Two months after 41-year-old Terri Schiavo died at a Florida hospice, Pinellas County Medical Examiner, Dr. Jon Thogmartin, released the autopsy results. Thogmartin said, Schiavo died of dehydration, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed at her husband Michael Schiavo’s request, and against her family’s wishes. The medical examiner said, Schiavo’s brain suffered irreversible damage when she collapsed 15 years ago, which caused her to go blind. Thogmartin ruled out a heart attack or bulimia as causing her health problems and said there was no evidence of any trauma to her body, even immediately after her she was hospitalized following her collapse. Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have alleged that Michael Schiavo abused her.
Michael Schiavo’s lawyer, George Felos, said, the report exonerated his client of such allegations. “What Mr. Schiavo reiterated for years and years, the courts have found that there was no abuse of Terri, and that’s what the medical examiner found. We stated in the pleadings that Terri suffered massive and profound and irreversible brain damage, and in the words of the medical examiner, the results are ‘very consistent with a persistent vegetative state.’ The report also used the word ‘extremely’ consistent. Terri’s eye movements and apparent response to visual stimuli was a reflexive action, the result of brain stem activity. She had no cortical sight, and that was a finding by the medical examiner,” Felos said.
However, the autopsy report could not make a determination as to what caused Schiavo’s initial collapse, a point noted by Schindler family attorney David Gibbs. “The report clearly stated that Terri was brain-injured, but we knew that before the autopsy. What the report added was that Terri may have been more brain-injured than we originally realized. But the report did not focus in any respect in what we believe to be the major moral and legal issue. And that is, in the United States of America, are we going to allow blind people, are we going to allow disabled people, are we going to allow the brain-injured to literally be put to death in a barbaric manner, death by dehydration and starvation, something that we do not allow to animals, something our Constitution does not permit for convicted mass murderers? And yet an innocent, disabled woman was put to death in this way. The autopsy did not determine whether Terri was in a persistent vegetative state or a minimally conscious state. What the report said is that it appeared that she was blind and we knew she was visually impaired. But the report did not in any way state that she would not be able to hear, or still recognize people. So, as we look at this, clearly Terri was brain-injured. But the bigger issue, is can we throw people away? I mean, we can take a cell phone, and we say it’s out of date. Throw it away. It has no value. It’s disposable. Is life something different? The report did say she was unreachable. But the question is, is a non-terminal, disabled person who did not have a living will, only needing food and water, do we put them to death?”
Gibbs also raised a question about the circumstances surrounding Schiavo’s collapse. “What happened? Why weren’t the calls made more quickly, why wasn’t CPR or other things administered? Clearly, when you have a brain that is not getting blood, when you have a brain that’s not getting oxygen, these are emergency moments. Every second is precious. Michael Schiavo was there. Michael Schiavo said she collapsed at 4:30 and the emergency call was placed at 5:40. I think those 70 minutes are very, very troubling.”
That allegation prompted Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to request that the Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney, Bernie McCabe, investigate the matter. In a letter to McCabe, Bush said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m. on Feb. 25, 1990, and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her about 4:30 a.m. Schiavo called 911 at 5:40 am. Bush wrote, “Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay. In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome.”
In a statement issued by his lawyer, Michael Schiavo expressed outrage over the development. “I have consistently said over the years that I didn’t wait, but ‘ran’ to call 911 after Terri collapsed.”
American Life League President, Judie Brown, says, the autopsy findings are “ultimately irrelevant,” and called Schiavo’s death “morally unacceptable.” “The fact remains that Terri was not dying, did not have a terminal condition, and could have continued to survive with proper nutrition and hydration. There are those who will use this autopsy report to claim that the death by dehydration imposed on Terri Schiavo was compassionate or merciful. Others would say such a life is not worth living. Such thinking is misguided and absolutely wrong. Those decisions are not our to make,” Brown said.
Likewise, Wendy Wright, senior policy director of Concerned Women for America, said, there are no excuses for dehydrating the disabled. “There is no medical condition or disability that should ever be championed as a justifiable reason to deny water to a human being. Every human life has worth and a purpose apart from its ‘merit’ to society that must be vigorously defended and upheld, not crushed. While people may personally dread becoming handicapped, people with disabilities deserve mercy, not malice. Only a calloused society in moral freefall would deny a disabled person her most basic need–water,” Wright said.
After a Florida circuit judge directed in March that Schiavo’s feeding tube be removed, Congress approved, and President Bush signed, a law allowing federal courts to intervene in the Schiavo case. However, the move failed in the federal courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up the case.
That maneuver by Congress prompted outrage by a number of leading Democrats as well as Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “Results of an autopsy on Terri Schiavo, whose tragic condition sparked unprecedented governmental intervention by fundamentalist groups and their politician allies, debunk Religious Right claims by proving that her condition was irreversible. These Religious Right zealots owe the entire country an apology. They intervened in a personal family matter, gave this poor woman’s parents false hope, libeled her husband with unfounded accusations and turned a tragic situation into a political football. Have they no shame?” Lynn stated.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that the autopsy results in no way changed the President’s view of the Schiavo case and the need for federal intervention. “The President took the position he did for a reason. The president believes we should stand on the side of defending and protecting life. That’s why he stood with all those who supported efforts to defend her life. This is a sad case. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with her family and friends.”
Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum said, even if he knew the information released in the autopsy report, he still would have pushed for congressional intervention in the case. “If there’s a family dispute, and that’s the only reason these cases go to court and a court makes a decision to end a life, then I believe the federal courts should review that decision to make sure that person, who has not expressed an opinion, has had their civil rights and federal rights dealt with in a constitutional fashion.” After Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed, Santorum visited with her parents in Florida to pray with them.
In light of Schiavo’s death, some states, like Illinois, have come out with new right-to-die forms for residents to fill out. Also, law firms throughout the country have noticed a spike in the number of inquiries regarding living wills, because of the Schiavo case.
However, Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, who was with Schiavo during the hours and moments before her death, says living wills are not the answer. “In response to the Schiavo case, many think they should draw up a living will. This, however, is both unnecessary and dangerous. We cannot make treatment decisions today for circumstances of tomorrow that we cannot predict. Whether a medical treatment is morally required depends on those circumstances; and therefore, cannot be determined in advance. It is always morally required, moreover, to provide food and water to a patient, because food and water, even when provided artificially, do not constitute medical treatment, but rather, humane care. We are not morally permitted to request starvation and dehydration,” Pavone said.
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