Bioethical Issues in Healthcare: The Case of Terri Schiavo
Added on 2023-04-22
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Healthcare 2
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
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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