The Triangle

Issue date: 4/8/05 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: The Triangle Mack

I honestly can't think of one ordinary citizen who captured the nation's attention so quickly as Terri Schiavo. Barnum and Bailey's would be jealous at the three-ring circus her story created down south. Parents vs. Husband. Religion vs. Family. Values vs. Law. So many issues surrounded her last days, and so much anger enveloped one person's life.

Michael Schiavo, the husband of Mrs. Schiavo, has started a new life and has a girlfriend and kids. He insists that Mrs. Schiavo told him that she did not want to be kept alive through artificial means. Even though she went into this state after cardiac arrest in 1990, Mr. Schiavo waited until 1998 to petition the court to get her feeding tube removed. Judge Greer ruled in 2000 that the tube can indeed be removed. After a slew of appeals and years passing, that leaves us at the events of the past three weeks.

On March 18, 2005, Judge Greer ordered the feeding tube to be removed forthwith. He, a judge in the judicial branch of government, ordered a cessation of feeding for a person. The instant an order of that nature was given, this entire case deserved a fresh new look. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states, "Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." If the State has deprived Mrs. Schiavo of a feeding tube, due process of the law would dictate a fresh review of the case. Not just looking at the previous ruling and then exercising stare decisis by letting it stand. An actual full review of the facts. The tube was not ordered out of her by previous courts, instead it was up to Mr. Schiavo if he wanted it removed. Now that the State removed it for him, this case is now an animal of a different breed.

All sorts of allegations had been floating around that Mr. Schiavo would ask caretakers, "Is she dead yet?" Also, Mrs. Schiavo had suffered mysterious bone fractures that were allegedly caused by Mr. Schiavo.

Are these allegations true? I honestly have no idea, as they have not been weighed on their face by the criminal justice system. However, in order to determine guilt or innocence of the accused, time must be given to review the case at hand. Maybe her caretaker, Mr. Schiavo, was incapable of acting on her behalf because he abused her. We simply don't know. In order to make the proper decision in this case, a de novo hearing should have been granted and the spirit of its purpose should have remained intact. It didn't.

I know a lot of people are pissed off that Congress intervened. My girlfriend, politically apathetic in nature, was so infuriated that they convened on a Sunday to do something, you could visually see her blood boil. There is a method to their madness, however. In the checks and balances system, all three branches of government watch over each other and can hold each other accountable for their mistakes.

Bob and Maria Schindler, parents of Terri Schiavo, watching their son-in-law, Michael Schiavo, leave at a court appearence in 2000.

Congressional Republicans and Democrats believed that the judicial branch of the system was failing. Not necessarily failing one person, but failing as a whole, to save the lives of mentally incapacitated patients. They believed that if Terri Schiavo would be allowed to be dehydrated, then it would set a precedent for future actions.

Congress believed that if they intervened in the Schiavo case, they could give an order to a federal court to review the case from a fresh perspective, thus protecting the civil rights of other incapacitated people as well. Sure, they could be fixing social security or health care, but their intervention was not necessarily for the benefit of one, but for the benefit of a whole.

The spark of life is so revered in our society that we have to give convicted criminals tons of appeals before we carry out an execution. Once you extinguish that spark, it can never be relit. You may think that due process was fully given to Mrs. Schiavo, but think again. Convicted murderers are almost on their deathbed before DNA evidence clears them of all wrong-doing. There could have been new evidence to show that Mr. Schiavo was either lying, or he abused his wife. If that evidence was found to be true at a new hearing, this case would have been over. But that brand new hearing was denied. Due process was not given. Contrary to irresponsible media reports, Mrs. Schiavo was no brain dead, and it is questionable whether she was in a persistant vegitative state; a question that should be answered in a de novo hearing.

Sure, Congress could have been legislating a new-fangled highway system ... but to protect the class of individuals whose mental capacities are diminished is important work, contrary to what some may think. Even though two branches of our government ordered a new trial and placed life over choice, one branch has managed to overpower them. Judge Greer, through the principle of stare decisis, was more powerful than the President of the United States, the Governor of Florida, and the state and national congresses.

That is the failure of checks and balances, and that is the failure of the government to protect Terri Schiavo.



James Mack Jr. is a senior majoring in criminal justice and the editorial & opinion editor. Mr. Mack can be reached at ed-op@thetriangle.org

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools