Another tragedy to Schiavo

Schiavo's life will be over but the controversy surrounding her passing will not be. The only silver lining, it seems agreed upon, is newfound appreciation for penning a living will to stave off similar predicaments. Death used to be considered a worst-case scenario. Schiavo's case shows there is something worse.

Proponents of living wills say one would have prevented Schivo's tragedy. True. But there is another reason, one that nobody is willing to talk about - eating disorders.

Medical personnel cannot pinpoint exactly what caused Schiavo's potassium deficiency but many say bulimia is a safe assumption. She reportedly had enamel damage on her teeth and deteriorating stomach lining. Her siblings have spoken about her dramatic weight loss and suspicions of an eating disorder once she moved to body-conscious Florida. Maybe Schiavo's stopped heart had nothing to do with this apparent body image problem. We'll never know. Certainly, though, it couldn't have helped.

And so, in between the prayers and the crying and the debate and the push for living wills, the concept of eating disorders must be addressed. Nobody is saying Schiavo brought her coma-like state on herself or even deserved what she got. But, if every girl who ever imagined a bulge on her hip or a curve on her waist can learn from Schiavo, it must be considered.

Nearly 10 million women and 1 million men are affected by anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and another 25 million have binge eating disorders, according to estimates by the National Eating Disorders Association. Those millions remain nameless, though, even as Schiavo continues being the right-to-life poster child. Congress, which worked into the wee hours to vote on resinserting Schiavo's feeding tube, turns a blind eye in comparison to its other consituents who suffer comparable mental illnesses, especially those whose insurance won't pay for treatment.

It's not a very pretty way to paint society's newest martyr but maybe Schiavo can shed some light on the eating disorder epidemic. By changing her eating Schiavo never thought she'd push her body into a place where she never had to worry about feeding herself again. Similarly, every young girl and woman who are in the place Schiavo once was is not thinking about the irreperable harm they are doing. They're too busy thinking about their imagined flab, their unreachable double-digit weight goals, about how life will be better if they can get their waist down just one more inch.

So, it's up to the rest of us to snap them to attention, to wave Schiavo's picture in front of their faces and tell them to eat and choose to live or starve and write a living will. If they don't, they might end up dead. Or, worse, they might end up the next Schiavo.

Michelle Durand's column "Off the Beat" runs every Monday and Thursday. She can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 104. What do you think of this column? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.