Terri Shiavo Summary

The purpose of this paper is to summarize the case of Theresa Marie “Terri” Shiavo and examine how a few simple steps prior to her injury would have prevented a 15-year medical legal battle between her family members and the courts. The case opened several doors for self interest groups and caused much controversy in both state and federal court rooms. Fortunately, much awareness about healthcare priorities has come from the case. There has been much more emphasis placed on the education and use of advance directives and other health care conversations and plans that should be made if a person becomes unable to make decisions regarding care and treatment. Personally, I think it’s kind of sad that documentation of a simple conversation could have gone a long way and saved a lot of time and anguish to Mrs. Shiavos’ family and herself.
In 1990 Terry Shiavo was 26 years old when she suffered cardiac arrest

ultimately due to an eating disorder. She fell into what doctors and specialist eventually determined was a permanent vegetative state. She was only being sustained through artificial nutrition via a gastrostomy tube. Terri’s husband and her family didn’t agree on what her care should be so eventually Florida, the state in which they reside, ruled that Terri’s husband was legal able to make medical decisions for her. The family still disagreed and pushed into higher and higher courts. Eventually, Mrs. Shiavo’s feeding tube was removed three times before she eventually died in 2005.
Sometimes patients just don’t make great choices when it comes to their own medical care.

Especially when it comes to tough decisions and the person is very sick. Dr. Rebecca Dresser discusses her personal experience in a video where she admits that against medical advice she just didn’t make the greatest decisions for herself with delaying the use of a gastrostomy tube. She, unlike Mrs. Shiavo, was competent but not exactly compliant with her provider’s recommendations. Terri Shiavo had absolutely no way of making decisions for herself. The debate came about with who could legally make decisions about her medical care? Her family felt that she would or could improve over time with unproven treatments and wanted to keep her on artificial nutrition. Her husband briefly described having a conversation with her about the topic at some point in their marriage and didn’t feel like that was a way that Terri wanted to live. Who’s really to say who was making a good or bad decision but the problem was that Terri couldn’t make a bad decision for herself if she wanted

to.
As unfortunate and exhausting as Terri’s case was, it could have been alleviated by a few simple steps before hand. The American Cancer Society defines an advance directive as a kind of legal document that tells the doctor you wishes about your health care. Invalid source specified. It basically simplifies the process for medical treatment if or when a person becomes unable to make decisions for themselves by detailing what methods can be used and how they will be cared for. It has nothing to do with control of money or property. The discussion that she had with her husband could have been drafted into one of two types of advance directives. A living will would have allowed Terri to spell out specifically what healthcare decisions she would have made in the event of terminal illness or like in her exact case, a persistent vegetative state. The problem with a living will that still may not have helped Mrs. Shiavo, is that different states have different laws regarding their use and validity. A durable power of attorney for health care or health care power of attorney, would have kept Mrs. Shiavo’s case from dragging out as long as it did. In this type of advance directive a proxy is appointed to make health care decisions if you become unable to Invalid source specified.. Most states have a form or format to follow but all states have rules about their validity and how they are used and what must be included.
One of the best things about our culture today is that we have to decision to control out medical treatments as long as we are mentally about to do so (team T. A., 2016). Unfortunately it’s not easy to foresee or plan our futures. I’m sure that what happened to Theresa was unexpected and not what she would have wanted for her life. Sadly she’ll never be able to tell us but at least part of her legacy is her case and the events that where publicized. No matter how convoluted some of the details may be, anyone who was paying attention is now armed with the knowledge that steps can be taken to prevent that from happening to them.