Tacoloy, Mia Agnes M.

10:30-12:00 22-Feb-2018
Ethically Complex: The Case of Terri Schiavo
Reading through the two articles on the case of Terri Schiavo, one might feel that much
misunderstanding and confusion has taken root not only among the parties directly involved in
Terri’s life, but those who happen to hear of it. I noticed in contrasting the two reports that bias
may indeed be present in how Ms. Schindler’s case was conveyed to the public, as claimed by
lawyer David Gibbs, because the accounts regarding “persistent vegetative state” differ very much.
One of the questions that came to my mind was that, if we are to determine what is ethical in this
case, should we also consider the truthfulness and/or diligence of the media in their coverage? We
cannot act unless we have prior extensive knowledge, and it is hard to get at the truth especially in
circumstances involving medical technicalities.
Maybe it is not so much as ‘picking a side’, specifically between Terri’s parents and her
husband as to whom to entrust Terri’s care but arriving at a conclusion based on what is right given
the natural law and the circumstances surrounding the case. We know that euthanasia in not an
intrinsically good act, yet as we have taken up in Lesson 1, there are relativist theories that can
influence what is perceived to be right and wrong in society today. One of these is to base morality
on the law; I realized that Terri’s case became the subject of national debate especially when
politicians started to look into it as well. Out of this they crafted and passed laws which added
conflict because it concerns the removing and re-inserting of Terri’s feeding tube. This proves the
argument that the law is not necessarily ethical; what is right should also not be based off the
majority’s opinion. Aside from this, I also think that culture played a significant role in determining
what is moral in this case: in the U.S., freedom of the person is very much highly regarded. We
can probably say that this scenario is a case of life vs. liberty, and it seems that many would side
with liberty. However, we know that these relativisms are arbitrary and can change easily, with no
objective truth. Above all, I think it is important to remember that every human person’s dignity
is inherent and ontologically present even; one’s life should not be taken on the basis of his/her
exercise of autonomy. We are not sure about the circumstances surrounding the event where
Michael Schiavo claims that Terri did not want to be supported artificially anymore. The situation
is also made complicated due to the factor of evolution of technology on medicine and how one
can never be certain of a diagnosis in cases like that of Terri’s. I think that it was not right for her
feeding tube to be removed after much deliberation.