Terry Schiavo Case Summary

Having an advance directive by mandated-choice helps prevent healthcare-linked lawsuits from arising through the protection of the formality and legal authority of its written documentations. The Terry Schiavo case, for example, in which a young woman suffered a cardiac arrest in 1990 and remained in a persistent vegetative state until her feeding tube was removed in March of 2005, consisted of extensive litigation between the patient, the family, the medical providers, and the federal state. Author Donna Crisp (2007) stated that Schiavo’s death in March 31, 2015 “Ended a 15-year legal and ethical battle that involved not only her parents and her husband, but religious right-to-life groups, the governor and state of Florida, and the president and U.S. Congress,” of all whom sought to make end-of-life decisions for a patient who had no form of an advance directive (p. 181). …show more content…
Advance directives, which serve to indicate the patient’s wishes regarding medical treatment and support people in making decisions on their own behalf, can greatly affect others involved in the collaboration of care. Furthermore, in health care-related situations where decisional uncertainty and ethical dilemmas are present, the court of law is forced to take legal actions on the matters at hand. The mandated-choice of completing an advance directive helps to avoid legal issues at all costs and, instead, protects the individual from facing an unnecessary legal battle in the event she or he has lost decision-making

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