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>>In the debate over a sick patient's right to die, there has rarely, if ever, been a case
like the one in Florida. >>In 2003, America watched
as a private family struggle became a very public feud.
>>Terri Schiavo's husband and her parents in Florida have been fighting for a long time
about whether her feeding tube should be disconnected.
>>And a personal battle eventually sparked a political firestorm.
>>I'm asking you, isn't she being murdered? >>...an extraordinary session here on Capitol Hill.
>>Tonight this Congress is about to commit a travesty.
>>Today, we're still grappling with end-of-life issues, but will
scientific advancements help to clarify them, or only make them more complicated?
>>Some patients who appear to be entirely vegetative are actually quite the opposite.
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>>[Narrator] Terri Schiavo's case started long before the cameras appeared.
It was February of 1990 when the 26-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest.
>>[Bobby Schindler, her brother] She went several minutes without oxygen
from her collapse and experienced a profound brain injury.
The first couple days, doctors didn't know if she was going to live or die.
>>[Narrator] Lack of oxygen left Schiavo with severe brain damage and in what
doctors call a persistent vegetative state, or PVS, a condition in which
the parts of the brain that control thinking and awareness are damaged or destroyed.
Only the brain stem, which controls basic reflexes like breathing, remains.
Initially, Terri's husband and parents cared for her together, exploring potential
treatments and rehabilitation.
But, 4 years after her collapse, Michael Schiavo says doctors gave him a grim prognosis.
>>[Michael Schiavo] It was to a point where Terri wasn't going to function.
There was nothing more, and they told us, her mother was sitting right there at the time,
there was nothing more they could do for Terri.
>>[Narrator] In 1998, Michael Schaivo petitioned to have his wife's feeding tube removed,
saying she had told him and others she wouldn't want to live in this condition.
Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought desperately to keep her alive,
insisting that removing her feeding tube would be tantamount to murder.
>>[Bobby] People think Terri was in a coma, she was brain dead, that she was terminal.
Terri was not dying. Terri had a profound brain injury. And our family wanted to
care for her just they was she was. >>[Narrator] With no living will
expressing her wishes, it was up to the state courts to decide Terri's fate.
>>[Dr. Arthur Caplan] They went to court more than anybody
has ever gone to court, in my experience, in fighting about an end-of-life care case.
>>[George Felos, Michael's attorney] This was probably the most litigated
case that I can think of.
We were up and down the Federal court system, the state court system, many, many times.
>>[Narrator] At least 19 judges heard the case through various appeals and the
decisions were all ultimately in Michael Schiavo's favor. Going back to the original
court ruling that said that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that
Terri would not want to be kept alive and that her feeding tube should be removed.
>>[Michael] She told me what she wanted and the courts heard it, over and over and over again.
>>[Narrator] For Terri's parents, the legal decisions were devastating.
The appeal to the media and the public: >>[Mary] Please, please, please, save my little girl.
>>[Dr. Caplan] They became a cause, they got picked up by talk radio, they had
religious groups weighing in on their behalf. >>[praying] Spare this innocent child.
>>[Dr. Caplan] There was a fear, across the board, of euthanasia, assisted suicide,
abortion, and abandonment of the disabled, if you will. That's what a lot of the
motives were that drove those who rallied to the side of Terri's parents.
>>[Randall Terry, Operation Rescue] To deliberately starve her to death
is an act of cruelty, and ultimately it's murder itself.
>>[Bobby] Terri touched a nerve with so many people because they saw a family who
was willing and wanting to care for her.
They didn't understand why they weren't being allowed to do that.
>>[Narrator] On both sides... >>[Crowd] Let Terri live! Let Terri live!
>>[Narrator] ...emotions ran high. >>[man] No one would want to live this way.
>>Twenty times in court! Twenty times! >>This is the Roe vs. Wade of euthanasia.
>>[Michael] I used to say, "What are these people doing? Why Terri?" People's feeding
tubes are removed every day. To this day I don't know why, but it was very surreal.
>>[Oprah] Should Terri Schiavo live or die?
>>[reporter] What evidence is there that this woman has any brain function or not?
>>[Narrator] Michael Schiavo believes the media fanned the flames. Especially after
the Schindlers released a series of videos that they said proved Terri was conscious and aware.
[Terri making guttural vocalizations] >>[Mary] It's Mommy!
>>[Narrator] But, Caplan says the videos were misleading.
>>[Dr. Caplan] It was irresponsible beyond belief that it was run unchallenged and unexamined.
It was too attractive to the media not to use. Here she is! But, it was assembled
selectively and it was staged and it did not indicate what she could do.
>>[Narrator] Caplan says that what looked like intentional responses in Terri were
just reflexes that are common in people in a persistent vegetative state.
>>[Dr. Caplan] A lot of our bodily systems are run off that part of the brain that
Terri still had. That tape used that fact and made it look as if she was thinking and feeling.
>>[Narrator] While most of the doctors who examined Schiavo believed she was in a
vegetative state, not everyone in the medical community agreed.
>>[reporter] There's a total of about 14 specialists in brain injury and stroke,
which is her situation, who have come out to say she is not in PVS, not in a coma,
does respond, is alert, and actually has even the ability to communicate.
>>[Narrator] With each side entrenched, arguments turned to threats.
>>[Felos] It's no fun getting up in the morning and looking under your car before
you start the engine to see if there's a device because you've had people contact
you saying that they're going to blow you to bits if you keep working on this case.
>>[Michael] My house was invaded day in and day out. And these are people pushing
their views on me. And I don't understand that. You have your view on things and you
have your beliefs, that's great.
