US Supreme Court refuses to intervene in "right to die" case
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《英国医生杂志》
The parents of Terri Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who has been on a life support machine since a cardiac arrest 15 years ago, have had to abandon their attempt to save their daughter's life after the US Supreme Court last week refused to hear an emergency appeal from them.
The Supreme Court's decision effectively endorsed a decision by a Florida judge on Tuesday 22 March, which was supported by a panel of appeal judges the next day, not to intervene to force doctors to reinstate Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube.
The parents' final appeal to the Supreme Court was the latest twist in the highly complex legal battle between them and her husband over whether the 41 year old woman should live or be allowed to die. The Supreme Court's decision means that Mrs Schaivo, whose feeding tube was removed on 18 March, is expected to die shortly.
The long running saga came to a head earlier in March when a Florida appeals court decided it would not interfere in the decision of doctors to remove Mrs Schiavo's feeding tubes.
However, Mrs Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, filed an emergency motion to the Florida Supreme Court on 17 March to overturn this decision, a day before the tube was due to be removed.
The next day the US House of Representatives and US Senate voted to block the removal of the feeding tube ( BMJ 2005;330: 687, 26 Mar). The Senate then passed an emergency bill on 21 March, signed by President Bush, that forced the case into a federal court.
But despite the actions by the Senate, Judge James Whittemore, in the US district court in Tampa, Florida, decided not to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube. The appeals court in Atlanta later upheld Judge Whittemore's ruling.
Meanwhile, an account of the case was published online ahead of print on 22 March in the New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org, doi: 10.1056/NEJMp058062). It was written by Timothy Quill, a prominent authority on end of life issues, professor of medicine, and the director of the Center for Palliative Care and Clinical Ethics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.
Dr Quill comments: "This voice is what counts the most, and in the Terri Schiavo case it has been largely drowned out by a very loud, self-interested public debate."(Fred Charatan)
The Supreme Court's decision effectively endorsed a decision by a Florida judge on Tuesday 22 March, which was supported by a panel of appeal judges the next day, not to intervene to force doctors to reinstate Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube.
The parents' final appeal to the Supreme Court was the latest twist in the highly complex legal battle between them and her husband over whether the 41 year old woman should live or be allowed to die. The Supreme Court's decision means that Mrs Schaivo, whose feeding tube was removed on 18 March, is expected to die shortly.
The long running saga came to a head earlier in March when a Florida appeals court decided it would not interfere in the decision of doctors to remove Mrs Schiavo's feeding tubes.
However, Mrs Schiavo's parents, the Schindlers, filed an emergency motion to the Florida Supreme Court on 17 March to overturn this decision, a day before the tube was due to be removed.
The next day the US House of Representatives and US Senate voted to block the removal of the feeding tube ( BMJ 2005;330: 687, 26 Mar). The Senate then passed an emergency bill on 21 March, signed by President Bush, that forced the case into a federal court.
But despite the actions by the Senate, Judge James Whittemore, in the US district court in Tampa, Florida, decided not to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube. The appeals court in Atlanta later upheld Judge Whittemore's ruling.
Meanwhile, an account of the case was published online ahead of print on 22 March in the New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.org, doi: 10.1056/NEJMp058062). It was written by Timothy Quill, a prominent authority on end of life issues, professor of medicine, and the director of the Center for Palliative Care and Clinical Ethics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, New York.
Dr Quill comments: "This voice is what counts the most, and in the Terri Schiavo case it has been largely drowned out by a very loud, self-interested public debate."(Fred Charatan)