Reason vs Emotion at the End of Life: The Terri Schiavo Case

Entered 4-2-05 by Ken Wear
after the death of Terri Schiavo

The Terri Schiavo case focuses our attention on reason and emotion as expressed in our religions and our laws. Is it part of a 'Culture of Life?'

In the search for common elements in Terri's case it is necessary to know something of the history of the tragedy and events during the ensuing fifteen years. I have learned, from the World Wide Web:
As a teenager Terri was very overweight. She chose to lose weight in order to become more attractive on the marriage market and, after losing 65 pounds, men began paying closer attention to her, including her future husband. She acquired unwise eating habits, became bulimic and in time suffered cardiac arrest, which was determined to be due to a potassium deficiency resulting from her bulimia. She was resuscitated but did not regain consciousness at any time after cardiac arrest. Had husband Michael not insisted on resuscitation, Terri likely would have been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. That was February 25, 1990; her body was maintained artificially after resuscitation.

A jury was convinced of the medical malpractice of doctors in not diagnosing Terri's bulimia. They awarded $750,000 to her and $300,000 to her husband.

Diagnostically, a CT scan in 1996 revealed profound abnormalities, an EEG performed revealed no electrical activity and a 2002 CAT scan demonstrated massive atrophy. I have found no information on treatments at the time of cardiac arrest or at any time after resuscitation. Undoubtedly court documents contain full details.

In 1998 her husband, Michael, petitioned the Pinellas County court to remove the feeding tubes but her parents objected. I found no information on when the press became aware and the resultant flurry of public concern that led to contributions for Terri's legal defense. A crucial point in the legal dispute between Terri's parents and husband lies in the absence of documented information about her wishes, whether she would have wished to remain physically alive although mentally dead in the hope of eventual awakening or whether she would have wished to forego further treatment so physical life could end and release her spirit. Florida courts concluded it would have been her wish to end life in preference to living in a persistent vegetative state.

I note that:
Brain scan technology has advanced greatly in the intervening years and the determination of death now revolves around brain death rather than bodily function. Moreover, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been promoted to reinvigorate parts of the brain affected by stroke.

I speculate that:
Terri, her parents and her husband lived in the embrace of the Roman Catholic Church. I suppose the church's position to be that, as long as there is some vestige of life, all available means must be undertaken to support that life. Whatever personal opinion Terri might have held, as a young (26 year old) woman with no hint of concern for such late-life issues, it is unlikely she would have prepared legal papers to document it .

Commentary:
I have no doubt of emotional commitments at the time of Terri's cardiac arrest and I do not question that the religious faith of those involved came into play. Fifteen years is a big chunk of life for any of us, and no doubt attitudes changed during those fifteen years. As a skeptic and sometimes cynic, I must pursue another line of thought in the evolution of attitudes on the part of parents, husband and others: the influence of money.

As husband Michael was in control of her award. In the event of divorce there may have been grounds for contention over control of the money, but he did not pursue divorce. Resolution of the controversy of continuing life support versus allowing death could have been solved very simply by surrendering control to the parents, who could then have maintained life support as long as they felt it justified.

Enter the public and lawyers. Terri's parents, the Schindlers, accepted donations toward their legal expenses. The Terri Schiavo Foundation was formed. The Web gives no indication of the public's generosity or whether the parents benefited; those are trivial issues. Possibly the lawyers saw an opportunity for personal enrichment and sought to continue the case as long as they could. While the Culture of Life may have been foremost motivation in the early years of Terri's vegetative life, the question of money leaves me in the quandry whether Culture of Life issues continued to drive this case or whether financial concerns evolved to become paramount during those 15 years.

To me quality of life is central, but in many minds the death of Terri Schiavo is linked to the abortion issue through the Culture of Life. In that light the issues of life and death that are invoked in her case may fall into the divide between ethical and religious issues. While I am a strongly spiritual being, I have chosen to try to find common ground between science, philosophy and religion through application of the powers of mind.

The Culture of Life pits advocates of "Support all real and suspected human life at any price" against advocates of "Quality of life" and "Object of affection" as well as economic sanity. Operation of the law in Terri's case, I feel, considered the futility of further contention but gave all interested parties ample opportunity to vent their concerns.^{1 To view footnote, click here.}

I am composing an essay on the social contract; completed portions may be linked by clicking here. You may pursue what reasoning of the Culture of Life I have applied to the abortion debate by clicking here.

6-15-05 Since posting this commentary, the results of autopsy have been revealed. Brain size had shrunk to half normal; there was no evidence of ability to see or otherwise respond. Death was by dehydration, but there could have been no sensation of pain. One would think that results of medical tests in 1996 would have convinced all concerned that any meaningful recovery was beyond the realm of possibility. I can only speculate on the influence of the lawyers and donations from an interested public.

3-31-07 I awoke this morning reflecting on the role of each participant in this drama: husband, parents and siblings, medical personnel, lawyers, jury, the press, donors toward legal expenses, judges, congressmen: Did not each person in turn act in keeping with his own conscience? Private decisions in the name of Christian love and compassion. My Easter thought: What would life be like had Jesus of Nazareth not walked upon Earth?

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¹Footnote: There was a short-lived effort by the Congress of the U.S. to inject federal authority into what was obviously a local matter. Fortunately, that effort failed and the Constitution of the United States was not further emasculated by this case.