But, don't stand outside somebody else's house and push that on them.
[crowd chanting]
>>[Narrator] And the more the fight played out in public, the more political it became.
>>[Rep. Sandra Murman] Who's going to look out for this girl's rights?
We have to.
>>[Narrator] In 2003, Florida legislators passed "Terri's Law," which gave Governor
Jeb Bush the authority to reattach Schiavo's feeding tube.
The tube had been removed by court order 6 days earlier.
>>[Jeb Bush] We did what was right and I'm proud of the legislature for responding.
>>[Narrator] The state law was eventually found to be unconstitutional, but in 2005,
the fight moved to Capitol Hill. >>[reporter] There are extraordinary
events happening in Washington tonight as the U.S. Congress and President move
toward passing a law before morning to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo.
>>[Narrator] By then, Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed again.
>>[Rep. Tom DeLay] If we do not act she will die of thirst.
>>[Narrator] Conservative law makers led the charge to pass a law that would give
Terri's parents the chance to continue their fight in Federal court.
>>[Sen. Bill Frist] These are extraordinary circumstances that center on the most
fundamental of human values and virtues, the sanctity of human life.
>>[Narrator] Opponents argued that politicians had no place interfering in personal medical decisions.
>>[Rep. Debbie Schultz] Do we really want to insert ourselves
in the middle of families' private matters all across America?
>>[Rep. Jim Davis] This Congress should respect the law and the rulings of courts
and not trample the Constitution.
>>[Narrator] After a late night emergency session of Congress...
>>For the relief of the parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo...
>>[Narrator] The bill came to a vote. >>203 yays, 58 nays. The bill is passed
and without objection a motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.
>>[Narrator] The bill was then rushed over to President Bush, who signed it after midnight.
But, the law wasn't enough. A Federal judge refused to order the feeding tube
reinserted because he found the arguments were unlikely to succeed in Federal court.
The Schindler family kept appealing to no avail. And on March 31, 2005, the long,
painful, public struggle was over. >>[reporter] The end came this morning
for Terri Schiavo and her husband's lawyer said she died peacefully 13 days after her
feeding tube was removed. >>[Bobby] Terri, we love you dearly,
but we know that God loves you more than we do. We must accept your untimely death as God's will.
>>[Narrator] Schiavo's autopsy eventually confirmed what had been so hotly contested
for years in court proceedings. The damage to her brain had been massive and irreversible.
Today, 9 years after Schiavo's death, while we are still struggling with end-of-life issues,
advanced brain imaging is helping scientists better understand the minds of people who
are unable to communicate. And they're finding some surprising and unexpected results.
>>[Dr. Adrian Owen] It might be possible in some of these cases that what you see
is not what you get. >>[Narrator] Dr. Adrian Owen
is a neuroscientist who is using brain scans to search for glimmers of consciousness
in patients who've been diagnosed in a vegetative state. He says it wouldn't have
worked with Terri Schiavo, but his method has shown promise with some patients.
Owen puts them in a high tech scanner and asks them to imagine doing certain activities
like playing tennis or moving around their home. >>[Dr. Owen] We're trying to get the patient
to do something when we ask them to do it, but of course, they can't move because
that's part of the diagnosis of vegetative state.
And our question was, well can some of these patients do it with their brain?
I want you to imagine playing tennis only if the answer to the question is yes.
Does your sister, Jen, have a daughter? We're going to start the scan now.
>>[Narrator] He looks to see if his question will activate a specific part of the brain.
>>[Dr. Owen] That's pretty good. He has this whole band of activity.
Steven, we can see your brain lighting up when you're trying to answer the question.
>>[Narrator] Even though his sample size is small, Owen's work has garnered
attention from the scientific community. He found that nearly 20% of the patients he's tested,
patients who meet the criteria for being vegetative, have shown signs of awareness.
Including some, like Steven, who seem to answer simple yes or no questions using only their minds.
For now, Owen is avoiding the toughest question of all.
>>[Dr. Owen] We really haven't got to the point of asking really tricky ethical
questions like, "do you want to live or die?" In part, that's because the appropriate
ethical frameworks aren't yet in place for deciding what we would do with that information.
>>[Narrator] Almost all of the patients who've shown evidence of awareness have
suffered from trauma or blows to the head, not oxygen deprivation like Schiavo.
But, Bobby Schindler says the extent of her injuries wouldn't have made a difference to his family.
>>[Bobby] I think it's important to also understand that none of this mattered to
my family in this battle. It didn't matter to us if Terri never improved from her condition.
We loved her unconditionally. We loved her that way.
>>[reporter] The family of a little girl left on life support after a
tonsil surgery goes horribly wrong, gets a really powerful ally.
>>[Narrator] Today, Schindler and his family remain in the public eye.
They run a non-profit in Terri's memory to help families facing similar issues.
>>[Bobby] ...the team put together and we're doing everything we can to get Jahi
out of the situation with the hospital. >>[Narrator] In one way or another,
Terri Schiavo's plight continues to leave a mark on the nation. It inspired an initial
increase in living wills and advanced directives just after she died.
And in 2007, she ranked just below Mother Theresa and Oprah on a list of people who
moved us most in the last quarter century. >>[Michael] I think the country has learned
something. I hope they say, "Remember the Terri Schiavo story. What do you want me
to do if something happens to you?" And I'm hoping that's Terri's legacy.
So, now she's at peace. She has what she wanted.
And as her grave stone says at the bottom, "I kept my promise."
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