Obama revisits Schiavo

Near the end of the Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama debate in Cleveland the other night, each of the remaining candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination was asked the same question by the debate moderator, Tim Russert. “Before you go, each of you [has] talked about your careers in public service. Looking back through them, [are] there any words or votes that you’d like to take back?”

Hillary said she regretted her 2002 Senate vote authorizing the president to use military force in Iraq. No surprise there! Obama, however, regretted something that has not been raised as an issue in this campaign, at least not on the Democratic side. He regretted sitting on his hands when the Terri Schiavo feeding tube controversy became a Congressional issue a few years ago.

“Well, you know, when I first arrived in the Senate that first year, we had a situation surrounding Terri Schiavo. And I remember how we adjourned with a unanimous agreement that eventually allowed Congress to interject itself into that decision making process of the families. It wasn’t something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped. And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better.”

As you may recall, Terri Schindler Schiavo was a brain-damaged young woman who was dehydrated to death in March of 2005 when a Florida court ordered the removal of her feeding tube. It took thirteen days for Ms. Schiavo to die. Euthanasia activists described the death as “merciful.” Liberal commentator and First Amendment authority Nat Hentoff called it “the world’s longest execution.”

The legislation Barack Obama was not “comfortable with” was designed to ensure that the rights to equal protection under the Constitution guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment were applied to Terri Schiavo and others like her. A review of the circumstances surrounding Mrs. Schiavo’s impending demise suggested that those rights were ignored by state courts that are required to uphold them.

Eighteen years ago twenty-six year old Terri Schiavo collapsed in her Florida home for unexplained reasons. The collapse left her brain-damaged, unable to communicate, and dependent on a feeding tube for sustenance. Two years later in a malpractice suit filed on Terri’s behalf by her husband and guardian, Michael, Terri and Michael were awarded two million dollars, most of which was to be spent on Terri’s rehabilitation, something Michael — who played the loving husband for the court — promised the malpractice court he would surely do. But he didn’t.

Ignoring the recommendations of her doctors and the stipulations of the malpractice court, Michael refused to spend the money on Terri’s rehabilitation, placing his wife in a series of nursing homes with “do not resuscitate” orders on her care. Upset by this development, Terri’s parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, sued for guardianship of their incapacitated daughter. Michael wanted Terri’s feeding tube removed, claiming Terri told him that, if incapacitated, she wanted “no tubes.” He divulged that uncorroborated conversation several years after the malpractice award. The Schindlers wanted rehabilitation for Terri and the feeding tube to remain until Terri could feed herself. They claimed that Michael was lying about Terri’s last wishes.

The Schindler’s efforts in court were largely futile. The Florida jurist who presided over the Schiavo case, George Greer, turned a blind eye to Terri, the Schindlers, their evidence and Terri’s constitutional rights. Although Terri never signed a living will or any other document indicating what her last wishes would be, Greer chose to accept only the uncorroborated testimony of her considerably less than faithful and loving husband, Michael, who at the time of Terri’s execution was living with another woman and his two children by her.

Judge Greer, for reasons that can only be guessed at, was less concerned about the innocent Terri Schiavo’s rights as a human being than other courts are of the rights of condemned murderers on death row. Fixated on his opinion that “this girl must die,”he consistently denied motions designed to make her life better.

Greer refused to consider the fact that, unlike patients hooked up to respirators that keep people breathing, Terri Schiavo wasn’t dying. She was a relatively healthy young woman who was brain-damaged. All the feeding tube did for her was provide the same nourishment any one of us needs to survive. Terri Schiavo was murdered. Obama should have known that.

Ken Concannon is a resident of Prince William County. E-mail him at {encode="kmconcannon@comcast.net" title="kmconcannon@comcast.net"}.