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IN YOUR PRIME
A Doctor Takes a Hard Look at the Terri Schiavo Case
Q. As an older American who believes we have a fundamental right to choose the manner and time of our own death, I am
appalled at the spectacle occurring in the halls of government and on the grounds surrounding Terri Schiavo’s Florida
hospice. What did Terri and Michael Schiavo do to deserve this?
--Mrs. R. Brooks, Eustis, FL
A. Most rational citizens join in your abhorrence. Moreover, in an effort to bring light, and logic, to this patently tragic
and mind-numbing travesty, we have turned to a south Florida internist—a board certified professional—to help sort fact from
emotional-driven fiction.
Here, in summary, are his observations:
“We begin with those facts beyond dispute. Contrary to repeated and understandable protestations of the woman’s family, Terri
Schiavo is in the persistent vegetative state. No credible neurologist who has examined the patient has said otherwise.
(Parenthetically, judges have also concurred.)
“The evidence seems overwhelming: all higher cortical function has been irretrievably lost. That part of the brain (the
cortex) that helps make us human, and separates us from birds, fish and reptiles, is lost, while brain stem functioning
continues. (Thus, Terri Schiavo has a heartbeat, and she’s able to breathe and to digest.)
“Much like an infant of, say, two or three days old, the patient moves her head, her eyes, and makes guttural sounds.
However—and this is key—her so-called ‘smiles’ are not due to recognition. In this state, the neural process leading to
‘recognition’ has been destroyed.
“Oftentimes, doctors are asked directly: ‘Is she alive?’ If you argue that
being alive constitutes the absence of death, I’ll concede. However, I
reiterate: a vegetative state is exactly what it says!
“Now, we reach our critical question, so obfuscated by raw emotion and noxious politics: my opinion, and that of Rep. Tom
DeLay or any other poseur and noise-maker, is totally irrelevant. The only voice that matters is Terri Schiavo’s. What does
the woman think, want, and command?
“In one of my most memorable bedside lessons, a wise and empathetic professor-mentor taught, ‘It doesn’t matter what we think
or feel. What matters is for you to respect your patient’s wishes.’ To which I now add:
if only an opportunistic, misguided congress and United States President had been privy to my professor’s trenchant lecture!
“Since patient Schiavo is incapable of voicing her wishes, we turn then to her husband, the person who shared her life and to
whom she last spoke as she gave way to sleep each night. Court after court, for almost 15 years, has accepted Michael
Schiavo’s word that his wife did not want to be kept ‘alive’ by mechanical means. (Aside: the American Medical Assn.’s
council on ethics ruled the insertion of a feeding tube constitutes ‘an extraordinary measure.’)
“Finally, if any good is to come from this regrettable mockery of both death and life, then it is in our collective response
to the nation-wide alarm currently ringing----urging us to expeditiously draw up our Living Wills and thereafter alerting our
family, friends, and doctor(s) as to these mandates.”
Editor’s note: our profound thanks to Dr. Paul R.
Lindeman, internist and veteran emergency room practitioner, for his views
on this over-wrought case, which at this writing continues with court
challenges and counter-challenges.
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Outrageous Associations
