The Right to Die?

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Brain-damaged woman's feed tube removed

Gov. Bush orders legal team to find way to intervene

The Associated Press

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Doctors Wednesday removed the feeding tube that has been keeping alive a severely brain-damaged woman at the center of an epic legal battle between her parents, who want her to live, and her husband, who said she would rather die.

Terri Schiavo, 39, underwent the procedure at the Tampa Bay area hospice where she has been living for several years, said her father, Bob Schindler. Attorneys representing her husband, Michael Schiavo, said it will take between a week and 10 days for her to die.

About 100 protesters stood outside the hospice in what has become a 24-hour vigil staged by advocates for the disabled and anti-abortion activists. The decade-long legal battle between the Schindlers and their son-in-law has drawn international attention for the fierceness of the family fight.

Bob Schindler said he and his wife, Mary, went in to see their daughter shortly after the tube was removed and gave her a kiss and hugged her. He said his daughter appeared groggy and was not as responsive as they claim she normally has been.

"She's OK for the next couple of days," said Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister. "We are just going to try to work some magic and hopefully a miracle.

"I have to believe that somebody is doing something, somewhere to stop this judicial homicide."

Michael Schiavo and his attorney George Felos were not immediately available for comment after the procedure.

The tube removal came just hours after Gov. Jeb Bush told the Schindlers that he was instructing his legal staff to find some means to block the court order allowing Michael Schiavo to end his wife's life.

"We are going to seek whatever legal alternatives are available and seek the best minds to find another avenue to submit to the courts to see if there can be a change in this ruling," Bush said at an appearance in Dover dedicating new housing for migrant workers.

"I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer. But I know that if a person can be able to sustain life without life support, that should be tried," the governor said, adding the "ultimate decision of this is in the courts."

Bob Schindler Jr., Terri Schiavo's brother, said the family was heartened by the governor's last-minute effort. The Schindlers have pleaded with Bush -- who in previous legal findings have supported their efforts to obtain therapy for their daughter -- to intervene.

"The family has not given up hope on Terri," Bob Schindler Jr. said following the meeting with Bush. "We have spoken to the governor, and he hasn't given up hope either."

The tangled legal case has already been handled by 19 separate judges, and Wednesday's tube removal was the third time a date had been set.

Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed for two days in 2001 before a judge ordered feeding resumed based on new evidence; attorneys have said there is no such legal tactic to take this time.

A state appeals court in Lakeland rejected motions by an attorney for the Schindlers this week, and they say their legal remedies have been exhausted.

Terri Schiavo has been in a vegetative state since her heart stopped in 1990 due to a potassium imbalance. Her parents believe she is capable of learning how to eat and drink on her own.

Michael Schiavo says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially. The parents say their daughter has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated, although court-appointed doctors have said she will never recover.

"In our eyes, it's murder," Bob Schindler Sr. said Wednesday on CBS' "Early Show."

Felos said that the Schindlers were "still in denial" over Terri Schiavo's wishes not to be kept alive.

Doctors have testified that the noises and facial expressions Terri Schiavo makes are reflexes and do not indicate that she has enough mental capabilities to communicate with others.

In 1993, the Schiavos were awarded more than $1 million in medical malpractice claims against the doctors who failed to diagnose her chemical imbalance. Michael Schiavo told a jury he intended to take care of his wife for the rest of her life, which medical experts predicted would be until she was about 51 years old.

After the money was awarded, the Schindlers say Michael Schiavo first mentioned his wife didn't want to be kept alive artificially. Michael Schiavo has said he was in denial and hoped his wife would recover, only to gradually realize she would not.

The Schindlers have further alleged that much of the money that was to be used for their daughter's care has been spent by Michael Schiavo on attorney's fees as he sought to end her life.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case. It also has been rejected for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Schindlers first sought to remove Michael Schiavo as his wife's guardian in 1993 after a falling out over her medical care. They say he now has a conflict of interest because he is engaged to another woman and they have a child together.

Michael Schiavo has refused to divorce his wife saying that he fears her parents would ignore her desire to die if they became her guardians.

[manna, BSN, RN]

There's a thread about this in the "Current News" forum. I think it's all horrible..

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Thirteen years and still no sign of recovery??? The parents need help with greif counselling and not contention over whether or not to end her life. There has to be a way around this. I feel for all involved. So sad.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Read up on Karen Ann Quinlan.

[night owl]

I hate to hear of these kind of legal battles. Deliberately starving someone, to me, is murder. The 5th commandment states, "Thou shall not kill." Isn't deliberately starving someone killing them? Court order or not, the principle remains the same.

[Brenna's Dad]

After working in the ICU for many years, I have developed rather strong feelings about vegetative states.

Living brain dead or severly brain injured, just isn't living in my opinion. I think the majority of people think this way. It's only their significant others that have trouble dealing with the facts.

My wife and I have had similiar discussions. She tells me that if I was brain dead, she could never remove the feeding tube and let me die. That's why my brother-in-law is my power of attorney.

Tube feeding, again in my opinion, is excessive heroic measures in the serverly brain injured, no-hope-of-recovery individual. It's the same as a ventilator.

[glascow]

There are worse things than dying-- like living in a persistant vegitative state. If it were me, please stop the tube feedings!

[night owl]

On the other hand, so why is it that an 81 y/o brain dead, contracted, multiple decubitus, GT, s/p tube pt be allowed to stay on a ventilator? We had such a pt in our LTC facility. Family wanted everything done to keep him alive. Moved him from our facility to a medical facility so he could be on a vent. He had a trach. He's had pneumonia hundreds of times, his decubitus encompass 50% of his body, his heels are basically up his butt he's so contracted. He must have pain so what do they give him??? Tylenol 650mgs via GT q6hrs. Pleeese! Of course he has no chance of recovery, so what is it all about? His money! This is criminal and abusive as far as I'm concerned. Someone is paying their mortgage or their kids way through college on this poor souls money all while he suffers. I mean how do these creeps sleep at night???

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

My sentiments exactly. This is the reason why my sister, rather than my husband, is my POAHC.....I know he'd be unable to let me go, and having seen what I have during my years in health care, I know there are fates far worse than death---namely, going on in a state like Mrs. Schiavo's.

[sjoe]

More good reasons for ALL of us to write very strict Advance Directives, and appoint Durable Powers of Attorney for Healthcare who will strictly enforce them! Make sure these documents are in our medical files, and keep them up to date, every 5 years or so.

If not, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when we spend the final years in a hospital bed with tubes from and to every possible body opening as all our financial resources (and those of any available taxpayer) are squandered by our healthcare "system."

And how did ANY government get the "right" to decide whether to grant or forbid measures that serve simply to prolong the deaths of people? Or to make suicide "illegal," for that matter? Which Constitutional amendment is that?

[iliel]

Originally posted by sjoe

More good reasons for ALL of us to write very strict Advance Directives, and appoint Durable Powers of Attorney for Healthcare who will strictly enforce them! Make sure these documents are in our medical files, and keep them up to date, every 5 years or so.

If not, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves when we spend the final years in a hospital bed with tubes from and to every possible body opening as all our financial resources (and those of any available taxpayer) are squandered by our healthcare "system."

And how did ANY government get the "right" to decide whether to grant or forbid measures that serve simply to prolong the deaths of people? Or to make suicide "illegal," for that matter? Which Constitutional amendment is that?

Sjoe, Well said!!!

[jadednurse]

I just have one comment on this...

Jeb Bush.

The end.

Thank you!