Schiavo memo

History: Theresa Marie Schindler, known to family and friends as “Terri” was born on December 3, 1963 to her parents Robert and Mary in Pennsylvania. She met her husband, Michael Schiavo while attending a community college and a few years after they married, the Schiavo’s moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Terri had dealt with weight issues in the past and it was suspected that she struggled with bulimia. On February 25, 1990, Terri suffered a cardiac arrest as a result from a potassium imbalance (possibly caused from the bulimia). During the cardiac arrest, Terri’s brain was deprived of oxygen for a significant amount of time, leaving her in a coma throughout her hospitalization. She was eventually discharged home, but do to her high level of needs she was admitted to multiple rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities. Although Terri woke from the coma, she never regained full consciousness, leaving her in what is referred to as a “persistent vegetative state”. Because she could not swallow and had a high probability of choking and aspirating on food or liquids, a feeding tube that was inserted into her stomach through her abdomen became the way her body received artificial hydration and nutrition. Her husband Michael was appointed by the court to become her legal guardian. Michael sued Terri’s primary care…

Terri’s Terror Introduction The purpose of this essay is to provide a brief analysis of the Theresa Schindler-Schiavo (A.K.A. Terri Schiavo) story and the use of advanced directives. This paper will summarize her controversial “Terri’s” story, define advanced directives as well as the scope in which they are used, and Theresa along with her husband could have benefited from an advanced directive. The primary focus is the proper use of advanced directives. Terri’s Story In February 1990, a…

her scalp. She is one of the Oregon “Death with Dignity” Act advocates, and has really brought this matter to our attention to not be such an undignified way to go (Maynard). Maynard although famous for a short amount of time, she did what she could to bring a very important matter to our attention. Aside from the other PAS stories a very well known case of this is the story of Terri Schiavo, was 41, when she passed away on March, 31, 2005. This was not a normal case of PAS, though, Terri was…

lethal substance in order to end their life. While this is the most well-known of methods, it is (arguably) not the most common. Oftentimes, physicians will perform an assisted suicide indirectly, say, through means of leaving a perfectly lethal dose of prescription medication within arms-reach of a suicidal patient, knowing full well what will happen. While physician-assisted suicide has been a relevant concept to society for centuries, its commonality and notoriety are ever-increasing. In…

Unfortunately, she didn’t leave any legal document in which the instructions regarding her treatment were given. Furthermore, due to her medical condition, she could not express her wish regarding the life support. Her husband, Michael Schiavo (Stakeholder # 2), argued that his wife would never wish to spend her life supported by machines if the prognosis for recovery were very poor. In contrast to Michael, Terry’s parents (stakeholders #3) claimed that their daughter, because of her religious…

to them and finally make this practice legal. Throughout history there has been numerous court cases and negative accusations toward PAS. All the terminally ill want is the right to choose what they do with their own life. They want the freedom to end their life if they deem necessary. In the case of Terri Schiavo, she too wished for that freedom. In 1990 she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state or PVS (Terri Schiavo). It only took one year for Terri to be diagnosed as being…

The main ethical issue with the Terri Schiavo case is a struggle between sanctity of life versus quality of life (Perry et al. 747). On one hand, Terri Schiavo's parents were Catholic, which means that sanctity of life was very important to them. Even though they were informed that there was no hope that their daughter’s condition would improve, they still held on to her life. What was really important to them was their daughter remained alive. On the other hand, Terri’s husband did not share…

Vermont Patient Choice and Control at the End of Life Act has been in effect since May 2013” (Death with Dignity). Between all of these states, there are very specific rules that are followed in order to even begin considering the act of physician-assisted suicide. The requesting patient must be eighteen years or older who has been deemed as mentally capable of making such a decision by a psychologist, and so on (Oregon). However, people still find this act to be very controversial. There is…

or surrogates do not fully agree with this legal obligation, it is brought upon the supreme court. The most influential case of this conflict is seen in Terri Schiavo’s case (as seen in Figure 1) , a 15 year legal battle of a woman, without a legal will, that was dependent upon artificial life aid for survival . “In 1998 her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, petitioned a Florida court to remove her feeding tube, stating that she would not have wanted to live in a vegetative state” (Lagassé,…

This problem was seen the Terry Schiavo case in Florida. Terry suffered a “myocardial infarction” and resulted in prolonged lack of oxygen to the brain which irreversibly injured Terry’s brain and left her in a Persistent vegetative state. Terry was not legally prepared for and end of life event, so the authority over Terry was passed to her husband Michael, however, Terry’s parents did not approve of Michael being her guardian as Michael had a relationship and children outside of marriage.…