Our correspondent, Judy Valente, has the story of another family -- all devout Catholics -- torn apart by their feeding tube decision.
JUDY VALENTE: Hugh Finn was a popular television anchorman in Louisville, Kentucky, and to his wife and family, much more.MICHELLE FINN (Hugh Finn's Widow): He was a very vibrant person. He was involved with so many things in the community.
ED FINN (Hugh Finn's Brother): My brother was the nicest guy in the world.
Ms. FINN: He above and out was a fabulous family man and husband.
VALENTE: That life, devoted to family and community, took a tragic turn on this rural road one icy morning in March 1995.
Ms. FINN: He had sustained a traumatic brain injury at the scene of the accident. And when I got to the hospital I was informed that he had a tear in the aorta of his heart. I knew that he had gone to the operation room to get the tear replaced. I knew that he had lost a significant amount of blood -- that 11 units of blood that he had lost had deprived his brain of oxygen.VALENTE: His condition was consistent with what doctors call a wakeful coma. He appeared to be awake but had lost the ability to walk, talk, or control his body. A feeding tube was inserted in his stomach to keep him alive in hopes of recovery.
Ms. FINN: I remember going to the chapel and praying for Hugh. And I -- at that time, I wasn't praying for "Oh please Lord, let him get better." I was just praying for whatever is the right course. You know, "I'm leaving it in your hands."
VALENTE: Michelle was determined to find the best care for Hugh. She brought him to two prominent centers for long-term rehabilitation. Each time, doctors told Michelle they could do no more for Hugh.
Ms. FINN: I was told I really needed to find a nursing home for Hugh, and I was not, at that point, I was not ready to give up.
VALENTE: There were still some signs of hope.
JOHN FINN: He could move his arms, he could move, he would roll around in that bed.
VALENTE: Nearly two years after the accident, Michelle brought Hugh to this nursing home in Manassas, Virginia. There, he could be closer to his parents and some of his seven brothers and sisters. Michelle Finn still hoped her husband would improve. He did not.
Ms. FINN: He was essentially lying in a sick bed existing. We had concerns over bedsores. We had concerns over him getting pneumonia. We had some instances where he was vomiting his own feces. That was actually a complication from the feeding tube.VALENTE: It was there doctors told Finn her husband was in a persistent vegetative state and that he likely would never recover.
Ms. FINN: I reacted like, well, now I can finally do what I know that Hugh would want me to do.
VALENTE: Michelle believed her husband would want to die. She had talked with her husband philosophically about death just before he turned 40, a few months before his accident.
Ms. FINN: I asked him if he was afraid to die. And he said, "No, I'm not afraid to die." He strongly believed that, as well, he was going to a better place. And that gave me great comfort.
VALENTE: In June 1998, more than three years after the accident, Michelle asked doctors to remove Hugh's feeding tube. She believed her husband's physical ordeal would soon be ending.
But another was just beginning for the entire Finn family. Hugh had not left written directives of what his wishes would be in the event of a catastrophic illness.
It fell to Michelle, as his wife and sole legal guardian, to make the decision. But Hugh's parents and siblings sued to keep him alive. And then Virginia public officials intervened.
Delegate BOB MARSHALL (Commonwealth of Virginia): We have no reverence for life anymore.
VALENTE: Bob Marshall is a Republican delegate in the Virginia legislature and a devout Catholic. He organized public demonstrations to protest Michelle's decision to let Hugh die and convinced Virginia's governor to file an emergency motion to prevent doctors from removing Hugh's feeding tube.
Del. MARSHALL: Government is supposed to protect your rights. And if it doesn't protect your rights, it ceases to perform its function. The goal of medicine is, or should be, the preservation of life and restoration of health. And when it ceases to do that, it ought not to take up the job of assassins.JOHN FINN: It wasn't so anybody knew what persistent vegetative state was. It has so many different definitions. My father had seen my brother react and try to communicate with him. Hugh's sister-in-law had seen it. My own sister had seen it.
VALENTE: Dr. John Collins Harvey is chairman of the bioethics committee at Georgetown Medical Center. He counsels families who have to face the same kinds of decisions as the Finns did.
Dr. JOHN COLLINS HARVEY (Bioethicist, Georgetown University): Individuals in the persistent vegetative state have reflex actions, including reflexes that will end up in groans and noises that are meaningless, but are there.
Dr. HARVEY: Moral theologians of the 16th, 17th century on down to the present time have all pointed out that when there is a fatal pathology, we are not obligated to maintain simply biological life. If we maintain biological life that can never recover, we are prolonging the ability of that individual to reach his or her final end, which is life in heaven in glory with God.
Archbishop KELLY: I didn't mean to say it was my opinion or the Church's opinion she should do this. It was her choice. That's very important to remember. She's the responsible one for her husband, and she knew what he would have wished done.
ED FINN: After he was declared dead and he turned, like, a yellowish green from jaundice, from dying of thirst, the hatred and the bitterness -- all that set in.
JOHN FINN: If you really do love that person, do what's best for them and let them come to a natural closure.
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