What happened in the Terri Schiavo case?
Terri, age 27, suffered a cardiac arrest in February 1990. She was rushed to the hospital. She never regained consciousness. Since 1990, Terri lived in nursing homes with constant care. She was fed and hydrated by tubes. She had numerous health problems, but none had been life threatening. The court concluded that Terri was in a permanent or persistent vegetative state. It is important to understand that a persistent vegetative state is not simply a coma. She was not asleep. She had cycles of apparent wakefulness and apparent sleep without any cognition or awareness. What was the legal issue? Like many young people without children, Terri Schiavo had not prepared a will, much less a living will. As the court said, it is understandable why a parent who had raised and nurtured a daughter from birth would hold out hope that her health would improve over time. In fact, if Terri was our own daughter, we would hold on to such faith, too, the court added. On the other hand, Michael Schiavo, T
