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Meeting 'Kenya's Terri Schiavo'
By Gray Phombeah
BBC, Nairobi
The court case over the life and death of American Terri Schiavo which made
headlines all over the world has led to parallels being drawn with a patient
in Kenya.
Wanjiru Kihoro has been bed-ridden and barely conscious in a Nairobi
hospital for more than two years.
But while Schiavo's husband, Michael, went to court to secure his wife's
right to die, Dr Kihoro's husband and relatives are unanimous that she
should live.
Schiavo spent more than 15 years in a vegetative condition, being fed
through a tube in a Florida hospice.
A court ruling permitted her husband to remove the feeding tube, which led
to her death on 31 March.
Mrs Kihoro is also being fed through a tube and is on a life-support machine
in Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital.
Crash
Her husband, lawyer Wanyiri Kihoro, has spent more than two years looking
after her and says he has no plans to switch off the machine.
Mrs Kihoro, who is in her 50s, is a renowned economist who spent more than
20 years in the UK, where she completed her PhD at the University of Leeds.
In January 2003, she was aboard a plane carrying several senior government
officials who were heading to Nairobi from Western Kenya. The plane crashed,
and one minister and two pilots died.
Mrs Kihoro suffered head injuries that left her in a coma from which she has
never recovered.
In the private wing of her Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward at Kenyatta
National Hospital, Mrs Kihoro is fed through a tube in the nose, while air
is pumped into her weak lungs through a bigger tube passing through a hole
in the throat.
Mr Kihoro tells me his wife responds to his communication and he believes
they have developed their own language.
"She would open and shut her eyes when I request her to do so."
Will he eventually remove the tubes if it becomes apparent that she may
never regain consciousness, as Schiavo's husband decided to do?
"What is happening in America for me is totally unimaginable," Mr Kihoro
says.
"That you can come to that position, that you can stop feeding your wife so
that she can die... to me that is unacceptable and I do not want to imagine
that it will happen."
Open
Mr Kihoro spoke lovingly to his wife, touching her face. Anyone who
overheard him would have thought the lady was wide awake.
When I mentioned that I would have liked to take a photograph of her with
her eyes open, Mr Kihoro told me what I thought was impossible.
"Don't worry, I will tell her to open her eyes," he assured me, and began
talking to his wife: "Wanjiru... Wanjiru... honey... please open your eyes,
we want to take a picture of you with your eyes open."
I was just about to pack away my camera, not believing that she would open
her eyes, and then she did.
Amazed, I took two pictures. Mr Kihoro noticed this and asked me:
"Look at her - doesn't she look beautiful? Is this the lady that people
think I should remove her air and food tubes? That is a joke."
Future
Another difference between Terri Schiavo and Wanjiru Kihoro was that unlike
Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo - who battled with his parents-in-law over
whether Terri should have continued to live in her condition or not -
Wanyiri Kihoro is in perfect agreement with his in-laws that Wanjiru's life
should not be terminated.
"Don't even mention it," says Onesmus Matenjwa, Wanjiru's father.
If there is no suit the patient would be on the machine for as long as it
takes
Dr James Nyikal
"That [decision] is God's will and not man's."
Following the international debate on the fate of Terri Schiavo, some
Kenyans are now wondering aloud whether Mrs Kihoro will ever recover, and
whether she should remain on life-support as long as Schiavo did.
Catherine Chebet, a Nairobi University student, says: "I think Dr Kihoro
should be given 15 years like Terri. After that then the family should
decide if they should pull the plug and let her rest."
Nairobi resident John Kitui, 21, said Kenyans should not even bother
comparing Dr Kihoro's situation with Mrs Schiavo's.
"Wanjiru should be allowed to live as long as God wishes her to live and I
consider it a sin for anybody who removes the tubes feeding her," he said.
Prayers
The leader of the Catholic Church in Kenya, Nairobi Archbishop Ndingi Mwana
A' Nzeki, says he had been praying for both Schiavo and Mrs Kihoro. He says
that when all else fails, families in such situations should pray for a
miracle.
"Everybody has a right to life and nobody has any right to take anybody's
life. I can only pray that God will give Wanjiru strength," he said.
He added that any decision to terminate a life should be made after prayer
"and with a clear conscience - nobody should stop the machines with the sole
purpose of ending life."
Soon after the accident in January 2003, the government booked her into one
of the most prestigious and expensive hospitals in Nairobi, but seven months
ago she was moved to the public Kenyatta National Hospital, which is
cheaper.
In Kenya a person is considered dead only after their heart stops;
euthanasia is a crime.
The Director of Medical Services, Dr James Nyikal, says the decision to
remove a patient from a machine, even if they were to be declared brain
dead, would eventually be made by the court, if a relative of the patient
filed a suit.
"If there is no suit the patient would be on the machine for as long as it
takes," Dr Nyikal said.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4416469.stm
Published: 2005/04/06 15:19:14 GMT
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