Jeff Stephenson
The Debate of Quality of Life as it Relates to End of Life Decisions
In 1990, Terri Schiavo had a heart attack that placed her in a vegetative state for over a decade. The debate that surfaced as a result of her ailment had an enormous impact on how Americans viewed clinical autonomy. Clinical autonomy is the ability to appoint a person the control of your treatment in case you are not able to. Unconscious and unable to even feed herself, Terri was considered a “vegetable.” Prior to having a cardiac arrest, Terri had legally appointed her husband as the sole person in charge of ...