TERRI SCHIAVO:
HOW TO AVOID HER FATE

    Terri Schiavo was kept 'alive' in a persistent vegetative state
for 15 years after she lost consciousness for the last time in 1990.
Her brain was deprived of oxygen when her heart when into fibrillation,
probably because she was starving herself to lose weight.
She was not trying to kill herself,
but death was the unintended result of her eating disorder.

    If we have eating disorders,
we can avoid this part of her fate by not starving ourselves.
We can seek good medical attention,
giving our doctors full information about our dieting,
and seeking sound methods of weight-control.

    But we might also fall into PVS—persistent vegetative state—
for dozens of other reasons beyond our control.

    Terri Schiavo was not permitted to die
once it was determined that she would never recover
because she had no advance directive for medical care.
After several years of public debate and legal wrangling,
the courts determined that Terri Schiavo would not have wanted to be kept alive in PVS
and that her husand had the sole authority to disconnect her life-supports.

    But this long and expensive process could have been avoided entirely
if she had put her wishes into writing—giving clear and convincing proof
that she did not want to be sustained for an indefinite period
in a persistent vegetative state by life-support systems
—in her case a feeding tube going directly into her stomach.

    And we can also avoid a similar fate
of being suspended between life and death for a number of years
if we create 'living wills' or advance directives for medical care
which clearly state our wishes if such a situation were to arise.

    Some state laws require a higher standard of proof
with regard to withdrawing food and water
than with regard to withdrawing other forms of life-support,
such as turning off a respirator.
Florida—where Terri Schiavo was ultimately allowed to die—
did require "clear and convincing proof"
that she would not have wanted to be kept alive in PVS.

    The easiest and most direct way
to provide such clear and convincing proof
is to create an Advance Directive for Medical Care ('living will')
that unambiguously explains exactly what you want
if ever you fall into a persistent vegetative state.

    Your statement of your settled values in this regard
could also cover other situations of mental limitation
such as Alzheimer's Disease or other forms of dementia.

    This website collects a variety of such statements.
You are welcome to adopt any parts of these published statements.
Use whatever language works best for you and your family
and that will be accepted in your geographical location.

    If you would like to share what you have written about PVS
in your 'living will' or advance medical directive,
send your statement to the webmaster:
James Park, e-mail: PARKx032@TC.UMN.EDU.
If your statement might be useful to others,
it will be published on this website
—without your name unless you want to identify yourself.

SAMPLE LANGUAGE FOR 'LIVING WILLS'
TO AVOID BEING KEPT 'ALIVE' IN PVS.

FROM JAMES PARK'S
ADVANCE DIRECTIVE FOR MEDICAL CARE
   
    I have written and published my comprehensive Answer
to this Question in my book called Your Last Year:
Creating Your Own Advance Directive for Medical Care
The 5 pages linked below are quoted from that book.

    Most people who create Advance Directives for Medical Care
will want much shorter documents.
Use only the ideas and/or words
that you find useful for your Advance Directive.

Answer 6 from James Park's Advance Directive for Medical Care.

    Here is a one-paragraph summary of my complete answer:

    6. If I get Alzheimer's disease
or some other condition that limits my mental powers
so that I can no longer plan my own life and death,
then my MCDC shall assess the rest of my life
with the help of medical professionals.
If it seems clear that my life as a full person is over forever,
then my MCDC should take the appropriate measures to end my life
and to donate my body to medical science as explained in Answer 19.

A SHORT STATEMENT FROM A WOMAN IN MINNESOTA

"Generally I want no (no is underlined) extreme measures
taken to prolong my life when I am in a terminal condition. 
I do not want to live in a vegetative state...
If I have Alzheimer's or some other condition
such that I cannot care for myself, I would like to be helped to die. 
I do not want artificially administered sustenance...
I am not religious and feel I should not,
and do not want to be, a burden on my children or society."


THE DEMENTIA PROVISION
suggested by Compassion & Choices

    This suggestion was distributed to all members of Compassion & Choices in 2008.
The following link provides the text of the suggested language—and a critique:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/DEMENT.html
Created 2007; revised 2-8-2009

{other statements to be published here or linked from here
when they are published elsewhere on this website or elsewhere on the Internet.}

See a related website called:
Discussing Degrees of Mental Decline

Go to the Right-to-Die Portal

    See related bibliographies:

Best Books on Voluntary Death

Best Books on Preparing for Death

Books on Terminal Care

Books on Hospice Care

Books on Helping People to Die

Books on the Right-to-Die

Books Opposing the Right-to-Die

Return to the DEATH page.

Go to the Medical Ethics index page.

Return to the beginning of this website:
An Existential Philosopher's Museum .






The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.