by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright March 19, 2005
All Rights Reserved.

erving as the new poster-girl to the right-to-life movement, conservatives in Congress rallied behind 41-year-old coma victim Terri Schiavo, after Florida State Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer ordered the removal of her feeding tube. Without her tube, Schiavo, who's been comatose since 1990 from an alleged potassium imbalance, is expected to expire in one-to-two weeks. “I have no cogent reason why the (House) committee should intervene,” Green told attorneys in a conference call, believing that states' rights trump the government's attempt to meddle. Without “advanced directives”—specific legal instructions about life-saving measures—neither Schiavo's husband nor her parents can settle a patient's right-to-life. For an unconscious patient, disconnecting a feeding tube is analogous to assisted suicide—a practice not easily decided by next of kin or a court.

     Letting her husband Michael Schiavo call the shots also can't replace the rights of the disabled, in this case his comatose wife. Most physicians or medical ethicists still can't decide on assisted suicide or euthanasia. Suicide doctor Jack Kevorkian sits in a Michigan prison, unwilling to control his impulse to euthanize patients. Schiavo's case raises some currently unanswered questions about a comatose patient's right-to-life. Medical science—indeed the culture—is oriented toward preserving life. Without a legal document specifying Terri's wishes, it's not up to her husband to make life-or-death decisions. “This is what Terri wanted,” Michael Schiavo said on CNN's “Larry King Live,” asserting the government “just trampled all over my personal life,” taking his wife's predicament too personally. Michael Schiavo has to stop thinking only about himself.

     Republicans in Congress led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas.) seized the opportunity to score political points. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear Schiavo's case, Frist and Delay pressed ahead, threatening to subpoena hospice personnel and physicians connected with Shiavo's case. “Apparently, according to the House of Representatives, any committee member can direct a subpoena to any American citizen, forcing them to have medical treatment against their will,” said George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney. Yet Felos forgets that Terri Schiavo can't speak for herself. Like the abortion or “right-to-life” issue, where an unborn child can't make its own decisions, Frist and Delay view Schiavo the same way. Without a will or legal instructions, they argue Michael Schiavo can't make that decision

     Political sparks flew when Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee, called the GOP moves a “flagrant abuse of power,” insisting that Congress shouldn't exploit the family's pain and interfere with life-or-death medical decisions. But Waxman doesn't get that Terri Schiavo can't communicate her wishes. While Michael Schiavo wants to pull the feeding tube, her parents Bob and Mary Shindler are vehemently opposed. “A spouse is no longer the best decision-maker,” said Wellesley College bioethics professor Adrienne Asch, citing “real problems in this case.” Like Frist and Delay, Asch views the case as a “right-to-life” case with the star witness comatose, unable to respond. Waxman and his Democratic colleagues walk a dangerous political tightrope erring on the side of euthanizing comatose patients.

     Schiavo's case gives the GOP political cover at a time when the wheels are falling off President George W. Bush's privatization plan for Social Security. Religious conservatives seized the chance to slam Democrats opposed to saving Schiavo's life. Richard Land, a spokesman with the Southern Baptist Convention, called Judge Greer's order “barbarous and cruel,” despite the fact that medical experts regard Schiavo's recovery improbable. “We'd like to set her free,” said Leddy Hammock, a clergywoman at the Unity Church of Clearwater in Florida, demonstrating, if nothing else, why Delay and Frist hold the moral high ground. Even movie director Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning best picture “Million Dollar Baby” supporting “assisted suicide,” wouldn't go that far. Life-or-death decisions can't be made by religious zealots, believing that paradise awaits in the afterlife.

     Schiavo's case raises some fundamental questions about the “right-to-life” guaranteed by the Constitution, assuring every citizen “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” It's too bad the Supreme Court wouldn't take up the case, if, for no other reason, to settle the issue of what to do with comatose patients without “advanced directives.” Frist, a physician with possible presidential ambitions in 2008, has scored points with religious conservatives who see Schiavo's case as a cause célèbre. Without finding Schiavo “brain dead,” it's difficult denying her access to her feeding tube, even with the remote possibility of recovery. No matter how impractical, it's safer opting on the side of life over death. Schiavo's case underscores the importance of “advanced directives,” and the legal complications that ensue when they don't exist. Protecting Schiavo's right-to-life isn't a bad thing.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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