Tonight on Nightline: Michael Schiavo (Terri's husband) speaks out...

[CoffeeCat]

THE RIGHT TO DIE: A HUSBAND SPEAKS
March 15, 2005 --


It is a family's worst nightmare. A loved one is stricken and left in what the doctor's describe as a "persistent vegetative state." Would you turn to artificial means or allow your loved one to die? That is the awful dilemma facing the family of Terri Schiavo. Tonight, we'll have an exclusive interview with the husband of Terri Schiavo, who has been pitted against her parents for the last seven years in a Florida court battle. He says she would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially, but her parents want to keep her alive.

You are probably familiar with the case. At the age of 26, Terri Schiavo's heart stopped due to a chemical imbalance, and she suffered severe brain damage as a result. She has been unable to speak or care for herself since that time. She is now 41 and still being kept alive by a feeding tube. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has twice had her feeding tube removed. Twice it has been reinserted after intervention by the courts and the Florida legislature, including Gov. Jeb Bush. The current order to keep her feeding tube in expires on Friday at 1 p.m. Even of this writing, there are fast-track measures underway in Florida to pass new legislation that would block doctors from denying food and water to someone in Schiavo's condition. There could be a vote as early as Thursday. Similiar efforts or being made in the U.S. Congress.

Sadly, the Schiavo case highlights an issue that many American families may face. When there is no "living will" in which an individual has left specific instructions of what kind of treatment they would like in such a situation, it can be unclear who has the final say. Correspondent Jeffrey Kofman will report on the details of the case and the larger questions it raises. In a new ABC News poll, 57 percent of Americans say they have no living will or health care proxies. Now that's a dilemma not just for the family members involved, but for the doctors involved too.

Michael Schiavo has been fairly quiet through these years of court proceedings. In 2003, Terri Schiavo's parents expressed their point of view on "Nightline." Her husband speaks to Chris Bury tonight.

[Warpy]

1. The problem with insults to the brain

is that you don't know exactly what you've got to work with until some time after the incident. The window for rapid improvement is about six months, with gradual improvement possible for the next two years. Then what you see is generally what you get with a PVS patient. (This doesn't apply to comatose patients, completely different thing.)

Artificial hydration and feeding, along with mechanical ventilation, may be necessary during this period. The problem is that once they're started, they're damnably difficult to stop. That's why we have a definition of death as being brain death, with no spontaneous respirations along with no higher brain function.

The problem with Ms. Schiavo is that she did improve during the initial period and retained enough brainstem function to breathe on her own. That is all she has. Everything else is random and involuntary, no matter what interpretation her parents have put onto it. Her muscles are atrophied, her joints contracted beyond use.

Let's hope she is finally allowed to go, and that hospice is allowed to err on the side of comfort.

[MichiganVote]

2. This is a no win situation for them all. No matter when, her death

will be difficult. But I guarantee ya' no politican will take the time or make the effort to be at her bedside at her death.

[foreigncorrespondent]

3. Link please! (n/t)

[kskiska]

4. Transcript here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=584124&page=1

[Hissyspit]

5. News article about his appearance:

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-03-16T063300Z_01_N16668797_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-RIGHTS-SCHIAVO-DC.XML

Husband Slams Florida Lawmakers Over Right-To-Die
Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:33 AM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - The husband of a brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of a right-to-die controversy criticized Florida's governor and lawmakers who are making an 11th-hour attempt to pass legislation to keep her alive.

In an interview on the ABC news program "Nightline" late on Tuesday, Michael Schiavo called "outrageous" a bill that could pass the state legislature this week barring people from withholding food and water from brain-damaged patients unless they left written directives.

Schiavo accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the younger brother of President Bush, of interfering with state courts, which have consistently ruled in Schiavo's favor in his bid to allow his wife to die.

"He's basically jumping right over the state court's decision. We might as well not have any state courts," Schiavo said.

MORE

[JI7]

6. just watched this

wasn't paying that close attention. but i really feel sorry for Michael. it's a really crappy thing he has to be put through. he said in the end that to try to avoid the shit he is going through that everyone should put in writing what their wishes are.


Michael and his lawyer did a good job of exposing the politics of the case involving his wife.

[JI7]

7. did you all see the part with the one who has been in vegetative state for

35 years ? it was a "girl" who at 16 fell into it because of diabetes complications and she has been in that state for 35 years now making her 51 years old.

the mother refuses to give up and still has hopes she will come out of it one day.