Terri Schiavo: A Tragedy Compounded

Everyone knows that the way information is presented is important in any argument, written or spoken. Therefore, you want to make sure that you use techniques to further inspire a reader to join your side, while also remaining true to the facts. In his article “Terri Schiavo — A Tragedy Compounded,” Timothy E. Quill does exactly that. It’s clear from the beginning that Quill thinks the outcome of the case, where Terri Schiavo’s family and husband ended up in a legal battle that kept her life sustained for 15 years, was wrong. Quill uses stylistic choices to provoke reader’s emotions and provide a sense of neutrality to persuade readers to agree with him. There are multiple times throughout the article where Quill (2005) mentions the side

At one point Quill (2005) writes, “He believed that his wife would not want to be kept alive,” and slightly later in the paragraph says, “The Schindler family, however, did not accept the diagnosis of a persistent vegetative state, believing instead that Ms. Schiavo’s ” (p. 1631). Why would he use “his wife” in place of “Ms. Sciavo” in the beginning, and why did he use “Ms. Schiavo” instead of a familial term towards the end? Using the same type of term would have kept neutrality, but deviating from this subconsciously makes readers believe the relationship between Mr. Schiavo and Ms. Schiavo was stronger than the one between Ms. Schiavo and the Schindlers, which would lead to readers be more inclined to agree that Mr. Schiavo was

Quill (2005) writes, “Some families unite around this question, especially when there is a shared vision of the patient’s views and values. Other families unravel, their crisis aggravated by genuine differences of opinion about the proper course of action or preexisting fault lines arising from long-standing family dynamics” (p. 1631) and he further solidifies this by adding in a short story of Nancy Cruzan, someone in the same position with the opposing family outcome. Why would Quill decide to put in what else could have happened in this article? It’s another one of those emotional aspects that he sneaks in. This appeal to a reader’s sense of family and makes them think about how they would like their family to act in this situation. Most, if not all, people would want their families to agree and come together to make this big decision, but we all know family doesn’t always work out the way you want it