Bioethical Issues in Healthcare: The Case of Terri Schiavo

This article discusses the bioethical issues involved in the case of Terri Schiavo, a woman who was left in a vegetative state after a brain injury. The article explores the decision-making process of her family and healthcare experts, and the role of bioethical values in healthcare.

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Terri Schiavo was a married lady aged 26 years. At one time in the evening, she collapsed
and her head was hit leading to brain injury, and as a result, she became unconscious and lay
down on the floor for some minutes deprived of sufficient oxygen. The brain injury was
severe until she was not capable of thought or emotion, as revealed by the autopsy after her
death. Schiavo was left in a vegetative state that was irreversible medically and was kept
alive by a feeding tube that supplied her body with the necessary nutrients for survival.
Michael, her husband was however not for the idea that her wife to live in such a state, and
therefore pleaded with her family that the tube is removed and that she might rest. But the
family of Terry disagreed.
This case involves stakeholders such as Terri Schiavo, her husband; Michael, Terry’s brother
and parents. The bioethical issue in the case is whether or not Terry’s cases was actually
irreversible, although, after four years, the physicians assured her family that Terry could not
recover. This case took place on February 29, 1990, and in 1998 Michael’s request for the
removal of the tube was made but later granted in 2005 (Haberman, 2014).
The bioethical values such as independence, faithfulness, privacy and fairness are very
significant in healthcare, however, the ethical issue involved in Terry’s case is a private issue
between families (Epstein & Turner, 2015). Due to developments in the medical field, End-
of-life-care is likely to leave families with a critical decision to make especially when one of
them is in an irreversible vegetative state (Adams, Bailey, Anderson, & Docherty, 2011).
Such a decision is difficult, more so if the families disagree on critical points as is evidenced
in the case of Terri Schiavo. The matter of end-of-life in Terry’s case is that her family
wanted to keep her alive by using the feeding tube, whereas Michael desired to follow
Terry’s desire that she had disclosed to him while in the normal state. Michael’s decision was
arrived at four years later when the patient was still in her vegetative state backed up with the

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assurance from the doctors that she couldn’t improve. Michael’s decision was made with the
preferences of Terry in mind and he felt that he had a deontologism to his wife (Ives &
Bekessy, 2015).
The decisions of the healthcare experts were influenced by the bioethical issue. The
physicians supported Michael’s decision when after four years of treatment, Terry was still in
an irreversible vegetative state, not capable of thought and emotion. Michael petitioned the
court to allow the removal of her wife’s feeding tube so that she could rest and that it was
also her desire. The petition was granted and the doctors removed the tube. Then on March
31, 2005, Terry Schiavo rested after the feeding tube had been removed. The autopsy was
undertaken by the healthcare professionals 13 days after removal of the tube confirmed that
her brain injury was substantial and permanent.

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References
Adams, J. A., Bailey, D. E., Anderson, R. A., & Docherty, S. L. (2011). Nursing roles and
strategies in end-of-life decision making in acute care: a systematic review of the
literature. Nursing research and practice, 2011, 2-13.
Epstein, B., & Turner, M. (2015). The nursing code of ethics: Its value, its history. OJIN: The
Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 20(2), 1-10.
Haberman, C. (2014). From private ordeal to national fight: the case of Terri Schiavo. NY
Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/21/us/from-private-ordeal-
to-national-fight-the-case-of-terri-schiavo.html?_r=0
Ives, C. D., & Bekessy, S. A. (2015). The ethics of offsetting nature. Frontiers in Ecology
and the Environment, 13(10), 568-573.