The Terri Schiavo Case is Over

It appears quite certain that Terri Schiavo will finally be allowed to die...this after a fifteen-year ordeal where she has been in a persistent vegetative state. This case has been at various times in the spotlight of the national news and the center of the nation's attention ever since Terri Schiavosuffered a heart attack that kept her brain deprived of oxygen for several minutes.

Let me be clear on this.

If there was any way at all that Terri Schiavo could be fully restored to a vibrant life with little or no ill-effect, I would have it done,and I assume that a vast majority of the people in this country would as well. If Terri Schiavo could be restored to say...75%, or maybe even 50% of what constitutes as normal function, I would support that, and I am sure that most other people in this country would as well.

The case of Terri Schiavo is unfortunate, and I would be hard-pressed to wish such a fate on my worst enemies.

However, something has happened in this case.The Republican conservatives have started to act like liberal Democrats, and liberals actually make sense on this matter. I found myself agreeing with the syndicated columnist Georgie Ann Geyer, which was scary, when you consider that she is usually a shill for the Liberal Left.

There are a number of myths in this case that need to be addressed:

MYTH: Terri Schiavo is NOT in a persistent vegetativestate...she is "minimally conscious".

This latest opinion was offered by a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, who spent less than one hour viewing VIDEO of Terri Schiavo. He did not visit her, and he did not do a medical examination. Thus, Judge George Greer told the state and the Schindler family that there was no new evidence to go on that would allow for a case to be made.

Quite frankly, for all of the zeal that the governor of Florida has displayed in this case, you would think that if he was going to put forward this new "evidence", he would have made sure it was done RIGHT. The fact that no medical exam was done was just plain stupid. The state should have went in and did a full medical examination. This would have provided a fresh view on the condition of Terri Schiavo. It would have actually constituted new evidence had the results indicated a state of minimal consciousness, and it would have indicated any effects of the removal of the feeding tube.

However, when faced with the numerous opinions of the doctors who have been on this case for the past fifteen years, the state did a quick-and-dirty job, and it showed in the decision handed down by Judge George Greer.

MYTH: Terri Schiavo responds to stimuli and therefore is not in a persistent vegetative state.

The problem here is that the Schindler family and the protestors who have been demonstrating outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo is being cared for are taking their wishes, their hopes, and their fantasies, and they are projecting them onto Terri simply because she happens to move.

However, medical science does not take wishes, hopes, or fantasies into consideration when determining the state of a patient. Medical science also recognizes that even a person in a persistent vegetative state may move, they may blink their eyes, they may speak nothingness. Rather than being any sort of coherent response to her surroundings, these are simply Terri's reflexes reacting. The accident that put her into the state she is in took away any higher brain functioning.

Terri Schiavo no longer thinks, and she no longer feels...anything. This means that even with the feeding tube removed, Terri Schiavo is not feeling anything. She is not feeling the euphoria that some doctors say happens with starvation, and she is not feeling the pain that the Schindlers and their supporters say she feels.

MYTH: The Schiavo case did not set legal precedent when the US Congress took up the issue.

In fact, ANYTHING brought up in Congress can serve as a precedent. All one would have to do is say "Remember what we did in the Schiavo bill..." and the precedent would be referenced.

Now, did Congress have the power and authority to allow the Schiavo case to move to the federal level? Yes. Congress has the constitutional right to decide where the federal courts have jurisdiction. However, for them to say that they are limiting the law to Terri Schiavo so that it is not a precedent is ludicrous.
There are precedents in this topic. Karen Ann Quinlan overdosed on drugs and ended up in a persistent vegetative state. At that time, there were no laws on the books governing who has authority to guide treatment when the patient could not do so. The family went to court and asked that they be given permission to remove the feeding tube from Karen Ann Quinlan. The courts agreed, and the precedent that we have operated under up until now was laid down.

An associated myth is that the US Congress passed a law demanding that the Schiavo case be reheard from the beginning. Nope! Congress does NOT have that right. They can say that a certain case can be heard in federal courts, but the US Congress can not come in and dictate court action.

MYTH: Terri Schiavo has had her rights violated, or has not had her day in court.

Actually, the Schiavo case has lasted basically over the past fifteen years, from the case of malpractice against the doctors who failed to diagnose the chemical imbalance that led to her injury, to all of the fights over her care...this is the third time that her feeding tube hasbeen removed. There are over 22 cases in local, district, or federal court. She has had three petitions to the Supreme Court on her behalf. (As of Saturday, March 26, there have been at least 26 seperate court cases filed with the various courts, and that may not be counting the decisions handed down today.)

MYTH: We really don't know what Terri Schiavo would have wanted in this situation because we only have Michael Schiavo to tell us.

Actually, the reason the case was upheld in the court of Judge George Greer was because Terri Schiavo not only told her husband, but two other friends.

MYTH: Michael Schiavo wants his wife to die.

I believe that people on both sides, both the Schindlers, and Michael Schiavo, the politicians of both political stripes, and even the people on talk radio such as Rush Limbaugh and George Nory are operating in amoral way. I believe that they are doing what they think is morally right.

However, just because people believe they are doing the right thing, this does not mean that they are correct.

MYTH: People were arrested because they were trying to bring water toTerri Schiavo.

Wrong. The hospice and the surrounding grounds are private property. The protestors were arrested because the hospice did not want them near the building, where they may disturb the other residents, or disrupt the operations of the facility. When the protestors tried to bring water to Terri Schiavo, the hospice was within its rights to have these people picked up.

Having addressed some of the myths surrounding the case of Terri Schiavo, I will go on in the next article to explain why this case is important to you.

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John B.