WEBVTT

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[music]

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>>In the debate over a sick patient's right 
to die, there has rarely, if ever, been a case

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like the one in Florida. 
>>In 2003, America watched

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as a private family struggle 
became a very public feud.

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>>Terri Schiavo's husband and her parents in 
Florida have been fighting for a long time

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about whether her feeding 
tube should be disconnected.

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>>And a personal battle eventually 
sparked a political firestorm.

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>>I'm asking you, isn't she being murdered?
>>...an extraordinary session here on Capitol Hill.

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>>Tonight this Congress is 
about to commit a travesty.

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>>Today, we're still grappling 
with end-of-life issues, but will

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scientific advancements help to clarify 
them, or only make them more complicated?

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>>Some patients who appear to be entirely 
vegetative are actually quite the opposite.

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[music]

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>>[Narrator] Terri Schiavo's case started 
long before the cameras appeared.

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It was February of 1990 when the 
26-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest. 


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>>[Bobby Schindler, her brother] She 
went several minutes without oxygen

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from her collapse and experienced 
a profound brain injury.

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The first couple days, doctors didn't 
know if she was going to live or die.

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>>[Narrator] Lack of oxygen left Schiavo 
with severe brain damage and in what

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doctors call a persistent vegetative 
state, or PVS, a condition in which

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the parts of the brain that control thinking 
and awareness are damaged or destroyed.

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Only the brain stem, which controls basic 
reflexes like breathing, remains.

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Initially, Terri's husband and parents 
cared for her together, exploring potential

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treatments and rehabilitation.

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But, 4 years after her collapse, Michael Schiavo 
says doctors gave him a grim prognosis.

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>>[Michael Schiavo] It was to a point 
where Terri wasn't going to function.

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There was nothing more, and they told us, her 
mother was sitting right there at the time,

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there was nothing more 
they could do for Terri. 


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>>[Narrator] In 1998, Michael Schaivo petitioned 
to have his wife's feeding tube removed,

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saying she had told him and others she 
wouldn't want to live in this condition.

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Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, 
fought desperately to keep her alive,

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insisting that removing her feeding 
tube would be tantamount to murder.

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>>[Bobby] People think Terri was in a coma, 
she was brain dead, that she was terminal.

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Terri was not dying. Terri had a profound 
brain injury. And our family wanted to

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care for her just they was she was. 
>>[Narrator] With no living will

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expressing her wishes, it was up to the 
state courts to decide Terri's fate.

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>>[Dr. Arthur Caplan] They went 
to court more than anybody

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has ever gone to court, in my experience, 
in fighting about an end-of-life care case.

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>>[George Felos, Michael's attorney] 
This was probably the most litigated

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case that I can think of.

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We were up and down the Federal court system, 
the state court system, many, many times.

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>>[Narrator] At least 19 judges heard 
the case through various appeals and the

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decisions were all ultimately in Michael 
Schiavo's favor. Going back to the original

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court ruling that said that there was 
"clear and convincing evidence" that

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Terri would not want to be kept alive and 
that her feeding tube should be removed.


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>>[Michael] She told me what she wanted and the 
courts heard it, over and over and over again.

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>>[Narrator] For Terri's parents, 
the legal decisions were devastating.

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The appeal to the media and the public:
>>[Mary] Please, please, please, save my little girl.

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>>[Dr. Caplan] They became a cause, they 
got picked up by talk radio, they had

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religious groups weighing in on their behalf.
>>[praying] Spare this innocent child.


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>>[Dr. Caplan] There was a fear, across 
the board, of euthanasia, assisted suicide,

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abortion, and abandonment of the disabled, 
if you will. That's what a lot of the

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motives were that drove those who 
rallied to the side of Terri's parents.

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>>[Randall Terry, Operation Rescue] 
To deliberately starve her to death

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is an act of cruelty, and 
ultimately it's murder itself.

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>>[Bobby] Terri touched a nerve with so 
many people because they saw a family who

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was willing and wanting 
to care for her.

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They didn't understand why they 
weren't being allowed to do that.


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>>[Narrator] On both sides...
>>[Crowd] Let Terri live! Let Terri live!

