A year after Terri Schiavo's controversial death, her parents and siblings share their love and sorrow, their joy and pain, and stunning revelations as they celebrate Terri's life, mourn her death, and tell the whole story of the woman and the battle that captivated millions.
A Life That Matters
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About the Author
THE SCHINDLER FAMILY lives and works in Florida. All of their profits from this book are being donated to the organization they created in Terri's name, The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, which fights for the lives of the country's most vulnerable citizens.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every Life Matters,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo -- A Lesson for Us All (Hardcover)
This text is a more than excellent companion to the The Terri Schiavo Story DVD.
From attorney David Gibbs' work, I first learned that Terri Schiavo had been exceedingly more responsive and interactive than the public was led to believe. Even so, her cognitive level should have never determined whether she received food and water! As the Schindlers explain in this current work, "We had to argue that Terri wasn't PVS - even though she didn't fall into the PVS criteria - because only then would she be allowed to live. But why did Terri have to prove anything? She's a human being" (p. 230) Way back in 1995, #120 of the Vatican's "Charter Health Care Workers" stated that "The administration of food and liquids, even artificially, is part of the normal treatment always due to the patient when this is not burdensome for him: their undue suspension could be real and properly so-called euthanasia." In 1999, in the Schindlers' & Schiavos' native Pennsylvania, the Catholic Bishops issued a revision of "Nutrition & Hydration: Moral Considerations." As per the bishops, "the patient in the persistent vegetative state is not imminently terminal (provided that there is no other pathology present). The feeding...is serving a life-sustaining purpose. Therefore, it remains an ordinary means of sustaining life and should be continued." In spite of the above earlier statements (particularly the one from the Vatican), it appears that MISINTERPRETATION of one 2001 sentence from the 4th edition of the U.S. Catholic Bishops "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" fostered confusion about Church teaching, during the agonized suffering of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, her parents, and her siblings: "The USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities' report...points out the necessary distinctions between questions already resolved by the magisterium and those requiring further reflection, as, for example, the morality of withdrawing medically assisted hydration and nutrition from a person who is in the condition that is recognized by physicians as the 'persistent vegetative state' (PVS)." Michale Schiavo actually brags of being backed by at a trial by a supposed expert on Catholic medical ethics. When the Schindlers tried to appeal to their bishop, Michael Schiavo's team reportedly had the gall to cry witness tampering! In his 2004 address to the International Congress on Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State, it appears that Pope John Paul II was directly intervening to bring clarity to Terri Schiavo's situation: "The sick person in a vegetative state, awaiting recovery or a natural end, still has the right to basic health care (nutrition, hydration, cleanliness, warmth, etc.), and to the prevention of complications related to his confinement to bed. He also has the right to appropriate rehabilitative care and to be monitored for clinical signs of eventual recovery....the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act....The evaluation of probabilities, founded on waning hopes for recovery when the vegetative state is prolonged beyond a year, cannot ethically justify the cessation or interruption of minimal care for the patient, including nutrition and hydration. Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal." In response, Richard Doerflinger, chair of the aforementioned USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities stated: "With the Pope's statement, the Church's teaching authority has rejected each aspect of the theory that opposes assisted feeding for patients in a PVS." While I feel challenged to understand how there could have been ANY remaining confusion, in 2007 the Vatican provided "Responses to Certain Questions of the USCCB Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration": "The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented....A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means." In 2009, the 5th edition of the U.S. Catholic Bishops "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services" brought more clarity to Directive 58: "In principal, there is a moral obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration, for those who cannot take food orally." As the Schindlers eloquently conclude, "Terri's tragic and needless death, and her life as a disabled woman, have forced us as a society to confront our prejudices against the disabled" (p. 229). One final thought - While we may never know for certain why Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990, "Silent Witness : The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo's Death" explores an alternative explanation to what is commonly assumed.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Case with No Winners!!!!,
This review is from: A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo -- A Lesson for Us All (Hardcover)
Regardless of how you feel about the case, I read the book with an open mind. I could see how the Schindlers really felt and how they viewed their son-in-law Michael Schiavo. Of course, he could have divorced Terri and moved on with his life but he didn't. He stayed for 15 years plus the 6 married years of life. This book paints a complex portrait of the marriage and family relationships. Before the media stepped in, Terri's family fought hard to maintain their daughter's life even if it was in a state of almost wheelchair bound and hospitalized. According to Michael, Terri never wanted to live like that and I couldn't imagine anybody living the remainder of life like Terri did all those years. While her family was comforted by Terri's existence, we will never know what Terri might have wished for in the first place. There are no winners, neither Michael nor the Schindlers won anything here. Terri had a right to die just as she had a right to live. I don't know what happened that February night in 1990 that would cause her to live in such a state. According to the autopsy report which I read, she wasn't abused or neglected. She was treated and liked by the hospital staff. You wonder if Michael made the right decision in fighting for Terri. It would have been easier to let go and give her back to her parents and siblings. They would have cared for her regardless of the expenses but who would it be for the Schindlers or Terri's happiness. We'll never know the truth. I keep thinking about the family of Ron Goldman when I read this book. it was told from the Schindlers' points of view which made it confusing after a while. Still, I know that Terri is at peace somewhere which comforts the Schindlers to know that Terri is in heaven and that her life mattered to so many people. She had one miracle, she brought Jesse Jackson and Sean Hannity in a room together to pray for her joked Glenn Beck. Rest in peace, Terri and Ron, where-ever you may be right now.
16 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Every parents challenge,
By
This review is from: A Life That Matters: The Legacy of Terri Schiavo -- A Lesson for Us All (Hardcover)
An honest heartfelt accounting of the Shindler's struggle to keep Terri alive. Perspectives from all members Their legal fight to the finish and their shock at a system that failed them. If this could happen to them it could happen to any loving parent. As with any struggle there are lessons learned. Plans for their futures. A good read.
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