As I was searching on Google the other day, I came across an article by Timothy E. Quill, MD that was published in The New
England Journal of
Medicine on April 21, 2005. It was titled, “Terri Schiavo – A Tragedy Compounded.”
Two things struck me as odd about this article. One, that a doctor would write such an article against preserving a patient’s life when, indeed, the evidence was not as “clear and convincing” as he would have us believe. Second, the fact that it was published in such a prestigious medical journal is significant. Medicine seems to now be on the side of death instead of life all nicely wrapped up and disguised as “medical ethics.”
Dr. Quill points out that a patient has a right to refuse medical treatment even if it means that they will die, and this is
certainly true. He also claims that this is what Terri would have wanted because of her condition. However, there was never any evidence of this to her family and closest friends. He also states that its “natural” to die of starvation because people did so before the invention of the feeding tube. Doesn’t he remember that people also died before the invention of antibiotics too?
This physician admits that he has never examined her, but is sure that she was in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS) from 1990 due to an eating disorder. He made no mention of the bone scan results that said that she had suffered many injuries, including possible strangulation.
He claims that she was always at peace because she had no capacity to feel any emotions up until her death on March 31, 2005. But, her family witnessed her laughing, crying, and sometimes feeling physical pain. Maybe he also thinks that everyone who is cognitively impaired including the retarded, the autistic, and the mentally ill are also not “feeling” enough to stay alive much longer. These thoughts are an echo of another time in another place that we would rather not think about today in American where everyone has the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The sad thing about this article, particularly, is that the doctor is playing psychic. The sadder thing is that many people will believe him because he is a doctor. In reality, we don’t know all of the facts surrounding this sad and puzzling case; and neither does he. Why can’t he admit that medicine is an “art” and not a “science” after all? Certainly, this doctor is not capable of feeling the pain of others, so it is logical to question what state is his brain in? It is also interesting to not that his career choices involve hospice care and “ethics.”
What we do know is that her parents and siblings are without their child and sister, and have to live with that very depressing fact for a long time. The pain of losing someone close, especially after such a long and gallant fight, is enormous. One can only hope that the decision that they made to continue fighting in order to help others, will somehow gradually ease their pain. Certainly many millions of people worldwide do feel for them and hopefully, are willing to join them as they fight the evil trends that medicine is taking today. Please go to the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Web Site to see what’s new.