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>>[Narrator] ...emotions ran high.
>>[man] No one would want to live this way.

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>>Twenty times in court! Twenty times!
>>This is the Roe vs. Wade of euthanasia.

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>>[Michael] I used to say, "What are these 
people doing? Why Terri?" People's feeding 


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tubes are removed every day. To this day 
I don't know why, but it was very surreal.

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>>[Oprah] Should Terri 
Schiavo live or die?


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>>[reporter] What evidence is there that 
this woman has any brain function or not?


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>>[Narrator] Michael Schiavo believes the 
media fanned the flames. Especially after

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the Schindlers released a series of videos that 
they said proved Terri was conscious and aware. 


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[Terri making guttural vocalizations]
>>[Mary] It's Mommy!


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>>[Narrator] But, Caplan says 
the videos were misleading.


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>>[Dr. Caplan] It was irresponsible beyond belief 
that it was run unchallenged and unexamined.

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It was too attractive to the media not to 
use. Here she is! But, it was assembled

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selectively and it was staged and it 
did not indicate what she could do.


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>>[Narrator] Caplan says that what looked 
like intentional responses in Terri were

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just reflexes that are common in people 
in a persistent vegetative state.


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>>[Dr. Caplan] A lot of our bodily systems 
are run off that part of the brain that

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Terri still had. That tape used that fact and 
made it look as if she was thinking and feeling.


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>>[Narrator] While most of the doctors who 
examined Schiavo believed she was in a

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vegetative state, not everyone 
in the medical community agreed.

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>>[reporter] There's a total of about 14 
specialists in brain injury and stroke,

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which is her situation, who have come out 
to say she is not in PVS, not in a coma,

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does respond, is alert, and actually 
has even the ability to communicate.

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>>[Narrator] With each side entrenched, 
arguments turned to threats.


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>>[Felos] It's no fun getting up in the 
morning and looking under your car before

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you start the engine to see if there's a 
device because you've had people contact

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you saying that they're going to blow you 
to bits if you keep working on this case. 


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>>[Michael] My house was invaded day in 
and day out. And these are people pushing

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their views on me. And I don't understand 
that. You have your view on things and you

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have your beliefs, that's great.

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But, don't stand outside somebody 
else's house and push that on them.

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[crowd chanting]

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>>[Narrator] And the more the fight played 
out in public, the more political it became.

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>>[Rep. Sandra Murman] Who's going
to look out for this girl's rights?

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We have to.

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>>[Narrator] In 2003, Florida legislators 
passed "Terri's Law," which gave Governor

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Jeb Bush the authority to 
reattach Schiavo's feeding tube.

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The tube had been removed 
by court order 6 days earlier.


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>>[Jeb Bush] We did what was right and I'm 
proud of the legislature for responding.

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>>[Narrator] The state law was eventually 
found to be unconstitutional, but in 2005,

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the fight moved to Capitol Hill. 
>>[reporter] There are extraordinary

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events happening in Washington tonight 
as the U.S. Congress and President move

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toward passing a law before morning to 
intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo.


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>>[Narrator] By then, Schiavo's 
feeding tube had been removed again.

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>>[Rep. Tom DeLay] If we do 
not act she will die of thirst. 


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>>[Narrator] Conservative law makers led 
the charge to pass a law that would give

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Terri's parents the chance to 
continue their fight in Federal court.

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>>[Sen. Bill Frist] These are extraordinary 
circumstances that center on the most

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fundamental of human values and 
virtues, the sanctity of human life.

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>>[Narrator] Opponents argued that politicians had 
no place interfering in personal medical decisions.

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>>[Rep. Debbie Schultz] Do we 
really want to insert ourselves

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in the middle of families' private 
matters all across America?

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>>[Rep. Jim Davis] This Congress should 
respect the law and the rulings of courts

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and not trample the Constitution.


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>>[Narrator] After a late night 
emergency session of Congress...

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>>For the relief of the parents 
of Theresa Marie Schiavo...

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>>[Narrator] The bill came to a vote.
>>203 yays, 58 nays. The bill is passed

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and without objection a motion to 
reconsider is laid upon the table.

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>>[Narrator] The bill was then rushed over to 
President Bush, who signed it after midnight.

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But, the law wasn't enough. A Federal 
judge refused to order the feeding tube

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reinserted because he found the arguments 
were unlikely to succeed in Federal court.

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The Schindler family kept appealing to no 
avail. And on March 31, 2005, the long,

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painful, public struggle was over.
>>[reporter] The end came this morning

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for Terri Schiavo and her husband's lawyer 
said she died peacefully 13 days after her

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feeding tube was removed. 
>>[Bobby] Terri, we love you dearly,

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but we know that God loves you more than we do. 
We must accept your untimely death as God's will.

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>>[Narrator] Schiavo's autopsy eventually 
confirmed what had been so hotly contested

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for years in court proceedings. The damage to 
her brain had been massive and irreversible.

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Today, 9 years after Schiavo's death, while 
we are still struggling with end-of-life issues,

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advanced brain imaging is helping scientists 
better understand the minds of people who

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are unable to communicate. And they're finding 
some surprising and unexpected results.

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>>[Dr. Adrian Owen] It might be possible 
in some of these cases that what you see

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is not what you get. 
>>[Narrator] Dr. Adrian Owen

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is a neuroscientist who is using brain scans
to search for glimmers of consciousness

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in patients who've been diagnosed in a 
vegetative state. He says it wouldn't have

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worked with Terri Schiavo, but his method 
has shown promise with some patients.

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Owen puts them in a high tech scanner and 
asks them to imagine doing certain activities

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like playing tennis or moving around their home.
>>[Dr. Owen] We're trying to get the patient

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to do something when we ask them to do it, 
but of course, they can't move because

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that's part of the diagnosis 
of vegetative state.

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And our question was, well can some of 
these patients do it with their brain?

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I want you to imagine playing tennis only 
if the answer to the question is yes.

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Does your sister, Jen, have a daughter? 
We're going to start the scan now.

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>>[Narrator] He looks to see if his question 
will activate a specific part of the brain.

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>>[Dr. Owen] That's pretty good. 
He has this whole band of activity.

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Steven, we can see your brain lighting up 
when you're trying to answer the question.

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>>[Narrator] Even though his sample 
size is small, Owen's work has garnered

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attention from the scientific community. He 
found that nearly 20% of the patients he's tested,

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patients who meet the criteria for being 
vegetative, have shown signs of awareness.

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Including some, like Steven, who seem to answer 
simple yes or no questions using only their minds.

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For now, Owen is avoiding 
the toughest question of all.


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>>[Dr. Owen] We really haven't got to the 
point of asking really tricky ethical

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questions like, "do you want to live or die?" 
In part, that's because the appropriate

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ethical frameworks aren't yet in place for 
deciding what we would do with that information.


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>>[Narrator] Almost all of the patients 
who've shown evidence of awareness have

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suffered from trauma or blows to the head, 
not oxygen deprivation like Schiavo.

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But, Bobby Schindler says the extent of her injuries 
wouldn't have made a difference to his family.

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>>[Bobby] I think it's important to also 
understand that none of this mattered to

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my family in this battle. It didn't matter to us 
if Terri never improved from her condition.

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We loved her unconditionally. 
We loved her that way.

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>>[reporter] The family of a little 
girl left on life support after a

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tonsil surgery goes horribly wrong, 
gets a really powerful ally.


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>>[Narrator] Today, Schindler and 
his family remain in the public eye.

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They run a non-profit in Terri's memory 
to help families facing similar issues.


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>>[Bobby] ...the team put together and 
we're doing everything we can to get Jahi

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out of the situation with the hospital.
>>[Narrator] In one way or another,

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Terri Schiavo's plight continues to leave a 
mark on the nation. It inspired an initial

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increase in living wills and advanced 
directives just after she died.

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And in 2007, she ranked just below Mother 
Theresa and Oprah on a list of people who

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moved us most in the last quarter century.
>>[Michael] I think the country has learned

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something. I hope they say, "Remember the 
Terri Schiavo story. What do you want me

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to do if something happens to you?" 
And I'm hoping that's Terri's legacy.

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So, now she's at peace. 
She has what she wanted.

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And as her grave stone says at 
the bottom, "I kept my promise."

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[music]