One of the arguments sometimes made by those who don't want Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed is that Michael Schiavo, if he disagrees with caring for her, should just let her parents take over. If he really believes that she will never recover, what's the harm in letting others deal with what's left?

Jay Wolfson, guardian ad litemin 2003, wrote report about Terri Schiavo's case for Gov. Bush. It reads in part:

Testimony provided by members of the Schindler family included very personal statements about their desire and intention to ensure that Theresa remain alive. Throughout the course of the litigation, deposition and trial testimony by members of the Schindler family voiced the disturbing belief that they would keep Theresa alive at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb, and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open heart surgery.

There was additional, difficult testimony that appeared to establish that despite the sad and undesirable condition of Theresa, the parents still derived joy from having her alive, even if Theresa might not be at all aware of her environment given the persistent vegetative state. Within the testimony, as part of the hypotheticals presented, Schindler family members stated that even if Theresa had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it. Throughout this painful and difficult trial, the family acknowledged that Theresa was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state.

The words that come to mind after reading this include "horrible" and "disgusting." This family "loves" her so much that they are willing to put what is left of her through the most degrading and nauseating medical procedures. Why? Because they derive pleasure from the fiction that she is still "alive" somehow.

Terri Schiavo's parents and siblings are deluded about her condition, there is no other way to more accurate describe it. They are not living in reality and are not facing the reality of what has happened to her: Terri Schiavo's brain is gone and that means that she is gone.

Michael Schiavo has managed to come to grips with that fact and is willing to let what is left of her go; the rest of her family needs to learn to do the same. So long as they deluded by faith and fiction, though, that won't happen.

I'll tell you, I wouldn't want people like this to be responsible for my medical care, no matter what I were suffering from. So to answer the above question: Why doesn’t Michael Schiavo simply let Terri's parents care for her? Perhaps because Michael has more respect for her dignity and her wishes than her parents do. Michael is thinking of Terri's wishes rather than his own; her parents are thinking of their needs first rather than Terri's.

Read More:

• Guide to Ethics and Morality
• News About Ethics
• Bioethics