Schiavo's kin join Poutre debate
Urge tighter rules in end-of-life cases
The family of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a divisive right-to-die case that ended with her death last year, is urging Governor Mitt Romney to tighten regulations of end-of-life cases in Massachusetts.
Schiavo's family, which runs the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation Center for Health Care Ethics Inc., is alarmed that doctors misread the medical condition of 12-year-old Haleigh Poutre, a Westfield girl who authorities say was beaten into a coma by her adoptive parents. State authorities, believing she was in a permanent vegetative state, were close to removing Haleigh's life support before her condition began improving earlier this year.
The foundation made a number of recommendations in a letter to Romney last week, including that Massachusetts open end-of-life proceedings to the public, increase the standard of evidence required to remove life support in certain instances, and establish judicial panels to hear such cases.
''Haleigh's shocking story demonstrates that much more needs to be done to protect the sick and disabled from harm, including harm imposed by courts," the letter reads. ''The common sense reforms outlined herein will help to provide the most vulnerable among us with better protection in the legal system. The Foundation respectfully requests that the Commonwealth immediately address the law to provide Haleigh Poutre and other children like her with greater protections."
Schiavo's case became a flashpoint for conservatives, who rallied behind bids by her parents and siblings to fight her husband's effort to remove her feeding tube. Romney's actions in Haleigh's case could be watched closely if he decides to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
''We are happy to review the letter," Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said in an e-mail.
An independent panel appointed by Romney recommended a series of changes last month on how the state handles such cases, including that DSS more closely scrutinize requests to withdraw life support. Romney accepted the recommendations.
Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said in an interview yesterday that this was the first time the foundation has gotten involved in another case to this extent. ''Basically we saw how the case was being handled, and we're very concerned with some of the things that were happening in her case," said Schindler, who plans to speak about the issue in Agawam next month. ''This kind of goes at what we've been saying: Doctors are oftentimes wrong with these diagnoses that they are making, and it becomes a death sentence for these people."
Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, the hospital whose doctors concluded Haleigh was in an irreversible coma, has defended its work and said that the ultimate decision about her fate fell with the state Department of Social Services, which has had custody of the girl. Haleigh has been recovering at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton.
Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler Sr., said in an interview that there are similar cases elsewhere in the country, and the foundation's goal is ''essentially to guard against this rush to judgment."
''It's almost a ticket to the gas chamber," he said of a doctor's diagnosis that someone is in a permanent vegetative state.
Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped from a chemical imbalance, possibly caused by an eating disorder. She was on life support for 15 years before dying in March 2005 at age 41, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed.
Schiavo did not designate in writing anyone to make decisions for her. Her parents fought a legal battle with her husband, Michael, who said it would have been her wish to remove the feeding tube.
Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com. 