|
Mary Schindler is a woman whose shoes I wouldn't want to walk in.
After years of trying to block the murder of her own child, she had to witness the grisly death of her daughter over the course of nearly two weeks. Mary's daughter, Terri Schiavo, was dehydrated to death because of two reasons: she was classified by the circuit courts as a person in a persistent vegetative state and her husband (who was her guardian) was the person largely in control of her destiny. He wanted it done and, by God, it was.
During the many years that Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings fought to stop her husband from removing medically assisted nourishment and hydration from her, Mary Schindler was scrutinized by both the courts and the media.
Mary Schindler is a typical mother and one who cares very much for her three children. She is a devoted wife, a likeable person and rather humane. The news media, however, made her out as an unrealistic control freak and a pawn of political and religious groups looking to forward their own agendas.
She was none of those things.
In an interview with Larry King from 2004, Mary Schindler stated "I would love to give her therapy. But, even if I couldn't, I would still want to take her home and take care of her for the rest of my life."
In 2005, Mary's daughter was taken from her by a man who had emotionally disengaged himself from his wife, a court that would not listen to her family's doctors and a system that has utterly and embarrassingly failed the members of our community who live with disabilities.
"Please don't let them kill my daughter."
Now, BBC is reporting of an extraordinary development in assessing the clinical diagnosis of persistent vegetative state.
According to a report, published September 7, 2006, a 23 year-old woman, previously diagnosed PVS, produced remarkable fMRI results when asked to imagine a game of tennis and walking around her home. The measured responses were found to be consistent with the responses of volunteers with no brain injuries or neurological insults.
If correct, the findings alone are reason enough to call a halt to terminal dehydration of brain injured patients. Additionally, they challenge the PVS diagnosis in such a way that the determination should probably be stricken from medical annals entirely.
For many years, Robert and Mary Schindler argued that their daughter, Terri, did not fit the medically-accepted criteria of persistent vegetative state. They testified that Terri was animated, responsive, vocal and oriented when they visited with her.
"I understand what they are saying. I also know what I see."
They asked the court, time and again, to allow for new tests -- conducted under more up-to-date protocols -- and were rebuffed at every turn.
"What harm could it do to just allow new tests?"
For anyone who has viewed video of Mary Schindler at her daughter's bedside, the obvious becomes an emotional dagger to the heart. Terri clearly interacting and responding to her mother was laid as mere reflex and unintentional behavior by such figures as Dr. Ronald Cranford, a now deceased and formerly self-proclaimed champion of the right-to-die movement.
Those of us with a modicum of humanity saw something else: an unbreakable bond between a mother and child, with that child (albeit an adult) basking happily in the presence of her beloved mother.
"Hey, baby. How's that cold today?"
Why was Mary Schindler painted a fool by the news media for wanting what all mothers want: the safety of their child?
Why was the Schindler family labeled frivolous when they begged for exhaustive testing of Terri Schiavo's cognitive functionality before the subject of making her dead was entertained?
After Terri's feeding tube was taken away in 2005, for the third and final time, Mary Schindler tearfully begged for the intervention of Florida's authorities. She said that her daughter would not have chosen such a demise, had been neglected and forgotten by her guardian for years, was not permitted to receive any benefit of therapy or even a push-stroll through the facility's garden and didn't have to die the way other people -- strangers -- wanted her to die.
"I can take care of her. There is just no reason for anyone to kill my little girl."
Shortly after Terri's death, Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, was asked by a reporter what he would do, were it his own child in a similar situation. He admitted that he didn't know, but hoped he would do the 'right thing'.
This is the same man who -- in court -- made Mary Schindler out to be a woman blinded by personal feelings and oblivious to what he considered to be the 'truth' of the matter.
He also likened Terri to a potted plant.
After having fought unsuccessfully for the ability to look after her own child, after watching a dismal death of that child, after being labeled a pawn for wanting to care for her own daughter and, after reading recent reports that support her previous contentions that PVS is a diagnosis that fails time and again, I think Mary Schindler probably carries a burden of the heart that I will never be able to understand.
Some time ago, the Schindler family, along with a number of disability advocacy groups, called for the complete moratorium of terminal dehydration for PVS patients. They were called out as zealots. But, what if it was your daughter's life in the balance? 9-10-06
Pamela F. Hennessy is the Founder of the Partnership for Medical Ethics Reform (www.forethics.com) and volunteered as a representative of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation from 2002 to 2006.
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
|
