Opinions Split on Feeding Tube

Like many Christians, the Rev. Mark Brewer and his wife, Carolyn, disagree over what should happen to Terri Schiavo.

Carolyn Brewer believes the brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube should be reinserted. Although her husband agrees with her underlying principles, he wonders whether it is right to prolong Schiavo’s existence in such an impaired state of consciousness.

“We should always protect life, because God gives life,” Brewer, the head pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, said Sunday. “But if we prolong the death experience, is that loving?”

The divisions at Bel Air Presbyterian do not split neatly along traditional left-right political fault lines, Brewer said. “Many who would march against abortion think it’s all right to unhook the tube. Then there are people who think stem cell research is right who think that [unhooking the tube] is wrong. It’s so unclear.”

Indeed, at Easter services across Southern California on Sunday, churchgoers offered a wide range of opinions on the issue. Although some evangelical activists have led the effort to keep Schiavo alive, the views expressed reflected the findings of nationwide polls, which show divisions within families of faith, including evangelical Christians.

Some were appalled that Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed March 18, arguing that it violated the tenets of a culture that should value human life. Others said their ideals were tempered by the complicated decisions they have had to make when family members became gravely incapacitated.

Physician Lamya Jarjour said she was shocked that anyone could consider removing Schiavo’s feeding tube. To bolster her point, she recalled a time when her neighbors berated her for failing to keep her dog’s drinking water clean.

“What’s up with this nation that worships cats and dogs, and here is this poor soul, dying?” said Jarjour, who was attending services at the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth. “Let her live!”

Curtis Wheatley, however, said he trusted Terri Schiavo’s husband when he said he was carrying out his wife’s wishes.

Wheatley, attending services at the interdenominational Church on the Way in Van Nuys, said he faced a similar issue several years ago when his father was put on life support after a head trauma injury.

“His wife wanted to pull the plug after only a few days,” said Wheatley, 36, a systems engineer. “I didn’t feel like my heart was there yet. I wanted to give it more time. But I stood back because she was his caregiver, and I felt [she] knew best what he wanted. I think [the choice I made] was what God wanted, to help me navigate through that period. It has kept a relationship with her open that might otherwise have been broken.”

Churchgoers who said they wanted the feeding tube reinserted generally arrived at those conclusions based on firm ideas about the sanctity of life, a dose of suspicion about the motives of Schiavo’s husband, or both.

“The whole thing just smells fishy to me,” said John Wiens, a contractor from Reseda who was celebrating Easter at the Chatsworth church. The people who want to prevent Schiavo’s feeding tube from being reinserted, he added, are “trying to push this thing through so fast they aren’t looking at all the facts,” among them the opinion voiced by some experts and doctors that there’s still hope for the Florida woman, he said.

Wiens said it would be wrong to speculate on Schiavo’s wishes, because she can’t speak for herself and had not written them down before she fell ill.

“Without written consent, you have to err on the side of life,” said Wiens, 39. “You can’t assume what she wanted based on hearsay.”

Sami Jarjour, a Granada Hills supermarket owner who is Lamya Jarjour’s former brother-in-law, said that he and his family cared for his gravely ill father until the time of his death several years ago. The experience helped Jarjour arrive at a clear opinion in the Schiavo case: “Not feeding a person is killing that person.”

Yvonne Griffin was concerned about the pain Schiavo might be feeling as she starves to death. “Who knows what she feels?” asked Griffin, 50, one of thousands who attended Easter services at the interdenominational church in Van Nuys. “If she had a different outcome, if she had a quick end, that would be one thing. But it’s sad for someone to die of starvation.”

Griffin also questioned the motivations of Michael Schiavo. “I think the Supreme Court should have intervened,” she said. “The family should have been given the right to take her into their care, especially considering the husband’s relationship with another woman.”

At the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Janis Huston said it should be up to spouses, not parents, to decide in a case like this.

Her husband, George Huston, 59, echoed a common sentiment among interviewees when he said the government overreached in the case.

“They should back off,” Huston said. “The government needs to be taking care of roads, defense -- not family matters.”

At Metro Calvary Chapel in Santa Monica, David Mullen voiced similar opinions about the limits of government power. But he said he was “kind of torn” over the issue.

“I don’t think the government should get involved in personal affairs,” said Mullen, 50. “But it’s also tragic that the parents want to get involved in the life of their daughter but are not allowed to do so.”

A number of churchgoers at the Santa Monica church -- a hip, young congregation that intersperses sermons with alternative rock hymns -- said they were unable to come to a firm conclusion, despite the strong feelings it elicited.

Among the undecided was head pastor Steve Snook, who spoke of his complex response to the illness of his younger sister Brenda.

Brenda was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 9, and was not expected to live long. Snook believes God delivered a miracle in allowing her to live 30 years longer than expected. But Snook and other family members had to make the decision to take Brenda off life support about a year ago, when her condition deteriorated and doctors said that mentally, she “was not there.”

For any family, Snook said, “It’s a really hard decision.”

Priscilla Hundley of Topanga said she hoped that people would realize that not all Christians believe they have the answers in the Schiavo case. She certainly didn’t.

“But we know God has the answers,” Hundley added. “I believe in the medical system. I believe in the legal system. But I think we all need to pray for wisdom.”

Times staff writers Carla Rivera and Claire Luna contributed to this report.