Whose life is it, anyway?
Where family tragedy meets the separation of powers
TERRI SCHIAVO lies in a Florida hospice, fed by a drip feed. She wakes and sleeps in a regular cycle. A video taken a year ago shows her eyes following the path of a Mickey Mouse balloon held by her father. A faint smile seems to brush her lips as her mother touches her. Doctors say her brain has been destroyed, that these responses are unconscious and that she will never be able to interact with her surroundings. Unwittingly, Mrs Schiavo has become the central figure in one of the most grievous medical, legal and family disputes of recent times.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Whose life is it, anyway?”
From the November 1st 2003 edition
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