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By Katie Parsley and Anna Kaplan
Record & Landmark

If a man refused to feed his dog, Van Estes reasons, he’d probably get arrested. The same reasoning should be applied to the Terri Schiavo case, he said.

“I think that if somebody’s still alive, they should leave their feeding tube in,” the Statesville resident said Monday. “Starving somebody to death - that’s pretty brutal.”

Schiavo, the Florida woman at the center of the right-to-die issue, suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a possible potassium imbalance brought on by an eating disorder. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.

Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

Her husband says she would not want to be kept alive in that condition, but her parents insist she could recover with treatment.

Estes isn’t worried that the federal government has become involved in the case. He said officials should do whatever they can to get the feeding tube back in. If the tube goes back in, he added, there could always be a miracle.

“I’d want to keep them alive as long as they could stay alive,” Estes said. “Then I’d pray for them to get better. Who knows - in 10 years, she could be fine.”

Like the rest of the nation, Iredell appears divided on this issue. Monday afternoon, the R&L hit the streets to ask residents about their opinion on the Schiavo case.

Here’s what some of your neighbors, advocates for the aging and terminally ill, and your congressmen, had to say on the matter:

Willard White

Willard White, the 75-year-old owner of Willard White’s Appliance Service, knows that several of his family members already have told him that they do not want heroic efforts to save them in the event they are ever on life support.

But in cases without such guidance, he said the decision should belong to the spouse and the doctors.

“If she’s brain dead, it’s one thing, but if she’s not, it’d be a shame to pull the plug,” he said Monday.

He emphasized his belief that doctors should play a large role in such a decision.

Ramon, Betty Southard

Ramon and Betty Southard have different views on the Schiavo case.

Betty, whose first husband died of cancer several years ago, said she would prefer a natural death.

“I think it’s good to die natural,” she said. “That’s the way my husband died. He passed away at home, and it was so peaceful.“

Her husband Ramon disagrees.

“I think they should put (Schiavo’s) tube back in,” he said. “If God wants her to live, she’s going to live.”

The couple, married for five years, say Schiavo’s husband should have the final say about her treatment. But they agree there would have been an easier alternative.

“She should have left a letter ... a living will,” Betty said.

Michelle Holmes

Michelle Holmes follows the Schiavo case diligently. She says Schiavo’s husband should hand over guardianship to her parents.

“He should let them take care of her,” she said. “He’s already moved on.“

Holmes said there is nothing to stop Schiavo’s husband from lying about her wishes. For that reason, she said, Schiavo should have made a living will.

“If it’s in writing, it’s her choice.”

Other opinions vary

Both Ron Thompson, the CEO of Statesville Hospice, and Anna Rice, the executive director of the Iredell Council on Aging, stressed the importance of living wills and do-not-resuscitate orders for patients.

“We want people to make sure their legal house is in order,” Rice said Monday.

If there is no official input from the incapacitated patient, the decision comes down to family members.

“The spouse is generally going to have the say,” Rice said.

If there is no spouse, the decision goes to the patient’s next of kin, usually children or parents. The trouble comes when family members can’t agree on what the patient would have wanted.

“If family members can’t agree, it comes down to the quality of life,” Thompson said.

When advising family members, Thompson said doctors consider whether a patient will be able to enjoy the things they love and be able to take care of themselves ever again.

Iredell’s congressional delegation came down on Terri Schiavo’s side, voting early Monday to support federal intervention in the case.

“It is a sad day in America when a society as great as ours, and filled with as many opportunities as ours, turns its back on one of it’s most vulnerable, disabled citizens,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-5th. “It is unfortunate that it has come to this.

“Those who have said that this issue should be a private and personal matter are correct. I agree with them. Congress has no business interjecting its opinion in the ‘end of life’ decisions of any family. But that is not what we’re doing here. Terri Schiavo is not ‘brain dead.’ She is not on artificial life support. She is not terminally ill or in the process of dying. She is brain damaged, but if given the chance to be rehabilitated again, there’s no telling what she can do.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-10th, argued late last week on MSNBC that the Florida judge who ordered her feeding tube removed should be held in contempt of Congress.

“Terri Schiavo breathes on her own,” he said. “She laughs, she cries, she is alive, and we must defend her life.”