InstructionsThis assignment is an opportunity for you to create a draft of the essay for Final Project II: Bioethics. So, as soon as you get feedback from your instructor on this assignment, revise yo

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RETR O R EP O RT

B y Cly d e H ab erm an

April 20, 2014

H er surname in It alian means “slave, ” and is pr onounced sk ee-AH-vo. Grim as it ma y be,

the word could apply to T heresa M arie Schia vo, ev en with its Americ anized pronunciation:

SHY-vo. F or 15 y ears, T erri Schia vo w as ef fectively a sla ve — sla ve to an atr ophied brain

that made her a prisoner in her body , slave to bit ter fighting bet ween factions of her family ,

slave to seemingly endles s rounds of court hearings, sla ve to politicians who injected

themselv es into her tr agedy and turned her or deal into a national morality pla y.

T o this da y, the name Schia vo is virtual ly a synonym for epic questions about when life ends

and who gets to mak e that determination. It w ould be nice to believe that since Ms.

Schiavo’s death nine y ears ago , Americ a has found clear answ ers. Of cour se it has not, as is

evident in Retr o R eport ’s explor ation of the Schia vo c ase, the latest video document ary in a

weekly series that examines major news stories fr om the past and their aftermath.

Ms. Schia vo, a married w oman living in St. P etersbur g, F la., w as 26 y ears old when she

collapsed on F eb. 25, 1990. While her pot assium lev el was later found to be abnormal ly low,

an autopsy dr ew no conclusion as to wh y she had lost consciousnes s. Whatever the cause,

her brain was depri ved of oxygen long enough to lea ve her in a “per sistent vegetative st ate,”

a condition that is not to be confused with br ain death. She could breathe without

mechanical assistance. But doctor s concluded that she w as incapable of thought or emotion.

After her death on M arch 31, 2005, an autopsy determined that the br ain damage was

irreversible.

Bet ween her col lapse — when she “ departed this earth, ” as her grav e mark er puts it — and

her death — when she bec ame “at peace ” — the nation bor e witness to an incr easingly

acrimonious bat tle between her husband, Michael Schia vo, and her par ents, Robert and

M ary Schindler . Mr. Schia vo w anted to det ach the feeding tube that g av e her nourishment.

Terri nev er would ha ve w anted to be k ept alive that w ay, he said. T he Schindler s insisted

that the tube be k ept in place. That, they said, is what their daughter w ould have w anted. T o

Mr. Schia vo, the w oman he had married w as gone. To the Schindler s, a sentient human w as

still in that body .

From P rivate Ordeal t o National F ight: The C ase of Terri

Schiavo

https://ny ti.ms/1hMT eIT 7/29/2020 From Private Ordeal to National Fight: The Case of Terri Schiavo - The New York Times

https://www .nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/from-private-ordeal-to-national-fight-the-case-of-terri-schiavo.html?_r=0 2/3

Florida courts, while sympathizing with the par ents, consistently sided with the husband as

a matter of la w. T hat did not satisfy F lorida politicians. In 2003, the State Legislatur e passed

a bill giving the go vernor , Jeb Bush at the time, the authorit y to prevent r emoval of the

feeding tube. T his legislation, later declar ed unconstitutional by the Florida Supr eme Court,

was c alled T erri’s Law . ( This is a common legislati ve t actic: identifying a bil l by some

unfortunate ’s name to enhance its emotional appeal. It is w orth noting that first names and

diminutives tend to be used when the per son is a woman or a child. M en are usual ly

accor ded gr eater dignit y. H ence, w e had the Br ady Bill, a feder al gun-contr ol law named for

James S. Br ady, Pr esident R onald Reagan’s pr ess secr etary , who w as shot in 1981. N o one

thought to call it Jim ’s Bil l.)

As if the failed at tempts at intervention by Florida politicians w ere not enough of a

cautionary t ale, Congress and Pr esident G eorge W . Bush plunged into the fr ay in early 2005,

enacting legislation with dazzling speed to tr ansfer jurisdiction of the case from state courts

to the feder al judiciary. More leg al to-ing and fr o-ing ensued, but it did not last long . State

court or ders pr evailed. T he feeding tube w as remo ved, and M s. Schiavo died at a hospice in

Pinel las Park, F la.

What, if an ything, is the enduring leg acy of this painful episode?

For what it is w orth, USA T oda y, on its 25 th anniver sary in 2007 , put together a list of 25

liv es that had “indelible impact. ” Terri Schia vo r ank ed N o. 12, jus t below Mother T eresa and

Opr ah W infrey. (N o. 1 w as “9 /11 her oes.”) But the Schia vo c ase w as then stil l fresh in

col lecti ve memory . Seven years later , would she r ank so high? Similarly , when she was in

the news almost daily , there was a discernible incr ease in the number of Americ ans who

prepar ed living wil ls and compar able directives, ac cording to gr oups like Aging W ith

Dignity, a nonpr ofit organization that supports end-of-life wishes.

P erhaps some politicians ha ve learned a les son: that these life-or-death decisions ar e

probably best left to families and, should irr econcilable differences surface, to the courts.

Was an yone w ell serv ed, for example, when Bil l Frist, the R epublican Senate majorit y

leader in 2005 and a tr ansplant surgeon, said it w as clear to him that M s. Schiavo r esponded

to external stimuli, a pr onouncement based on his ha ving seen a videotape of her?

Lar ger questions r emain, affecting an estimated 25,000 Americ ans deemed by doctors to be

in a vegetative st ate. Complic ating matters ar e studies lik e those reported last w eek by a

team in Belgium and earlier b y Adrian M. Owen, a British neur oscientist working in

Canada. They have found thr ough brain-imaging techniques that r esidual cognitive c apacit y

may exist in some people clas sified as vegetative. 7/29/2020 From Private Ordeal to National Fight: The Case of Terri Schiavo - The New York Times

https://www .nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/from-private-ordeal-to-national-fight-the-case-of-terri-schiavo.html?_r=0 3/3

Another is sue is what qualifies as death with dignit y. I s it al lowing a per son to go gentle into

that good night of Dylan T homas ? Or does pr oviding him or her with tools lik e a feeding

tube allow the per son to rage if pos sible against the dying of the light?

In r ecent months, tw o c ases focused new at tention on such questions. I n one, Jahi McMath,

13, w as declar ed brain-dead, the r esult of complic ations after surgery to correct a sleeping

disorder. Her par ents ha ve fought, thus far suc cessful ly, to k eep a hospit al in Oakland, Calif .,

from shut ting off Jahi’ s ventilator . The second c ase, in Fort Worth, is a polar opposite. T here,

Marlise M uñoz, 33, w as declared brain-dead after col lapsing with a blood clot while 14

week s pr egnant. H er family wished to ha ve the v entilator turned of f, but the hospit al

refused, citing a st ate law that r equired life-sust aining measur es for pregnant w omen.

Final ly, a judge or dered the r emoval of the life support. On J an. 26, Ms. Muñoz ’s heart

stopped.

I n both those or deals, the Schia vo c ase w as not a guide, and it ma y not be in new situations

likely to arise. T hen again, the w oman born T heresa M arie Schindler had no contr ol over the

po werful for ces that contr olled her o wn fate. J ust as if she w ere a schia vo, a sla ve.