Introduction
The Terri Schiavo case is one of the most high-profile US euthanasia cases. In 1990, Teresa’s heart stopped, and doctors recognized the case as hopeless: the girl’s vital functions were forever lost (Ullah & Adeeb, 2018). In 1998, her husband went to court – he demanded to let Terri die (Ullah & Adeeb, 2018). However, her parents were against it: they referred to the fact that Terri was a Catholic and euthanasia contradicted her faith. From that moment, a long series of court sessions began, during which two stakeholders fought: the woman’s parents and her husband. The bioethical issue in the Teresa Schiavo case is a question of euthanasia and the expediency of interrupting human life in some cases.
Bioethical Analysis
The long-term judicial resolution of the Terri Schiavo case was related to the bioethical problem of the humanity of euthanasia, which had many opponents and supporters. Theresa’s parents and even President George W. Bush regarded euthanasia as an immoral and unacceptable action due to the possibility of demoralization, mistakes, and abuse (Ullah & Adeeb, 2018). In addition to contradicting the Catholic faith, opponents of euthanasia raised the issue of artificially reducing the growing number of disabled people and changing the country’s demographic situation. At the same time, Teresa’s husband advocated for her euthanasia. He argued this with the conclusion of doctors who argued that significant physical and moral suffering could not be eliminated by known means, and the disease led to irreversible degradation of the individual.
Conclusion
The Congress of Doctors supported the decision to turn off the life support device since there was no chance of the patient’s withdrawal from the vegetative state. At the end of 2005, it was decided to use euthanasia since the hope for the existence of Terri as a person was lost (Ullah & Adeeb, 2018). Shortly after that, Josh Bush, who spoke out against euthanasia as governor of Texas, signed a law allowing hospitals to decide on their own whether to turn off a patient or not. Since the signing of the law, the final decision on the expediency of euthanasia in Texas has been made not by the court but by medical staff.
Reference
Ullah, I., & Adeeb, H. (2018). Ethics and basic medical research. Adv Basic Med Sci, 2(1), 1-3.