experiments during World War II).
Yet both pain and euphoria are also dependent on at least some
minimal cognitive abilities At best, we could hope that Terri's
demise caused her no pain (though there is some evidence that
even among those in a persistent vegetative state there might be
some feeling). After all, that would be the case if, as was said,
her cerebral cortex was essentially gone. And yet the hospice
was giving her morphine at the end. Why would morphine be
prescribed if there was no pain? And if there was pain, how can
anyone claim she had nothing left of her brain function? It's an
interesting catch 22 for Mr. Schiavo's position, isn't it?

Maybe Michael Schiavo really did love his wife as his lawyer
claims he did. Maybe the tears he cried at her death were true
tears of loss rather than relief. But there are also a number of
reasons that Mr. Schiavo would have wanted Terri dead and
gone, not least of which were his live-in lover and their two
children. Of course, Mr. Schiavo also stands to inherit what's left
of Terri's settlement money, but by all accounts there's not much
left. (Sadly, and with more than a little irony, much of the money
intended for her care was spent on legal fees trying to get
permission to withhold that care.)

The best indicators as to motive may be found not only in the
timing of Michael Schiavo's legal battles, but in his attitude
toward Terri's family. Whether he liked them or not, his
treatment of them near the end of Terri's life was appallingly
cold. He had police prevent their access as Terri drew her last
breaths (his lawyer said the family could spend as much time as
they liked with the body afterward apparently in an attempt to
show Schiavo's reasonableness, but to deny a mother the ability
to hold her child's hand as she dies defies any semblence of
humanity). And then he refused to tell the family where and when
Terri's remains would be interred and she would be
memorialized (a judge has since issued a court order telling
Schiavo he must give the information to Terri's family).

Lawyers are also trying to put a positive spin on the fact that Mr.
Schiavo finally agreed to an autopsy for his wife, something the
parents had been requesting for some time. What the lawyers
haven't bothered to say is that it is Schiavo's insistance on
cremation (another contradiction to Terri's Catholicism which,
while now accepting of cremation, traditionally requires a body
be buried intact and which is what her parents strongly
preferred) that mandated an autopsy, not his sudden change of
heart or willingness to prove anything.

There will always be some question as to Mr. Schiavo's actions
based not merely on suspicions that may or may not have merit,
but given that his wife didn't put her own wishes on record prior
to becoming incapable of expressing those wishes for herself. If
the tragic life and death of Terri Schiavo showed us anything, it
gave each and every one of us good reason to put our own
wishes in legally verifiable writing. Even if you tell loved ones
what you want, if they truly love you they're not going to be
thinking clearly as they contemplate your very serious medical
condition. The kindest thing to do for their sake—and the thing
that will make most certain that your own wishes be honored no
matter what the heightened emotions or family feuds under such
duress—is for you to prepare a Living Will for yourself.

Different states have different requirements for Living Wills;
some standard forms include an indication that the subject does
want feeding tubes removed under specified conditions. If you
oppose that measure for yourself for personal or religious
reasons, the standard forms can be altered accordingly. I
personally would never choose to die as Terri did, but if you do,
that's your business and your wishes should be honored. (I
might, as a friend of mine suggested he would want, support the
removal of a feeding tube followed immediately by a lethal
injection provided an advance directive exists. If we claim we
care so much about human life, the least we could do is treat it
with a minimum of the dignity and kindness we show our beloved
pets!) My reservations where Terri Schiavo is concerned is that,
for religious reasons alone, I suspect that those were not her
wishes. Other questionable timing and actions merely add fuel to
that conviction.

Among many who supported the withdrawal of the feeding tube
are those who condemned the federal government for getting
involved and making at least an attempt to get the feeding tube
reinserted. "It's a private matter!" they cry. "The decision is the
husband's to make!" While I agree it's a private matter—and
while you know how I feel about government involvement in just
about anything!—there was some doubt in this case as to
whether the removal of Terri's feeding tube was a medical mercy
or a legalized murder. It's government's constitutional role to
protect the lives of its citizens, and the fact that it made some
effort to at least determine whether this was mercy or murder
was (for once) a legitimate and constitutional function. I agree
completely with President Bush's assertion that we must "err on
the side of life" when there's any doubt whatsoever.

As to whether the Schiavo case really was mercy or murder, we
may never know with certainty. I hope for the sake of the soon-
to-be second Mrs. Schiavo, it was the former. I also hope that
she, too, has learned something from the lessons of the last 15
years in the life of her predecessor. If she has, she'll be among
the first to be sure she has a Living Will on file. Given who she's
marrying, I'd also personally suggest to her that someone other
than her husband-to-be has a copy of it, just in case...

Lady Liberty is a graphic designer and pro-freedom activist
currently residing in the Midwest. More of her writings and other
political and educational information is available on her web site,
Lady Liberty's Constitution Clearing House, at
http://www.ladylibrty.com. E-mail Lady Liberty at
ladylibrty@ladylibrty.com.

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