AN END IN SIGHT?

If there was one thing that made sense in Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s speech last week about his misguided decision to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, it was his encouragement that others take steps to ensure that they not end up in the same horrible situation. Ms. Schiavo is the 39-year-old brain-damaged woman at the center of a legal battle over ending her life. Her husband has tried for years to have the feeding tube that sustains her removed. Her parents have so far successfully fought that move.

The battle seems close to an end recently when a judge ruled that the tube could be removed. Doctors predicted that without the tube, Ms. Schiavo, whose heart stopped briefly in 1990 leaving her in a vegetative state, would die within 10 days. Ms. Schiavo’s parents appealed that ruling, but two state courts refused to overturn it.

Gov. Bush and the Florida Legislature then intervened. Six days after the feeding tube was removed, the governor ordered it replaced after lawmakers voted to give him the power to do so. The situation now remains tied up in court.

In explaining his decision to intervene, which legal scholars say likely violated both the United States and Florida constitutions, Gov. Bush wisely urged those watching the case to make their end-of-life wishes known and to put them in writing, something Ms. Schiavo did not do.

“The conflict among family members over the best interests of this young woman has made us all acutely aware that uncertainty in these situations can, and does, compound the tragedy. I hope all Floridians, and any others who have followed this case, will ensure their best interests are clearly documented in a living will or other directive to spare their families a similar anguish,” the governor said last week.

Simply put, make sure your wishes are known to your family members. Then put them in writing. Do you want to be kept alive by mechanical means, such as a feeding tube? Do you want to be resuscitated if your heart stops? These are difficult questions to confront, but not answering them now can lead to decades of heartache as the Schiavo case shows.