Ethical storm swirls after a final meal

As the bitterly divided family of Terri Schiavo awaits her death, the Catholic Church declines to take sides.

By ANITA KUMAR

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 25, 2001

At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Terri Schiavo had breakfast, a vitamin-enriched beverage washed down with water -- the same morning meal she has received through a feeding tube every day for 11 years.

The meal was her last.

Now, as her parents Bob and Mary Schindler begin the excruciating process of watching her die from dehydration, the moral battle over the right-to-die case that concluded this week at the U.S. Supreme Court continues to rage.

Though groups across the nation have offered opinions about the case, the organization that the Schindlers have asked to help fight their son-in-law, the Roman Catholic Church, has refused to do so.

The Schindlers, who are Catholic, accuse the Diocese of St. Petersburg and Bishop Robert Lynch of turning their backs on the family by failing to support a decadelong crusade to save their daughter and a person's right to live.

"The bishop only gives lip service to the term "respect life,' " said Jim Eckert, the Schindlers' attorney. "He did nothing to assist us. I'm ashamed of him."

The diocese released a statement Tuesday, saying that classic Roman Catholic theology suggests the removal of nutrition can be justified if a person's disease leads to death, sooner rather than later.

The Schindlers and their son-in-law, Michael Schiavo, disagree on that.

"Since there is disagreement, the Catholic Church would prefer to see all parties take the safer path, but it must and will refrain from characterizing the actions of anyone in this tragic moment," the diocese's statement reads.

Although the Schindlers remain bitter about the diocese's inaction, they started Tuesday to move on and accept that their daughter will die.

"We're trying to get all this other stuff out of our minds," Schindler said. "That's behind us. Until the last couple of days, it just hadn't penetrated."

Just after 3 p.m. Tuesday, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland provided Schiavo with the two-sentence document that allowed him to withdraw his wife's life support.

The move followed the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal Monday to intervene in the case, marking the end of a bitter family feud that started in a Pinellas County courtroom and concluded at the highest court in the nation.

Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube, which is attached to her stomach, was not removed as expected. Instead, Schiavo instructed doctors at her Pinellas Park nursing home to stop feeding her at 3 p.m. Tuesday, said George Felos, Schiavo's attorney.

Mrs. Schiavo, 37, who has been receiving liquid nutritional supplements twice a day at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., is expected to die in one to two weeks.

With food and water, she could have lived decades longer but in the same persistent vegetative state she has been in for 11 years. Her eyes are open during the day, but she sleeps at night. Doctors say she can breathe but not swallow; her moans, smiles and cries are only involuntary reflexes.

The Schindlers and their two other adult children, Bobby Jr. and Suzanne, visited Mrs. Schiavo for about 45 minutes Tuesday afternoon. They spoke to her, mostly about the latest family news, and held her hand.

Schiavo, who has avoided publicity since the media began following the case last year, could not be reached Tuesday. Felos said Schiavo, a respiratory therapist who lives in Clearwater, visited his wife Monday and plans to spend much time with her before she dies.

The Schiavos do not have any children.

Schiavo and the Schindlers, once so close they lived together, have been feuding over Mrs. Schiavo's care for eight years. They have accused each other of trying to control her fate to get $700,000 she received in 1993 from a malpractice suit.

Their once-private disagreement erupted into a controversial right-to-die case that made national headlines.

The Schindlers, who believe their daughter can respond to sights and sounds, are horrified that she would die in a way they believe will be lengthy and painful.

"You spend your whole life raising a child and trying to keep them out of harm's way," Schindler said. "All that care, and look what happens. It's unbelievable. It's callous."

But doctors insist Mrs. Schiavo will not feel pain, hunger or thirst.

Dr. Vince Perron, associate medical director at LifePath Hospice in Tampa, said patients who no longer receive nutrition usually become unconscious after two or three days. They slip into a comalike sleep until they die in another two days to two weeks.

"People don't suffer," Perron said. "It's a peaceful, comfortable way to die."

The Schindlers' supporters gathered outside Mrs. Schiavo's nursing home Tuesday, praying and protesting. Security guards watched over her room and the building, allowing only family and friends on a court-approved list to visit.

"Every man of the cloth knows this is murder," said the Rev. Raymond Vega, 77, a retired missionary priest of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

After an emotional trial last year, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer agreed with Schiavo that his wife would not want her life extended by a feeding tube. Greer's decision was upheld by the 2nd District Court of Appeal, and essentially by the Florida Supreme Court, which refused to intervene.

Last week, the Schindlers turned to a federal judge and then Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who handles emergency filings from Florida, to take the case.

But at 4 p.m., the Schindlers' attorneys heard the grim news from Washington.

"It was the only reasonable, wise decision," said Dr. Lofty Basta, a cardiologist at the University of South Florida and author of a book about end-of-life issues. "As a person, she is dead."

The Schindlers asked Schiavo -- through their attorneys -- to allow a few more days before Mrs. Schiavo went without food and water so that out-of-town relatives could come and visit.

He refused.

"What kind of country are we living in?" said Lillian Menchion, whose daughter suffered brain damage similar to Terri Schiavo's 17 years ago. "It's scary. Who's to say what quality of life is?"

Mrs. Schiavo collapsed at her St. Petersburg home Feb. 25, 1990, from a lack of potassium. Her heart stopped, and she was deprived of oxygen for five minutes. Just 26, she did not have a living will, a document that instructs doctors and families about what, if any, life support a patient will want.

"There is a lesson to be learned here," said Barbara Coombs Lee, president of the Compassion in Dying Federation in Portland, Ore. "Make your wishes known. We can save our loved ones from these bitter and divisive disputes."

- Times researcher Caryn Baird and photographer Jamie Francis contributed to this report.

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