Terri Schiavo: Reaction from the Vatican, 2005

A year ago today, Terri Schiavo was in her second full day without any food or water. Nutrition and hyrdration were being withheld from her so that she would die, according to her husband Michael Schiavo's wishes.

Terri was sentenced to death in Florida, after extensive legal wrangling between Michael Schiavo and Terri's parents.

Had she been a dog living in the state of Florida, laws would have protected her from being dehydrated and starved to death.

The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida is "an organization founded on the principle that animals have the right to live their lives free of exploitation, abuse and harm inflicted upon them by society."

Among its accomplishments: Responsible for passage in Florida of the Pet Shop Humane Euthanasia Bill to end inhumane methods of killing pet shop animals.

It's wonderful that people in Florida are committed to the cause of protecting animals from harm. Florida is one of nineteen states where animal cruelty/abuse is considered a felony. It's disgraceful that Florida judges weren't committed to respecting Terri Schiavo's life and protecting her from harm.

I found it horrifying that in Florida animals receive protection from cruelty; yet Judge Greer, in a Florida court, ruled that Terri Schiavo, a disabled human being, could be starved to death.

Such treatment of a human being is incomprehensible to me.

At the time, the Vatican commented on Terri's situation, expressing extreme concern over her court-sanctioned, slow-motion execution.

From an Associated Press account:

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican newspaper on Monday (March 21, 2005) criticized the removal of a feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman, saying nobody can claim the right to decide whether a human being lives or dies.

"Who can, before God and humanity, pretend with impunity to claim such a right?" L'Osservatore Romano said. "Who — and on the basis of which criteria — can establish to whom the 'privilege' to live should be given?"

The remarks from the Vatican paper, which reflected earlier comments from several Vatican prelates, came after the U.S. Congress passed a law in an emergency session giving Terri Schiavo's parents the right to file suit in federal court over the withdrawal of nourishment and medical treatment needed to sustain their daughter. President Bush has signed the bill.

"Who can judge the dignity and sacredness of the life of a human being, made in the image and likeness of God? Who can decide to pull the plug as if we were talking about a broken or out of order household appliance?" the paper said.

"In a Miami hospital there's a woman who is about to die from hunger and thirst. There is the slow dying of a person — not a 'vegetable' --which an impotent world is witnessing through TV and newspapers."

"Terri's long, heartbreaking agony today is the agony of the meaning of God, the lord and creator of life," the paper concluded. "It is the agony of the love that can bend over the frail and needy. It is the agony of mankind."

Earlier this month, the Vatican's point man on bioethical issues, Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, said removing Schiavo's breathing tube would be a direct act of euthanasia and "a pitiless way to kill."

This AP account mistakenly refers to Terri's "breathing tube" being removed. She did not depend on a breathing tube. Her only life support was a feeding tube.

No artificial, extraordinary means were being utilized to keep Terri alive. Rather than receiving food and water orally, she was fed via a tube.

Like Terri and her parents, the Schindlers, I am Catholic. According to our faith, providing nutrition and hydration is morally obligatory. Even when administered via artificial means, such as a tube, feeding is always considered a natural act, never a medical act.

Providing food and water is not life support, nor is it to be deemed an extraordinary means to prolong life. This minimal care is the right of all human beings.

Remembering Terri and the events of one year ago reminds me of my feelings of helplessness and how heartbreaking it was to witness the killing of an innocent woman.