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The Ethical Implications of the Schiavo Case; 8.7 Earthquake Strikes Indonesia

Aired March 28, 2005 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: This just in. I want to show you video now of George Lopez stepping out of a limousine in California today as he prepares to testify in the Michael Jackson trial. A big ruling was made in that trial that past accusations will be heard during it. Jurors will hear those past accusations. As you're seeing, actor, comedian, George Lopez, smiling as he's walking to the courtroom to testify in the Michael Jackson trial. Of course, we'll continue to follow all of this.
We're also following some major breaking news out of Indonesia, as well, where a magnitude 8.7 earthquake has struck. That has been upped by the U.S. Geological Survey. We thought it was 8.2 quake but now it appears it's much stronger.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And to call it an aftershock doesn't do it justice. This is a rather significant earthquake in its own right coming on the heels, certainly geologically speaking, on the heels of the 9.0 quake of December 26th. We have reports of damage, we have reports of death in the areas south and southwest of the island of Sumatra in the Banda Aceh region.

Look at these pictures from Banda Aceh, though. Folks there taking no chances. Of course, by the time they felt the quake there, there really was no time to flee, anyway, because it was so close. Almost instantaneously, a tsunami would have formed. Question there is, once daybreak settles in, how much damage was caused, in fact, by the earthquake itself? We do not have any reason to believe a tsunami of any size struck this part of the world.

However, there were some reports of small tsunami waves to the south of this region. We don't know what that means, though, a small tsunami. We have no indication of any killer tsunami waves to tell you about, however the Island of Nias which is in the Indonesian chain there, there are reports of damage, hundreds of homes wiped out, damaged in one way or another and many dozens dead. Very difficult for us to pin that down independently. We don't have anybody on the ground but we are doing our best to track that for you.

NGUYEN: Just to give you a little more information on that island of Nias, dozens of people are being reported dead. They have been buried, according to wire reports, buried under the remains of hundreds of collapsed buildings. Although it's very interesting that there has been no tsunami reported in that area. So all we can gather from this is that that is the result of the earthquake, which is now being called and 8.7 magnitude quake, a very strong quake. As you remember, the earthquake that sparked the killer tsunami back on December 26th last year was a magnitude 9 earthquake. Today, we're talking about an 8.7 quake, which is very large. We don't know the extent of the damage that may have been caused or tsunamis that may have been sparked by it. But we're hearing in the island of Nias, dozens of people buried under the remains of hundreds of collapsed buildings. All this happened just over three hours ago at about 11:00 Eastern time. We're looking some video now of people frantically trying to get out of the area, evacuating.

This is Banda Aceh. This happened in the middle of the night. People were woken up by the earthquake, the rumbling, buildings moving, and they're trying to get out of the area, not only Banda Aceh, but Thailand has ordered evacuations of six of its provinces. And that includes thousands of people. Sir Lanka as well, ordering evacuations. So a lot of people trying to get to higher ground, trying not to experience what they saw last year, when that killer tsunami struck.

But there is also being reported a lot of chaos. A lot of people really not knowing what to do, as they wait for the possibility of a tsunami, which we must say, has not been reported just yet.

O'BRIEN: All kinds of things. You know, we just hear the numbers. There's so many more factors to create a tsunami, the type of earthquake it is, the death, all kinds of factors involved. And as time goes on and scientists get a better opportunity to analyze what they're seeing right now, we should be able to give you a better sense what happened and why the tsunami didn't occur as it did back on December 26th.

The truth is there's a lot of mysteries when it comes to earthquakes, still. Scientists know a lot, but there is a lot of things they don't know. We do know this. Many of them were predicting a rather significant aftershock in the wake of the December 26th event and that appears to have come true a few hours ago.

Let's turn back now to the Terri Schiavo case. It has been ten days without food and water for the brain damaged woman now. Doctors say she will likely die by the end of the week. Earlier today her father said she's fighting for her life, but alleged medical staff may try to speed up her death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S FATHER: When the inmates at these concentration camps are released you can visualize in your mind how they came out where their faces were all sunken in and eyes budging. That's how Terri looks. I'm sure that she's still in discomfort. And I am -- I have a grave concern they'll expedite the process to kill her with an overdose of morphine. Because that's the procedure that happens. We have to -- She has to be saved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's Bob Schindler. Now, that drew a rare response from the hospice that has been caring for Terri Schiavo. They haven't said much all along. It issued this statement. "We are not going to do anything to hasten or postpone natural death. That's just fundamental to hospice. We are trying to provide comfort to the patient as well as the family." End of quote.

Meanwhile, supporters of Schiavo's parents took their case to Washington today. They want lawmakers to intervene yet again before she dies.

For many, the Schiavo case is infused with powerful religious and moral dimensions; it has raised some very tough ethical questions. And for Catholics in particular, caused a lot of confusion. Let's take up some of these questions with the Reverend John Paris, he is a Jesuit priest at Boston College. He is an expert on right to die issues and a bioethicist. Father Paris, good to have you with us.

FR. JOHN PARIS, BOSTON COLLEGE ETHICIST: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: Is it safe to say the waters have been muddied a bit? And that Catholic teachings on just what is appropriate in these circumstances are a bit confused right now in the public domain?

PARIS: That's quite correct. The church's teaching had been, at least until a year ago, rather clear on this issue. That no one was obliged to use disproportionate means to prolong life. But this case has muddied the waters and some are now arguing that you must always provided artificial nutrition and fluid to patients in a persistent vegetative state.

O'BRIEN: All right. I want to talk about what the pope said a year ago. But before I do back let's go back even further in time to 1980. This is the declaration on euthanasia and I want to just share a little bit of this with our viewers. That's a lot of text. We know that's intimidating, but let's just go through it very quickly.

