Case creates push for living wills

TAMPA, Fla. – Terri Schiavo didn’t have a living will. But because of her, thousands of other Americans won’t make that same mistake.

Attorneys and organizations that promote the importance of living wills and advance directives say the bitter legal battle over the severely brain-damaged woman has led many people to put their end-of-life wishes in writing.

At attorney Christopher Likens’ office in Sarasota, clients bring up Terri Schiavo as they put their affairs in order.

“Almost universally, it’s ‘That poor girl. I don’t ever want that to happen to me,’ ” Likens said. “People are much more informed about the issue.”

Most American adults – estimates are as high as 75 percent – do not have written directives for their families to follow.

Schiavo did not, and her fate has been debated in court for years as she lies in her hospice bed. Her feeding tube was removed Friday.

Congress approved emergency legislation early today to let Schiavo’s parents ask a federal judge to prolong their daughter’s life.

“I think everyone can agree this is not the way the decision should be made,” said Paul Malley, president of Aging with Dignity, a Tallahassee-based agency that created the living will known as “Five Wishes.”

Orders for the will have been pouring in as the Schiavo case again grabs headlines worldwide. The group is sending out more than 2,000 living wills a day, with many people requesting multiple copies to distribute to family members.

Aging with Dignity estimates requests for its advanced directives are up tenfold because of the Schiavo case. In October 2003, when the case became an international sensation, on some days orders for living wills were pouring in at a rate of 200 an hour. The group has distributed 1 million copies of its living will.

“We get requests saying, ‘We have seen what happened in the Schiavo case and above all, we don’t want to see that same tragedy repeat itself in our family,’ ” Malley said.

Terri Schiavo was 26 when her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder, leaving her brain-damaged for the past 15 years.

Her husband, Michael, and two of his family members have testified she told them she would never want to be kept alive artificially after she saw a TV program involving an end-of-life story and saw a relative endure a difficult death.

But her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, dispute their daughter had such wishes, and the result has been a bitter court battle that has waged for more than seven years.

Doctors have said Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, but her parents insist she can be rehabilitated with treatment.