The true lesson of the Schiavo case

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get thee a living will. Sadly we have no idea what Schiavo really wanted. We have her husbands hearsay evidence but no real evidence of what her wishes actually were and at least as importantly just how heartfelt those wishes actually were. That is because, due to whatever reason, Terri didn't leave a living will.

One would hope that a family could agree on this type of thing, but Schiavo probably had some clue as to her parents' view on this and given that really should have written out instructions.

The Florida courts have ruled on this but mostly they have ruled that husbands have the right to make this decision, which under Florida law, they do. Given that presumption and the evident hopelessness of this case, they made the correct ruling. The law shouldn't be changed ex post facto here. But for future cases it might bear looking into the idea of appointing a guardian in cases like this. (Yes one was appointed for her but the guardian never was called on to litigate one way or the other). The husband doesn't have the purest of motives here. The evidence is pretty weak as to her real wants. The parents and other family members are unalterably opposed. All of those add up to a real need for a real challenge to the totality of spousal rights in this type of instance. It also calls for living wills. We would know what she wanted had she written it down. We wouldn't be depending upon the impure vessel that is her husband.