Schiavo case, legal moves brought euthanasia to forefront in 2005

Published: 2005-12-09

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As Pope John Paul II was showing the world how to experience a true "death with dignity," the case of Terri Schindler Schiavo in Florida was demonstrating just the opposite -- and leaving many Americans with questions about end-of-life medical care and their own eventual deaths. Schiavo's death March 31, following a long legal battle between family members over the removal of her feeding tube, also drew attention to the growing acceptance of assisted suicide and euthanasia in the United States and worldwide, and to "a culture in which human life is increasingly devalued and violated," as one U.S. cardinal put it. Questions about when medical treatment should be considered more burdensome than beneficial to the patient sent many Americans scurrying to specify their wishes in living wills, advance medical directives or other legal documents. In the fall, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a challenge to the assisted suicide law in Oregon, the only state where it is legal. That case hinges on whether then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft was right to declare that assisted suicide was not a legitimate medical purpose and physicians who prescribe drugs under the Oregon law could be prosecuted under federal drug control statutes.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .