Terri Schavio Case

The Terri Schiavo case was a very hard case that went on for quite some time. It was going on for 15 years of battling with the courts on whether or not the husband has a right to pull the life support from his wife that was in a vegetation state from cardiac arrest. This case led on for a while, when the whole world knew that this woman would never be a normal person again. Terri suffered cardiac arrest and even the doctors told the whole family that she would never get out of the coma she was basically in. She would be a vegetable the rest of her life.

Even though her family knew this, they thought over time that she would get better, but she didn't. Finally when the husband was allowed to help her not suffer anymore, it took her not even two weeks to pass after the feeding tube was removed. I ask, would you rather see your love one suffer and not make it, or be able to not suffer from the get go? I believe Terri's husband was doing the right thing when it came to doing what was best for his wife, and his family. No one wants to see their loved one in a state like that. No one wants to ever even live in a state like that. I believe he was doing what was right by not only him and his children, but by her wishes as well. End of life care is not easy for anyone to make. Not a doctor, a family member, friend, judge, not anyone.

This is a tough decision that no one has to make about someone, but sometimes when it is in the best interest of the person laying there not being able to even eat on their own, people have to make that tough decision. As a clinician I do not think someone in a vegetation state that will not get better should have to suffer any more than they already have, especially if that was their wish not to be in that state in the first place.