Ethicists: Schiavo case should lead to family talks, not just wills

Published: 2005-05-16

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The death of Terri Schindler Schiavo last March should lead Americans not just to write living wills, but to talk with relatives and friends about their end-of-life wishes, two ethicists said May 13 at the National Press Club in Washington. "Of the 100 things that can happen at the end of life, a living will will typically cover two of them," said David Magnus, director of the Center for Bioethics at Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif. "There are a million variants." "Living wills are not the solution" to disputes among family members over end-of-life care, said Art Caplan, chairman of the department of medical ethics and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Both ethicists were critical of the media handling of what Caplan called the "soap opera" surrounding Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged Florida woman whose March 31 death came 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.

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