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Life is the most blessed of the possessions any living being is endowed with. But for man life is not the only condition of his existence. As the faculty of conscience and intellect is also bestowed upon him by the creator, his life is not just for living. He thinks his life has even other purposes. Which is why, he wants to find a meaning of his existence in life as well as in death. But Terri Schiavo does not know in the better part of her life what has been the purpose of her existence. For she has been living in a persistent vegetative state for the last 15 years. An accident having to do with food poisoning has thrown her life into this abysmal state. This is an undefined condition between life and death, between existence and non-existence. And that began in the very prime of her life at 26. And now she is 41.
The whole world knows about the legal battle being fought in the USA to decide whether Terri Schiavo would be allowed to continue living in her present state of suspension between life and death or that her life support system be snapped for good to terminate that uncertain condition of her existence! In fact, Ms Schiavo's husband Michael Schiavo has been trying to do exactly that during the last seven years. He started the legal battle to deprive Terri her present state of existence and put an to her suffering through a peaceful death. But Terri Schiavo's parents, Mary Schindler and Bob Schindler, would not allow that to happen. They have been fighting an uneven war in the state courts to save their daughter's life. The state courts of Florida have on more than one occasion ruled against reinsertion of the feeding tube that had been keeping Ms Schiavo alive all these years since that fateful evening in 1990. A state judge had again ordered on March 18 last to cut off the feeding tube that supplied nutritive diet and water that kept Terri alive.
Mary and Bob Schindler had appealed to the federal court in Atlanta against the state court's verdict. But in a two-to-one ruling the three-member panel of judges retained the ruling of the state court on March 23. The ruling said, Mary and Bob Schindler had "failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims." However, the judgement did not fail to commiserate with the mental agony and suffering the desperate parents of Ms Schiavo have been going through. So the ruling further added, "There is no denying the absolute tragedy that has befallen Mrs. Schiavo,…". "We all have our own family, our own loved ones, and our own children. However, we are called upon to make a collective, objective decision concerning a question of law."
Undaunted, the Schindlers again appealed to the same 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to reconsider the fate of their brain-damaged child (Terri Schiavo is already 41) who was dying of starvation and thirst after the feeding tube was disconnected from her body. This was not for the first time, though, that Ms Schiavo's feeding pipe was removed. It was disconnected twice before. The last time it was done was in October 2003. And the case being fought for the last seven years in the six state courts did never get the taste of success. The Supreme Court, too, declined to intervene in the matter on five occasions. Meanwhile, the Republicans in the Congress pushed through an emergency legislation in order to empower federal courts to intervene to prolong Ms Schiavo's life. The Federal courts, however, had rejected the Schindler family's attempt in this regard at three levels. In Washington, the Schiavo case has triggered a serious debate. Even many conservatives have questioned Congress's wisdom of trying to goad federal courts into overruling judgements of the state courts.
But all these failures on the part of Schiavo's parents notwithstanding, their tenacity has after all seen light at the end of the tunnel. Though there is not very much to hope for in the present circumstance, the same federal court of Atlanta that had dashed their hopes on previous occasions agreed last Tuesday to consider a fresh hearing of their daughter's case.
The court, however, did not give any date about such hearing to decide if Ms Schiavo's life support system be revived. But when is that going to happen? On last Tuesday when the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favour of a hearing of the case without giving any firm date for it, Ms Schiavo was without any food or water for the 12th day in a row. Earlier, the doctors warned that Ms Schiavo might survive only a week or two without the feeding tube to keep her alive. Will she live to tell the tale until the next time when the court sits on an undefined date to decide her case?
Terri Schiavo's life at the moment is hanging in balance. The reason that her life support system was withdrawn was on the plea of giving her the option for a peaceful death. Her parents have been contesting that in the court. But the courts so far rebuffed their attempts not on the basis of any moral or human ground. It was done purely on a technical ground not basing on the facts of the case at hand, but on the history of previous court rulings in Florida.
Republican senators in Washington, US first lady Laura Bush, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Rev. Jesse Jackson, the former Democratic presidential candidate, and many others strongly support the Schindler family's cause for giving Terri Schiavo a chance to continue her life, even in this vegetative condition. Hundreds of people have gathered outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo is waging her life and death struggle to protest court decisions as well as empathise with the luckless woman and her parents. Only time will say who will win the ultimate war. Everything depends on whether Ms Schiavo would live to celebrate the victory, if any, at the end of the ongoing legal battle to save her life (!). But then, is Terri Schiavo really alive?
(This write-up had been prepared before Ms Schiavo expired Thursday.)
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