The measure aims to take the decision-making power over the fate of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who has been in what doctors describe as a “persistent vegetative state” for 15 years, out of the hands of her spouse and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo. His decision to remove the artificial feeding tube that is keeping his wife alive has been challenged by her parents.

Opinion polls indicate that large majorities oppose this government intervention. Opponents of the legislation argue that it is a blow to the right of individuals to make fundamental decisions concerning their medical care and other personal affairs.

“I’m outraged, and I think that every American in this country should also be outraged that this government is trampling all over a personal family matter that has been adjudicated in the courts for seven years,” Michael Schiavo said on CNN the day before the law was signed.

The law grants jurisdiction to the federal district court to render judgment “for the alleged violation of any right of [Terri Schiavo’s] under the U.S. Constitution relating to the withholding or withdrawal of food fluids, or medical treatment necessary to sustain her life.” It grants standing to the parents of Schiavo to bring a suit under the law.

The day after the bill’s passage, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected an appeal by Schiavo’s parents, leaving in place the decision of the Florida court for the withdrawal of her feeding tube.

On Feb. 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo went into cardiac arrest, triggered by a condition brought on by an eating disorder. After her condition stabilized, Schiavo was left in a vegetative state. While she experiences periods of sleep and wakefulness, some reflexive responses to light and noise, and some basic gag and swallowing reflexes, she shows no signs of emotion, willful activity, or cognition. Her brain has been irreparably damaged. Medical studies have shown that there has never been a case in which an individual with brain damage of the type Schiavo has suffered, and who has been in this state for such a period of time, has regained minimum cognitive and motor functions.

In a decision upholding Michael Schiavo’s claim, Second District Court of Appeals Judge Chris Altenbernd wrote four years ago that “by mid 1996, the CAT scans of her brain showed a severely abnormal structure…much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone…. Medicine cannot cure this condition.… Theresa will always remain in an unconscious, reflexive state, totally dependent upon others to feed her and care for her most private needs.” Terri Schiavo’s parents disagree, claiming that she is not in a persistent vegetative state and that she should be continue to be kept alive through artificial means. Right-wing groups and many Republican and Democratic politicians have backed the parents’ claims, seeking to use the case to strike a blow at the right to privacy.

In 2000, Judge George Greer of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court in Florida ruled that Schiavo’s feeding tube could be removed after concurring with the doctors’ opinion that she was in an irreversible vegetative state and hearing convincing testimony at a trial that she had expressed the view before her accident that she would not have wanted to live that way. Since then, her feeding tube has been withdrawn twice and in both cases the decisions were reversed.

State lawmakers in Florida hastily passed “Terri's Law” in October 2003 after Schiavo’s feeding tube had been removed for six days. The measure allowed governor John Ellis Bush to order it to be reinserted.

The Florida Supreme Court subsequently declared “Terri’s Law” unconstitutional. In its ruling the court said that “if the Legislature with the assent of the Governor can do what was attempted here, the judicial branch would be subordinated to the final directives of the other branches. Also subordinated would be the rights of individuals, including the well established privacy right to self-determination.”

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the state court’s decision.

On February 25 of this year, Judge Greer ruled that the feeding tube should be withdrawn on March 18.  
 
Medical diagnosis debated in Congress
As the deadline for the feeding tube’s removal neared, the two houses of Congress began debating bills designed to allow the case to be heard in federal court in order to override the state court decision and Michael Schiavo’s rights as his wife’s legal guardian. On March 21, the House passed the bill on a 203-58 vote after calling lawmakers back Sunday for an emergency session. The measured received considerable bipartisan support: 156 Republicans and 47 Democrats voted in favor, 5 Republicans and 53 Democrats against. In the debate House Speaker Dennis Hastert and others rejected the description of the brain-damaged woman as persisting in a “vegetative” state. ”She laughs, she cries and she smiles with those around her,” Hastert asserted.

Highly edited videotape showing Schiavo’s various reflexive responses was presented by politicians as medical “evidence” that she had cognitive ability. Florida congressman David Weldon, a doctor for 16 years, presented his diagnosis without ever examining the patient, claiming that Schiavo was “not in a persistent vegetative state.” Another physician, Congressman Joseph Schwarz, followed suit, claiming “she does have some cognitive ability.”

The California Medical Association at its annual session, in which 1,000 delegates set policy for the 35,000 physicians throughout the state, passed an emergency resolution March 21 in response to the law. It voiced the group’s “outrage at Congress’ interference with medical decisions.”  
 
Right-wing campaign
Rightist forces have organized to demand state intervention in the case. Many of the groups that claim they are defending Terri Schiavo’s life are also vocal opponents of a woman’s right to choose abortion. Bush, in his March 17 statement on the case, included a demagogic appeal to these rightists. “It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued,” he said, using language that clearly evoked the anti-abortion movement.

Outside the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri Schiavo is receiving care, about 35 protesters gathered March 19 carrying signs saying, “Judge Greer: Florida’s Hitler,” “Michael Schiavo: Which Wife do You Want Dead?” and “Michael: Give Terri Back to Her Parents!”

In the latest public opinion poll conducted by ABC News and the Washington Post, 87 percent said they would not want to be kept alive if they were in Schiavo’s condition. On the question on who should have the final say over life support in this situation, 65 percent said the spouse and 25 percent the parents.
 
 
Related articles:
Defend right to privacy in Schiavo case  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home