Thesis on "Right to Life the Law and the Terri Schiavo Case"

Thesis 5 pages (1634 words) Sources: 5 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Right to Life - Terri Schiavo and the Law

The Terri Schiavo case represents one of the most widely publicized legal battles regarding the right to life. CBC News explains the catalysts of the situation (Indepth: Terri Schiavo, 2005). In 1990, Terri suffered severe brain damage after her heart stopped, interfering with oxygen flow to her brain. Although doctors said that she was in a persistent vegetative state, she was able to breathe on her own and to live with the assistance of a feeding tube. Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, and her parents, the Schindlers, disagreed about how the situation should be handled and were involved in a protracted legal dispute beginning in 1998. Michael said his wife has said she would never want to be kept alive if she were is a vegetative state and requested that the courts allow doctors to remove her feeding tube. The Schindlers accused Michael of lying about his wife's wishes and demanded that the feeding tube remain in place. Michael eventually won and Terri Schiavo died in 2005 after her feeding tube was removed. Some may disagree with the court's decision from a political or personal ethics perspective, with a clear division between the opinions of right-to-die advocates and pro-life advocates, but this outcome "remained consistent with established Florida statutory and case law, and honored Terri Schiavo's state constitutional right to privacy" Kollas and Boyer-Kollas, 2006).

Following a trial, on February 11, 2000, Judge Greer rules that clear and convincing evidence shows Terri would choose not to receive life-prolonging medical care under her current circumstances (i.e., that she would choose to have the tube removed) (the Terri Schiavo information page, 2005). Therefore, he ordered the feeding tube removed, which will cause her death in one to two weeks. Greer's decision was rooted in U.S. Constitutional guarantee to a right to privacy and limits on the rights of state governments to make laws that intrude excessively in a person's life (Euthanasia and Terri Schiavo). The U.S. Supreme Court has, in turn, used applied these guarantees to individual rights to control their own medical treatment as explained in the following quote:

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that every individual has the constitutional right to control his or her own medical treatment. The Court further held that medical personnel must follow 'clear and convincing evidence' of a person's medical treatment wishes, even if the medical personnel or the patient's family do not share those wishes." (Euthanasia and Terri Schiavo).

Terri Schiavo had not prepared a living will or given anyone her durable power of attorney for medical care (Mulholland, 2005), so there was considerable debate between Terri's husband and Terri's parents about what Terri would have wanted and who had the right to speak for her.

Mulholland (2005) explains that although Schiavo's husband was her next of kin, that did not automatically make him her legal representative. However, Michael Schiavo did eventually win that right when Florida courts appointed him his wife's legal guardian, leaving her parents without legal standing. In November 2003, Mrs. Schiavo's parents filed a lawsuit attempting to remove Michael Schiavo as legal guardian, but were not successful.

Still, Terri's parents pressed on in their battle to save Terri's life. In October 2002, Judge Greer held another trial on the new medical treatment issue as well as the argument that Terri was not in a persistent vegetative state, hearing from doctors for both sides as well as a court-appointed independent doctor (the Terri Schiavo information page, 2005). On November 22, 2002, Judge Greer denied the Schindlers' motion for relief (new medical evidence motion), and ruled that no new treatment offers sufficient promise of improving Terri's cognitive functioning and that Terri is, in fact, in a persistent vegetative state (the Terri Schiavo information page, 2005). Once again, evidence suggests that Greer's ruling complied with Florida law.

Florida law defines a vegetative state as "the absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior" and "an inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment" (Mulholland, 2005). Doctors appointed by Florida courts said that Schiavo lived in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of improvement (Mulholland, 2005). The Second District Court of Appeal offered the following opinions affirming Greer's judgment that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state:

The evidence is overwhelming that Theresa [Terri] is in a permanent or persistent vegetative state. It is important to understand that a persistent vegetative state is not simply a coma. She is not asleep. She has cycles of apparent wakefulness and apparent sleep without any cognition or awareness. As she breathes, she often makes moaning sounds. Theresa [Terri] has severe contractures of her hands, elbows, knees, and feet." (Bush v Schiavo)

Over the span of this last decade, Theresa's [Terri's] brain has deteriorated because of the lack of oxygen it suffered at the time of the heart attack. By mid-1996, the CAT scans of her brain showed a severely abnormal structure. At this point, much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone and has been replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Medicine cannot cure this condition. Unless an act of God, a true miracle, were to recreate her brain, Theresa [Terri] will always remain in an unconscious, reflexive state, totally dependent upon others to feed her and care for her most private needs." (Bush v. Schiavo)

Based on these opinions, the Second District Court of Florida allowed for the removal of Terri's nutrition and hydration tube on Oct. 15, 2003, but would be temporarily thwarted by the Florida Legislature (Landmark euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal cases).

On Oct. 21, 2003, the Florida Legislature enacted chapter 2003-418, and Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida, signed the Act into law, issuing executive order No. 03-201, commonly known an Terri's Law, to stay the continued withholding of nutrition and hydration from Terri (Landmark euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal cases). In general, this Act gave the governor authority to order a one-time stay in certain cases involving the withholding or withdrawing of food and fluids from a PVS patient who has no written advance health care directive and there is disagreement among family members as to the patient's wishes. Michael Schiavo challenged the Act in circuit court, and the circuit court ruled in his favor, finding the Act unconstitutional because it delegated legislative power to the Governor (Landmark euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal cases). The Florida Supreme Court affirmed.

In this case, the undisputed facts show that the guardianship court authorized Michael to proceed with the discontinuance of Theresa's life support after the issue was fully litigated in a proceeding in which the Schindlers were afforded the opportunity to present evidence on all issues... Thus, the Act, as applied in this case, resulted in an executive order that effectively reversed a properly rendered final judgment and thereby constituted an unconstitutional encroachment on the power that has been reserved for the independent judiciary." (Landmark euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal cases).

In Florida, the constitution divides state government into three branches, legislative, executive and judicial branches, and expressly prohibits one branch from exercising the powers of the other two branches (Bush v. Schiavo).

Amazingly, the end to Terri's Law wasn't the end to Terri's long-running saga. The U.S. Senate, on March 21, 2005, passed a private bill, a law which applied to only one individual,

Terri Schiavo, and President George W. Bush signed it into law on that very same day (Indepth: Terri Schiavo, 2005). This bill required a judge from a federal district court in Tampa, Florida be selected at random to hear the case. This was considered an extraordinary move motivated by conservative, pro-life Republicans who had in the past: a) been reluctant to initiate states-rights conflicts by imposing the will of Congress over state legislatures and courts; b)… READ MORE

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