WHAT IF IT HAPPENS IN YOUR FAMILY?

摘要

The saga of Terri Schiavo has touched many Americans directly, prompting them to relive difficult decisions they've already made or can contemplate making. That the case became so celebrated, though, is a function of its atypicality. Relatives faced with a situation like Schiavo's, in which the patient has no living will, very often differ about what to do, physicians say, but rarely do the factions become so unmovable and determined to prevail as did Schiavo's husband and parents. Instead, one side usually gives in. Will the Schiavo case change that? Though Schiavo's parents were able to go to great lengths in challenging their son-in-law's decision to let Terri die, legal experts aren't convinced this will lead to many more courtroom disputes. Rather, they expect more Americans will now make their end-of-life wishes more explicit, and evidence of that is already emerging.