By: Kathryn Stagg, Editor  

Does anyone have the right to decide who should live and who should die? This question has been the subject of much controversial discussion in the last decade, but it has taken on a greater importance within the last few years. Take the Terri Schiavo case, a 39-year-old woman in a vegetative state. Her husband, on the one side, is fighting to have her feeding tube removed, believing this is what she would have wanted. This action would kill Terri causing her to eventually die of starvation. On the other side is Terri’s family, desperately trying to save Terri’s life in the hope she will regain consciousness. The two have fought through vicious court battles, but in the middle of it all is a soul, a soul that deserves a second chance, a soul that deserves life. Sadly, the fate of Terri Schiavo is now in the hands of the court.

Terri Schindler met Michael Schiavo in 1983 at Pennsylvania junior college and they started to date. In 1984 they were married. They did not have

children and by 1986 they moved to Florida to be closer to her family. On the surface their marriage looked happy enough but Terri had confided in both her best friend and her brother that her marriage was strained because Michael was lazy and controlling. Terri had even told her brother that she wanted to divorce Michael but she felt she did not have to courage in her to stand up to him.  

One night, in 1990, Michael had arrived home late and woke Terri up to say he was home before returning downstairs. About one hour later he heard a thud. He ran upstairs to see Terri lying on the floor and making gurgling sounds. She was not replying to Michael. When the paramedics arrived they explained that she had suffered from a cardiac arrest caused by a potassium imbalance. Terri was resuscitated in the hospital but then fell into a persistent vegetative state, meaning she had no ability whatsoever. She could not walk, talk, eat, and could only move a little. Due to her condition and the rising cost of the hospital bills, Terri was taken to live with her family, where they took care of her. Michael moved in to help. For years they worked together in harmony. Eventually Terri was moved into a nursing home. That’s when the trouble began. 

Michael, being Terri’s husband, he was also her official guardian. His explicit and strict demands for Terri’s care drove some of the nurses to tears. He would keep surveillance of her guests and made requirement lists about everything for the hospital. When the Schindler’s would try to confront Michael, it would only end in bitter arguments. Then Michael started clashing with the Schindler’s and Terri’s money. He would have her parents pay for most of the treatments for Terri.

In Terri’s trust fund she had $300,000.00. As her guardian Michael had the right to take this money if anything ever happened to Terri. The Schindlers tried many times to remove him as her guardian but they did not succeed. By this time, Michael now had a girlfriend but he refused to divorce Terri. If he did, he would no longer have access to Terri’s trust funds. The suspicions of Terri’s family began to arise. Then Michael dropped the bomb. He wanted Terri’s feeding tube removed. His reason being, she would have never wanted to be attached to all this machinery; She would rather die.  

Many of Terri’s friends argued against this. For example, long time friend Jackie Rhodes said that, as teens, when they had heard about the caTse of Karen Ann Quinlan, Terri had always said that what they did to end Ms. Quinlan’s life was not right. She was also puzzled as to how did her family members know that’s what she would have wanted. Upon hearing this disclosure from one of her dearest friends, erri’s family was infuriated and immediately accused him of wanting to kill Terri to inherit the money. They took him to court.  

Since then the two sides have not talked and have been battling it out in court. As Richard Pearse said, “I had a great problem with the idea that Michael could…get the money and then basically change his position…I was rather struck by the coincidence of that.” My thoughts exactly.  

From there things have only gone downhill. The Schindler family brought every piece of evidence they could find to fight Michael, but Michael showed no signs of backing down. In 2001, Terri’s feeding tube was removed. Terri’s family and people from all across America grieved together over the decision the court had made.

However, two days later, Terri’s family gathered new classified information and Terri’s tube was re-inserted. Terri’s family took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief, but it did not last long. On October 15^th, 2003, Michael once again convinced the court to remove Terri’s feeding tube. A week had passed but fortunately the Florida legislature passed a temporary law that gave governor Jeb Bush the right to issue a one-time stay. Terri’s tube was reconnected.  

Presently, the court has not made a final decision as to how to reach a suitable conclusion in this case. Until they do Terri lays in a hospital bed with no abilities whatsoever and no control in her own future. So this brings us to an important question: Life or death- whose choice is it anyways?