We want to explore the religious and ethical issues in the case with James Walter, professor of theological studies and director of the Bioethics Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
Dr. Walter, welcome. If a person were in a coma and might recover, I assume everyone would want to keep that patient alive. But this case is different?
Dr. JAMES WALTER (Director, Bioethics Institute, Loyola Marymount University): Yes, I think it is. And the reason for that is the special medical situation in which Mrs. Schiavo finds herself. She is in what is called persistent vegetative state, which means that though she goes through wake cycles and looks alert, on the other hand, there is no awareness that is registered in her brain. And the reason for that is because the major portions of the brain have been so damaged that her chances of recovery from this, according to neurologists, to any significant life, is really minimal, if nil.ABERNETHY: So in such a case, what are the ethical issues, the major ones?
Dr. WALTER: The major ones would be the value of human life. Some people want to grant an absolute value to life so that there is an absolute obligation to preserve that life. I think a number of people in society consider life a very fundamental value, but recognize that it is a relative good and, therefore, we have not absolute obligations to preserve it. The autonomy of the patient, or the decision-making process, is given to the patient or a surrogate and, in this case, Mr. Schiavo has legal guardianship over her medical decisions, and that is an important value to be respected.
Dr. WALTER: Most of the religious traditions with which I'm familiar, the basic traditions within Christianity, within Islam, and within Judaism, all argue that life is an important value, but it is not an absolute value and, therefore, under certain stated conditions, nutrition and hydration that is delivered in the way it is to Mrs. Schiavo might be withdrawn. Because the Schiavos themselves are Catholic, and the family is Catholic, the Catholic tradition has argued that, though there is a presumption to offer this to Mrs. Schiavo, it is not an absolute obligation that it be done. The one exception might be Buddhism, which considers that the patient is not dead and, therefore, the patient should continue to be delivered the nutrients and the hydration, medically.
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