Theresa Schiavo's tragedy and ours, too

Abstract

In March 2005, the tragic illness and death of Mrs. Theresa Schiavo was a staple of print and broadcast media in the United States. She died at age 41 on March 31, 2005, 15 years after suffering an hypoxic-ischemic brain injury during an at-home cardiac arrest that left her in a vegetative state, and 13 days after the judicially approved removal of her feeding gastrostomy tube.1 Her sad case was noteworthy for ubiquitous media coverage of the family dispute over her treatment, the intense political action that was generated on both sides of the debate, and the unprecedented, unpopular,2 and unconstitutional3 legislative intervention by the Florida legislature and United States Congress. Many print and broadcast media outlets chose to sensationalize the dispute over her treatment, pitting her husband who sought to have her feeding tube removed (which he claimed was in accordance with her previously stated wishes) against her parents who fervently wished her feeding tube to remain. A second area of dispute was whether she was in a vegetative state or …