By Elizabeth M. Whelan, Sc.D., M.P.H.
Posted: Friday, April 1, 2005
ARTICLES
Publication Date: April 1, 2005
In the two weeks leading up to Terri Schiavo's death, I followed the coverage of the political and legal machinations proposed to keep her alive. Ms. Schiavo was the forty-one year-old woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for the last fifteen years following heart failure resulting from a severe eating disorder. The disorder triggered life-threateningly low levels of potassium, causing her heart to stop temporarily, depriving her brain of oxygen and causing permanent damage.
The emphasis on my cable station of choice (FoxNews) was on the importance of preserving life--at any cost. Life indeed is precious. We should be doing everything to prevent unnecessary and premature loss of human life. The question is this: was 24/7 network coverage of one severely impaired woman the way to discourage unnecessary human death and suffering? If indeed the TV networks want to reduce human suffering and keep Americans alive and functioning as long as possible (that is, prevent premature death, as it might be argued media were doing by focusing on Schiavo's parents' effort to have her feeding tube re-instated), are there not broader messages the media should send?
For example, there has been scant coverage of the underlying reason Terri was in a vegetative state. Fifteen years ago, when she was in her mid-20s, Terri apparently had a health problem common among young women: bulimia. She apparently had fought severe weight problems all her life and was limiting her food intake--and vomiting/purging--to control her caloric absorption. She sought medical help when her menstrual periods ceased--and it was clear that her eating disorder was negatively affecting her physiological functioning. Ultimately, the depletion of potassium had the expected effect on her heart: it stopped. The rest is history.
Thus in the round-the-clock concern about saving a human life, why was there not any expressed concern about others--particularly young women--who might now be about to suffer Terri's fate? In the course of a hundred hours of non-stop coverage dedicated to saving Terri's life by mandating the re-insertion of her feeding tube, how many other lives could have been saved if even 20% of those hours had focused on eating disorders (the likely victims, the deadly consequences, the existing remedies and treatments)?
Terri Schiavo was but one person. Yet as a nation, we are committed to the value of all lives. What about the other estimated one million (yes 1,000,0000) Americans who die prematurely each year from preventable causes? These are people who "die before their time" because of risk factors such as cigarette smoking, for example? Cigarettes account for one half of the one million premature deaths. Where is the 24/7 news coverage, the fretting on FoxNews, the candle-light vigils?
Why were President Bush, Governor Bush, Senator Frist, and various members of Congress exclusively concerned about preventing what they deemed the premature death of one person--who according to the vast majority of medical authorities was in an irreversible vegetative state--when a) thousands of families each day agree to "let go" of a loved one who cannot be saved (or make other personal life-and-death decisions) and b) there is so much information that could be communicated to Americans on how to prevent hundreds of thousands of premature deaths each year?
Dr. Elizabeth M. Whelan is president of the American Council on Science and Health.
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