It seems as if everyone has had something to say about Terri Schiavo; the media, her family, the governor of the state of Florida, the Congress, Senate, the President of the United States and even His Holiness, the Pope. And I’m sure that many, if not most of the good people, who are speaking for Mrs. Schiavo, do have her best interest in mind and truly believe the positions that they are taking about her life, no matter which side they stand on the issue.  The only problem is that there is one person who can not be heard from directly and that is Mrs. Terri Schiavo.  

If you haven’t been watching the news, reading any newspaper or listening to the radio recently, I am talking about Terri Schiavo, a Florida resident who has been living in a permanent vegetative state for the past fifteen years. There is great debate between her husband and her parents about what her wishes may have been regarding her care and to date, legal wrangling has been through the entire Florida judicial system and most recently, before a federal judge. 

It would be easy to say that none of this would have come to pass if Mrs. Schiavo had only filled out a living will, but who among us has done so at 26 years of age? Who has done so, to date? What this has become other than a personal tragedy for everyone who actually does know and love Mrs. Schiavo, is an opportunity for the rest of us and those whom we love to do the right thing.

Within the next ten days, call a meeting of the adults in your family and discuss openly and honestly, your end of life wishes, fill out the Five Wishes form, if it suits you and your family or go to a qualified attorney and get Advance Directive forms produced for your family members to fill out.  Let’s do so to ensure that for Mrs. Schiavo’s sake, some good actually does come from all of this.

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Gary Barg
Editor-in-Chief
gary@caregiver.com