CNS STORY: Don't let Schiavo die through lack of food, water, says cardinal

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CNS Story:

SCHIAVO-KEELER Mar-24-2005 (540 words) With photo. xxxn

Don't let Schiavo die through lack of food, water, says cardinal

By Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Severely brain-damaged Terri Schindler Schiavo should not be allowed to die through denial of food and water, said Baltimore Cardinal William H. Keeler, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

"God will call Terri Schiavo to himself when it is her time to die. It is not for us to determine when that time is," he said in a March 24 statement.

It was issued shortly before the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request by Schiavo's parents, Mary and Bob Schindler, to intervene in the case so that a feeding tube could be reinserted into the dying woman. The tube had been removed March 18 after a decision by a Florida state judge.

Since the Florida woman's feeding tube was removed "her parents reportedly are not even allowed to wet her parched lips," said Cardinal Keeler in the statement released at the Washington headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"She is not in a coma, she is not on 'life support,'" he said. "She needs only basic care and assistance in obtaining food and water."

The cardinal reiterated a statement by the Florida bishops that Schiavo is a defenseless human being who deserves care and respect.

The failure of the Supreme Court to intervene exhausted the last hope through the courts that the parents had to get the feeding tube reinserted. Their 41-year-old daughter suffered the brain damage 15 year ago after collapsing in her home in St. Petersburg of what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance. Her brain was deprived of oxygen for several minutes.

After the Supreme Court acted, the same Florida judge responsible for the March 18 decision refused the request by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to gain custody of Terri Schiavo so that the tube could be reinserted.

The Schindlers have been in a prolonged legal battle with their daughter's husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, regarding use of the feeding tube. Michael Schiavo said that his wife would have wanted the tube removed. The parents said that Terri Schiavo would have wanted to live based on her Catholic beliefs.

The March 18 decision to remove the tube sparked rapid activity by Congress and President George W. Bush to enact a law allowing the parents to present their case through the federal court system. But two lower federal courts refused the parent's request prior to the Supreme Court action.

Cardinal Keeler thanked "President Bush, members of Congress and public officials in Florida for their efforts to give her a chance to live."

An Op-Ed article in the March 24 Newsday, a daily newspaper published in the New York City area, by Cathy Cleaver Ruse, spokeswoman for the pro-life secretariat, said there are many misconceptions about the case.

Terri Schiavo is not brain dead or terminally ill, said Ruse. "Her heart beats on its own and her lungs work without assistance," she said.

"The question isn't whether she should be 'kept alive' or 'allowed to die,' but whether to stop feeding her, in which case she will die," she said.

In recent weeks, Vatican and U.S. church officials have repeatedly emphasized that it is obligatory to provide Schiavo with food and water.

END

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