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Fla. bishops: Let Schiavo receive care that will benefit her

By Catholic News Service

http://www.the-tidings.com/2005/0304/schiavo.htm

With a March 18 court-imposed deadline for removal of the feeding tube that keeps Terri Schindler Schiavo alive, the Catholic bishops of Florida reiterated their plea that the brain-damaged Florida woman will continue "to receive all treatment and care that will be of benefit to her."

In a Feb. 28 statement of "continued concerns for Terri Schiavo" released by the Florida Catholic Conference, the eight bishops said they recognize that questions about her prognosis and her wishes persist, raising doubt about what she would truly want at this point in her life.

"No longer able to speak on her own behalf, Mrs. Schiavo is a defenseless human being with inherent dignity, deserving of our respect, care and concern," the bishops said. "Her plight dramatizes one of the most critical questions we face: To be a truly human society, how should we care for those we may not be able to cure?"

Bishop Robert N. Lynch of St. Petersburg, the diocese in which Schiavo resides, asked that one last effort be made for mediation.

"Normally, at the end of life, families of the person 'in extremis' agree that it is time to allow the Lord to call a loved one to himself, feeling they have done all they possibly might to provide alternatives to death, every possible treatment protocol which might be helpful has been attempted. There is a peace," Bishop Lynch said.

"This will not happen in this instance because of the seeming intractability of both sides," he added. "I beg and pray that both sides might step back a little and allow some mediation in these final hours."

Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, are against the removal of their daughter's feeding tube and they found new support for their fight in the words of a Vatican cardinal.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told Vatican Radio Feb. 24 that if Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, "is legally able to provoke the death of his wife, this would not only be tragic in itself, but it would be a serious step toward the legal approval of euthanasia in the United States given the weight which court decisions have in the formation of laws in that country."

Michael Schiavo --- who remains legally married to Terri Schiavo but now has two children by another woman --- says his wife would want the feeding tube removed. Her parents say their daughter would want to live, in part because of her Catholic beliefs.

In the Vatican Radio interview, Cardinal Martino recalled a recent message from Pope John Paul II to the Pontifical Academy for Life, in which the pope reaffirmed "that quality of life cannot be interpreted as economic efficiency, beauty or the enjoyment of physical life, but it consists in the supreme dignity of the creature made in the image and likeness of God."

"No one can be arbitrary about it except for God himself," the cardinal added.

Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer ruled Feb. 25 that Michael Schiavo could order doctors to remove the feeding tube at 1 p.m. March 18.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court refused without comment to review a lower court decision overturning the Florida law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to order reinsertion of the woman's feeding tube when it was removed for six days in 2003.

Terri Schiavo, 41, has been impaired for the past 15 years. She can breathe on her own but requires nutrition and hydration through a feeding tube.

A resident of a nursing home in Pinellas Park, she has been receiving food and water through a feeding tube since 1990, when she collapsed at her home in St. Petersburg because of what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes.

The Catholic Medical Association, citing a talk last year by Pope John Paul, said in a statement that the withdrawal of food and water from Terri Schiavo "constitutes euthanasia, a gravely immoral act" and "represents a violation of her constitutionally protected right to life and a violation of her religious freedom as a Catholic."

"Please join us in prayer on behalf of Terri, her family and our country, that by the grace of almighty God some intervention will save her life and save us from the inevitable consequences if she were euthanized," the statement added.

In their Feb. 28 statement, the Florida bishops summarized Pope John Paul's March 2004 comments about nourishments for patients in a so-called "vegetative" state.

"Simply put, we are called to provide basic means of sustenance such as food and water unless they are doing more harm than good to the patient, or are useless because the patient's death is imminent," the bishops said. "As long as they effectively provide nourishment and help provide comfort, we should see them as part of what we owe to all who are helpless and in our care."

---CNS