I chose to discuss the case of Terri Shiavo which was a very important ethics case in 2005. She had been left on a ventilator for 15 years. So let's start from the beginning. On February 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo suffered cardiac arrest caused by extreme hypokalemia (low potassium) caused by an eating disorder (Quill, 2005). As a result of this cardiac arrest Terri developed severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy which is another way of saying lack of oxygen to the brain (Quill, 2005). During this period he showed no evidence of brain function and eventually scans of his brain showed severe atrophy of his cerebral hemispheres (Quill, 2005). His electroencephalograms were fat, indicating the absence of functional activity of the cerebral cortex (Quill, 2005). All of his neurological tests were suggestive of a persistent vegetative state (Quill, 2005). As we know the persistent vegetative state can include periods of wakefulness alternating with sleep, the patient will also have some reflexive responses to light and noise and some basic responses to vomiting and swallowing (Quill, 2005). However, regardless of these responses, the patient will have no signs of emotion, voluntary activity, or cognition (Quill, 2005). There are very few cases in which a person emerges from a vegetative state after remaining so for three months (Quill, 2005). Despite this known fact, Terri's parents fought to try to keep their daughter alive. Terri left no written directive saying what she would want done in a situation like this, meaning the decision is left to the next of kin, in this case her husband, Michael Schiavo (Quill, 2005). Florida law designates the spouse as the one who makes decisions about the patient's other family members...halfway through the document...how the case was handled. Like I said before, I think the family was being unreasonable, but that being said maybe if I was in a situation like this I would see differently. I can see the families point of view. They didn't want to let their daughter go and were blinded by the hope that maybe she would wake up. This happens to many family members in persistent vegetative states because they have involuntary motor function and think they are still capable of living. This was a very sad case but I thought it was interesting for my analysis of the case. References Jonsen, A. R., Siegler, M., & Winslade, W. (2010). Clinical ethics: A practical approach to ethical decisions in clinical medicine (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical.Quill, T. (2005). Terri slave: an aggravated tragedy. The New England Newspaper