The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Terri Schiavo Case

Pilgrim,

Mrs. Schiavo is not on "life support," much less "full life support." She breathes on her own and digests her own food, and she responds to stimuli in the environment around her. (Her parents' website, http://www.terrisfight.org/, has some videos of her that incontrovertibly show that she is at least somewhat aware of her surroundings.) She is currently being fed through a feeding tube, however, it is disputed whether such is even necessary, but her husband (who currently lives with his girlfriend by whom he has two children) has refused to allow her to be spoonfed or given any therapy. The case has centered around his attempts to have feeding stopped altogether, and her parents' attempts to prevent him from doing so. She left no living will, and the judge in the case accepted the hearsay testimony of Mr. Schiavo and his brother and sister-in-law that Terri would want to die in such a situation. However, this was only brought to light after Mr. Schiavo was rewarded with a large sum of money to cover the costs of Terri's ongoing care. Most of that money has since been spent on legal fees attempting to end care.