Financial Equation in Saga Remains Unclear

While the moral and political debate surrounding Terri Schiavo continued Monday, the cost of maintaining her life remained unclear.

Barbara Weller, a lawyer for Schiavo’s parents, said the financial records were sealed by the court. But she noted that since the 41-year-old woman’s feeding tube was disconnected Friday, Schiavo’s hospice care has been minimal.

“Nothing is being done,” Weller said. “There certainly is no cost for any rehab or anything, because she doesn’t get any.”

She said Schiavo’s doctor visited her three times a year, and that her case file long had included a DNR, or do-not-resuscitate order.

Louise Cleary, director of public relations and marketing, said the average yearly cost per patient at Woodside Hospice was $80,000. But she could not put a precise price tag on Schiavo’s care at the 72-bed facility.

“That is something, I’m sorry, that I just can’t get into,” Cleary said.

Cleary also would not disclose what portion of Schiavo’s care was being covered by Medicaid, Social Security or other public funding.

“We do respect the privacy of all of our patients,” she said.

George Annas, a medical ethicist at Boston University, said the cost of long-term care for patients in comas or vegetative states varied widely, because those conditions could include vastly different levels of intervention.

In Schiavo’s case, Annas said, “she is not on any machines. She is very easy to care for in that sense.”