Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:05:08.342Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Can we know what Terri Schiavo would have wanted?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2006

JUDITH SCHWARZ  and
NESSA COYLE
JUDITH SCHWARZ
Affiliation:
Compassion and Choices of New York, New York, New York
NESSA COYLE
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Pain and Palliative Care Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

What would Terri Schiavo have wanted? That remains an unanswered question for many who followed the media frenzy that attended the extraordinary court and legislative battles that preceded her death 13 days after her feeding tube was removed for the last time. What would she have directed her physicians to do if she had “miraculously” regained capacity and awareness of the consequences of her cardiac arrest that left her in a persistent vegetative state? Who would she have wanted to make that decision for her if she were unable to do so? How are we to understand the meaning of statements that she purportedly made about life-sustaining treatments approximately 20 years ago, and how can we apply them to the current situation? This article reflects on those questions from the perspective of two small exploratory studies. These studies considered the meanings and interpretation of statements by terminally ill patients concerning desire for hastened death and the relevance of previously made statements to their current clinical situation.

Keywords

Oral advance directivesBest interestsWho should decideTerminally illMeaning behind the wordsDesire for hastened death
Type
Research Article
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 4 , Issue 2 , June 2006 , pp. 129 - 133
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beauchamp, T.L. & Childress, J.F. (2001). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Circuit Court for Pinellas County, FL, Probate Division: In re: the guardianship of Theresa Schiavo. Incapacitated. File # 90-2908GD-003, p. 8. Available at: www.miami.edu/ethics/schiavo/timeline.htm. February, 2000.
Cohen, E. (2005). How liberalism failed Terri Schiavo. Posted March 5. Available at: http://www.eppc.org/search/advPub_resul.asp (Accessed February 3, 2006).
Coyle, N. & Sculco, L. (2004). Expressed desire for hastened death in seven patients living with advanced cancer: A phenomenological inquiry. Oncology Nursing Forum, 31, 699–709.Google Scholar
Ditto, P.H., Danks, J.H., Smucker, W.D., et al. (2001). Advance directives as acts of communication; a randomized control trial. Archives of Internal Medicine, 161, 421–430.Google Scholar
Dresser, R.S. & Robertson, J.A. (1989). Quality of life and non-treatment decisions for incompetent patients: A critique of the orthodox approach. Law, Medicine and Health Care, 17, 234–244.Google Scholar
Hastings Center (1987). Guidelines on the Termination of Life-Sustaining Treatment and the Care of the Dying. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Press.
Hickman, S.E., Hammes, B.J., Moss, A.H., et al. (2005). Hope for the future: Achieving the original intent of advance directives. In Improving End-Of-Life Care: Why Has It Been So Difficult? Hastings Center Report, Special Report 35, no. 6. pp. S26–S30.
Meisel, A., Snyder, L., & Quill, T. (2000). Seven legal barriers to end-of-life care: Myths, realities and grains of truth. JAMA, 284, 2495–2501.Google Scholar
President's Council (2005). Available at: http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/taking_care/chapter2.html (accessed February 3, 2006).
Schwarz, J.K. (2003). Understanding and responding to patients' requests for assistance in dying. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 35, 377–384.Google Scholar