The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life
Edited by Arthur L. Caplan, James A. McCartney and Dominic A. Sisti. (Prometheus Books, Amherst, N.Y., 2006). 352 pp. $21.

Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us
By David Gibbs with Bob DeMoss. Bethany House (Bloomington, Minn., 2006) 288 pp. $19.99.

Reviewed by Nancy Frazier O'Brien

The controversy surrounding the life and death of Terri Schindler Schiavo, the severely disabled Florida woman whose parents and estranged husband clashed over whether to take away her feeding tube, has been described as "the perfect storm of medical, legal, moral and constitutional disputes."

Before Schiavo died March 31, 2005, 13 days after her food and water were withdrawn, the Florida Legislature, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the U.S. Congress, various federal and state courts and much of the U.S. population had been drawn in.

But during the controversy and since Schiavo's death, it has not always been easy to sort fact from fiction. With "The Case of Terri Schiavo: Ethics at the End of Life," bioethicists Arthur Caplan, James McCartney and Dominic Sisti make a valuable contribution to the ongoing debate by allowing readers to digest the various source documents for themselves.

The book brings together essays, legislation, political speeches and a variety of other documents related to the Schiavo case from more than 50 contributors.

The text of Terri's Law, passed by the Florida Legislature to allow Bush to intervene in the case, is there, as is Pope John Paul II's March 2004 message to an international congress on treatment of patients in a persistent vegetative state, which some interpreted as mandating food and water for all patients.

Schiavo's autopsy report, the cautious statements from Florida's Catholic bishops, and articles from the New England Journal of Medicine and such Catholic periodicals as Commonweal and America also are included, with the editors providing minimal commentary to guide the reader about the documents they are presenting.

"Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us" by David Gibbs, an attorney for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, offers nearly the opposite -- little documentation and lots of commentary.

It is clear from the start that Gibbs believes Schiavo was killed and that he feels some guilt over failing to win some sort of permanent reprieve for the disabled woman.

Although his sincerity cannot be questioned, Gibbs' somewhat breathless style and his tendency to hyperbole can be off-putting.

In a section on "life on a slippery slope," for example, Gibbs writes: "You might be thinking, 'Whoa! Time out, David. We're nowhere near Hitler's day. We're a reasonable, freedom-loving people who care for everyone.' Really? You might want to press your ear a little closer to the pavement. ... There's a growing trend in the halls of medicine to disconnect those whose lives appear to have no meaningful place in society."

Clearly, neither book is going to resolve the ongoing controversy about the life and death of Schiavo. In a foreword to "The Case of Terri Schiavo," Jay Wolfson, the court-appointed guardian ad litem for Schiavo, called the case "a family tragedy for which no good solution was possible."

"But it was also a clarion call to the sensibilities of public policy in the United States," Wolfson added. "The co-editors provide the basis for individual and societal reflection that should help frame discussion about end-of-life decisions and the allocation of increasingly scarce health care resources. That discussion will be the most valuable tribute to the shy, quiet woman who unconsciously stirred the world."

---CNS Nancy Frazier O'Brien is deputy editor of Catholic News Service and reports frequently on biomedical issues.