Insights into the secular culture and the teaching of the Catholic Church

'Life is Always Sacred"

From the October 10, 2007, Cody Enterprise
By Michael Johnson
Managing Editor

Bobby Schindler and his family never expected to find themselves caught up in a nationwide right-to-die battle more than two years ago.

It wasn’t by choice, but it was something they had to do, Schindler told an audience at a Respect for Life Conference on Oct. 6 in Cody.

Catholics United for Life sponsored the event.

“I wish I was here to speak about something to make us happy,” he said. “It’s something that doesn’t make me feel warm and fuzzy, but it might be something you will have to face at some point.

Schiavo’s collapse never explained In 1990, 26-year-old Terri Schiavo suffered cardio-respiratory arrest for which no cause had ever been determined. She was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy – a neurological injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. Bobby Schindler, Schiavo’s brother, said an official cause of her collapse in 1990 was never established. “To this day, we still don’t know what happened,” he said. “There was nothing ever revealed in the autopsy.” Schiavo was placed on a ventilator, but was soon able to breathe on her own and maintain vital functions. She remained in a severely compromised neurological state and was provided a feeding tube. She was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (also known as PVS). The court battle that went public in 2005 actually began in 1998 when Schiavo’s husband and legal guardian, Michael, petitioned the Pinellas County, Fla., Circuit Court to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, opposed that and argued she was conscious. “If you had 10 doctors, you’d have 10 different opinions,” Bobby Schindler said. The courts are using (PVS) to decide who lives and who dies. The PVS diagnosis needs to be abolished.” The court battles raged for seven years and included involvement by politicians and advocacy groups – most notably pro-life and disability rights groups. State and federal governments passed laws that sought, unsuccessfully, to prevent removal of Schiavo’s feeding tube. These events resulted in national and international media coverage. The case saw 14 appeals and many motions, petitions and court hearings. Schindler said government has no place deciding family matters but, in this instance, Schiavo’s plight was far from private. “It was about as private as the Super Bowl,” he said. “Congress should be applauded for their efforts, though.” On March 31, 2005, Schiavo, 41, died of dehydration after more than two weeks without food and water after a court order.

“If it wasn’t for all the media attention and the government getting involved, you wouldn’t know me or my sister.”

His sister is Terri Schiavo who, through a court order in March 2005, was deprived of food and water at a Florida hospice. About two weeks after a judge ordered her feeding tube removed, Schiavo died of dehydration.

Schindler was a math teacher at a Florida school until his sister died. He established the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps people with disabilities avoid what happened to Schiavo. He travels the country talking about his sister and his family’s struggles with the court system.

“There are many people who are in a similar situation as my sister and others who are worse off,” Schindler said.

He talked about why his family took the fight to the highest court. He also said the “major media outlets” wrote and broadcast misleading information about Terri and her condition.

“Despite what the major media said about my sister, she was not a ‘vegetable,’” he said. “She was not confined to her bed. She could go anywhere she wished. All she needed was a wheelchair.”

What angered Schindler most was the “media’s classification of Terri” as being brain dead.

“That simply wasn’t true,” he said. “She wasn’t brain dead or terminally ill. She was physically healthy. She had some trouble swallowing, which is why she had the feeding tube, but she was living with a disability like everyone else.”

The reality of the situation hit Schindler in the last two week’s of his sister’s life.

“My parents were told they would be arrested if they gave her even a drop of water,” Schindler said. “For 14 days we had to watch her die. It was not peaceful or humane the way she died. It was barbaric. I can never properly describe what it was like.”

Schindler said at one point Schiavo’s lips were so dry they started to “crack and bleed.” When his mother applied lip gloss to Terri, she was reprimanded by a police officer.

“She was told she would be arrested if she did it again,” Schindler said.

He drew a comparison of Schiavo’s death to that of the race horse Barbaro, who was euthanized after breaking a leg racing two weeks after winning the 2006 Kentucky Derby.

“Many people had more compassion for a race horse than they did for my sister,” he said.

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He told of the many Catholic church leaders around the country who condemned what the Schindler family was trying to do.

“Our only intention was to bring my sister home so we could take care of her,” he said. "We were an ordinary family who fought hard to try and save Terri. I’m sure any one in this room would have fought just as hard for someone they loved.”

Schindler concluded his hour-long presentation with a video showing the Schindler’s family photos and home movies of Terri, including those of her in the hospital responding to her family.

“Life is always sacred and we need to keep that in mind,” Schindler said.