Terri Schiavo Case Summary

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Introduction Terri Schiavo suffered a heart attack in her home at the age of 26. Her husband of 5 years, Michael Schiavo, called 911 and when EMS arrived, Terri had no pulse and was not breathing. She was intubated and ventilated by paramedics after attempted resuscitation (Wolfson, 2003). Terri was left in a coma and within a year of her heart attack, her doctors agreed on the diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS) with no chance of recovery or improvement. Despite this diagnosis, Michael continued with experimental nerve stimulation, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and rehabilitation for 4 years with no success (Cerminara and Goodman, n.d). Michael was appointed legal guardian shortly after Terri’s hospitalization, long before any legal cases came about, and there was no objection made by Terri’s family at that time. Approximately four years after Terri’s accident, Michael and Terri’s parents had a “falling out”. Eight years after Terri’s accident, Michael petitioned the court to have Terri’s feeding tube removed but her parents opposed the decision and a second legal guardian (guardian ad litem) was appointed by the court. As GAL, Richard Pearse asked the court to deny Michaels request due to what he believed was a conflict of interest (Pearse, 1998). …show more content…
She had always been overweight growing up and would drink excessive amounts of liquids each day to keep her weight down. She was hypokalemic (low potassium levels), which can cause heart rhythm abnormalities, including sudden arrhythmia death syndrome (Meyer, 2003). Vomiting is also another cause of low potassium and it was believed by some of her friends that she was
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