For Immediate Release
March 30, 2005

Duty of care owed to Terri Schiavo

We are united with those who have condemned the injustice of what is happening to this disabled woman. Terri Schiavo's parents want to care for her, but the courts have become obsessed with process rather than doing what is fair. The courts are allowing an innocent woman to be starved and dehydrated to death by her husband. This will alleviate his suffering, not hers. One would expect the condemnation from women's groups to be deafening.

The duty of care in this case should be to Terri, a vulnerable woman completely dependent on others for survival--a woman who was not dying until after her feeding tube was removed on her husband's orders--a woman whose parents love her and want to give her the care she needs. Instead, Terri is being denied this care, including the most basic necessities of life, food and water. This act of inhumanity is not the mark of a civilized society.

Will Johnston, MD
President, Canadian Physicians for Life
-30-

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Canadian Physicians for Life
ph/fax: 613-728-5433
email: info@physiciansforlife.ca
www.physiciansforlife.ca

Canadian Physicians for Life is an educational organization representing physicians who hold that reverence for every human life lies at the root of all medical tradition. Through the ages, this tradition has been expressed in the Oath of Hippocrates. It was rephrased in modern times in the Declaration of Geneva (1948), which says in part, “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life, from the time of conception; even under threat, I will not use my medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity