Terri Schiavo: Who Crushes a Butterfly with a Hammer?

Terri Schiavo is a 41 year year old woman, innocent of any crime, who has been sentenced to death by starvation. She is currently in hospice care in Florida. It's an extremely disturbing case, although most of the major media both in the USA and worldwide have given little attention to her plight.

Background

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage after she collapsed in her home in February 1990 due to a heart attack. In 1992 Terri was awarded $1.4 million in a medical malpractice trial over the brain damage, and $600,000 was awarded to her husband, Michael Schiavo. The money was meant for her rehabilitation treatment and ongoing care. In 1993 Michael Schiavo began what has turned into an 11 year fight on his part to have Terri's life ended. There's no nice way of putting it - Michael Schiavo wants Terri dead. There has been a long legal campaign by Mr. Schiavo to have Terri's feeding tube removed. Although Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state, a fact borne out by those who have visited with her, Michael Schiavo insists that she would not want to live, and that he has a legal right to have her food source removed to cause her progressive death from starvation. As this post from Wittenberg Gate summarises, there have been medical doctors who have testified in court that Terri may now be able to take food orally without a tube, and if not she would relearn the skill with some therapy. Terri is not on life support, and her feeding tube is not attached 24 hours a day, but only when she needs to be fed. It is worth noting here that Michael Schiavo is living with another woman with whom he has had two children. A timeline of events leading to the present situation, and updated information on Terri's case are here at the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation website.

The Situation Now

At the time of writing this Terri Schiavo is under a death sentence. Currently the date for the removal of her feeding tube is set for 22 February. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are seeking a delay of execution and petitioning that more neurological tests should be undertaken. As reported by Newsday.com:

"With other legal options running out, the attorney, David Gibbs III, said he would file a motion Monday asking Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer to allow the tests. Also Monday, a hearing is scheduled at which Gibbs will ask the judge to extend a court-ordered stay set to expire Tuesday. Barring any more court-ordered delays, the tube could be removed after Tuesday."

In a letter on 15 February Terri's father Bob Schindler writes:

"Contrary to anything you may have heard, Terri is NOT brain dead; Terri is NOT in a coma; she is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state;" nor is she on ANY life-support system. Terri laughs, Terri cries, she moves, and she makes child-like attempts at speech with her mother and me. Sometimes she will say "Mom" or "Dad" or "yeah" when we ask her a question. When I kiss her hello or goodbye, she looks at me and "puckers up" her lips. This may not seem like much to you, but it means everything to Terri's mother and me. It tells us she is still here, she still knows us, and with therapy and time she can have some level of recovery."

The Parallel

There are some events in history which are so awful that we exercise extreme caution in using them as a comparison. Yet within such periods of darkness there are parallels to some of the circumstances that unfold in our present day. Some years ago I watched the six part documentary series The Nazis: A Warning from History. One of the most striking things in the story of the progression of the Nazi system was how isolated events became widespread modes of operation. In particular, there was the case of the parents of a mentally retarded girl who wrote to Hitler asking that they be given permission to have their daughter euthanised. Hitler agreed and the the parents request was carried out. One girl. And one girl became a precedent, which a zealous underling undertook to build on to impress the Fuehrer. The precendent became a policy. The policy became a practice.

Recently I read A Doctor's Story by Lucie Adelsberger, a physician who suvived Auschwitz and who, during her time there, did what she could to save the lives of those she was assigned to assist. She fought to save life in the midst of a culture of overwhelming death. This is the front cover of her book. The photo is of a group of women and children on the platform at Auschwitz waiting to be selected to live or die.




This is a photo of Terri Schiavo in Florida, waiting to be selected to live or die.



There are those occasions when we have to admit that the parallel from history comes to mind because it is so terribly similar. You may charge me with allowing my emotions to influence my assessment. Of course I am. Our emotions are a part of what constitutes our humanity, and empathy combined with conscience is what makes us humane. Cold indifference and a clinical attitude in determining who is or isn't fit to live were the hallmarks of that other civilised approach, which left the ground in the forests white from the ashes of its victims.

Who would crush this beautiful woman with a hammer?

"Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff they comfort me."
- Psalm 23

Terri Schiavo should not be executed. It is an indictment of the most awful kind to condemn a person to death for the sake of expediency.