"One cannot impose on anyone the obligation to have recourse to a technique which is already in use but which carries a risk or is burdensome." My emphasis there. "Such a refusal is not the equivalent of suicide, on the contrary, it should be considered as an acceptance of the human condition or a wish to avoid the application of medical procedure disproportionate to the results that can be expected or a desire not to impose excessive expense in the family or community."

That is very clear cut. But flash forward to last year, March 20th, 2004, Pope John Paul II speaking perhaps not coincidentally to a group of right to life campaigners saying, "The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural way of preserving life, not a medical procedure."

And there and in there a nutshell, those two passages lies the confusion. What's a Catholic to do, father?

PARIS: Well, when ever there is a dispute, you look at the tradition and see what have we consistently taught. And that declaration of euthanasia which was an official Vatican statement summarized 400 years of clear Catholic moral analysis on this subject. That's been the teaching and continues to be the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The speech you referred to, was to the pro-life committee in the Vatican, to a group of doctors, is seemingly at odds with that. And so it must be put in the context of that longstanding traditional teaching.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's show one more quote here into the pot, if you will. This comes from the Florida Bishops Council. And this comes from Bishop Robert Lynch. "The decision to remove Terri's artificial feeding tube will be that of her husband, Michael. It is he who will give the order, not the courts or certainly the governor or legislature or the medical personnel surrounding or caring for Terri."

I've heard many Catholic clerics say things completely to the contrary of that. Are they being irresponsible?

PARIS: Well, here's the bishop, the bishop of St. Petersburg. He's the bishop - he's actually Terri Schiavo's bishop. He has not politicized this case. He has emphasized the traditional understanding and the traditional norms and guidance and says that this is a situation where the treatment might be considered too burdensome.

And as the court said, this was Terri's desire, the court found that, not Michael Schiavo. And said you can then apply these traditional norms to this case and Bishop Lynch clearly seems to believe that there is not an untoward act being had here, that this was a legitimate decision to be made within a family context.

O'BRIEN: So, in my own personal case, I had a grandfather, a daily communicant, a very fervent Catholic, who had a very specific living will which we had to use after his stroke which specifically stated that the feeding tube could be removed. He was being a good Catholic, wasn't he?

PARIS: I should hope so, because my living will says exactly the same thing. And in fact, the living will published by the Florida Catholic bishops has the same language in it. This is the official statement of the living will, or advanced directive published by the Florida Catholic Conference. It is available to anybody on the Web.

And it says that "a presumption should be made in favor of providing nutrition and hydration to me, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration as long as there is sufficient benefit to outweigh the burdens involved to me." This is the official living will promulgated by Catholic bishops of Florida which says there are occasions in which I might decide that it's too burdensome to continue this way with artificial nutrition and hydration and ask to have them removed.

O'BRIEN: Well, so father, what has happened here? Has the Catholic teaching been hijacked by the religious right?

PARIS: Well, we certainly have seen the religious right attempt to hijack the American political system and I suspect they may be equally at work attempting to hijack very traditional longstanding Catholic teaching on this question.

O'BRIEN: All right. Father Paris. Thank you very much for your time. We have to break away, unfortunately. Some breaking news. I'm sure you understand. The United States Geological Survey with an update on this earthquake. They are housed at California Institute of Technology. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Associated with the rupture of this huge fault beneath the sea. When that fault breaks, the land moves up and it probably and I'm just guessing, as someone who studies these things, the islands probably came up, seafloor probably came up a meter or two meter, a yard or two yards and shortened by ten meters or so. And what that does, it means the water goes into a big budge of maybe a couple hundred kilometers long and hundred kilometers wide.

That budge then, just because the gravity flows out in all directions like a stone being dropped in a pond. The waves radiate out. So I think it's inescapable there will be a tsunami associated with this. The question is -- the particulars are the details. How serious will it be? How will have people have responded? How large are the run-ups in and inundations. We'll just wait. We will have to hear from you guys, as you get your reports from the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you speak to what if any difference there is in the warning system today opposed to December 26th, that anything changed? Had anything changed? Was there any better warning than there was three months ago?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll only say a little bit on that because I'm not particularly well informed. There have been meetings almost every week around the world to talk about what to do in terms of getting something established in the Indian Ocean. My understanding from the email I just read an hour ago, same access you have to, is that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did in fact issue a warning for tsunami, this is an earthquake big enough for a tsunami to have been generated. But I beg you to talk to people who know more about that than I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything different about this earthquake versus the one on December 26th, if the one on December 26th was over the threshold size and the way it occurred produced a tsunami, everything you're saying for today's earthquake based on all the same factors or is there something different about this kind of earthquake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like a fraternal twin of the December 26th earthquake. It will probably not have as long a break. The rupture will probably not be as long as the 1300 kilometers or 800 miles of the earthquake on December 26th. But I would certainly say it's fraternal twin. It's not a duplicate. It occurred a little bit further south. A couple of hundred kilometers further south, but it's the same type of earthquake. It would be like having a duck egg and chicken egg in the same basket.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to fly out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My plan was to return in the middle of April. And I don't know. Too soon to say. But certainly, I would like to see whether the islands have come up how much they've come up, what the pattern is. And we'll see. It takes a while to get permission to do these things. And that sort of thing can wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about aftershocks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, just before I came down here, I looked to see what the survey was sending in the way of aftershocks. And there have been two big aftershocks on the northern tip of this island, Nias. And I fact, they're right -- those aftershocks are right beneath one of the new GPS stations we put in after the earthquake in December. So we have three new stations, one at the north end of this island, Simalu (ph), one at the south end, of Simalu, which is the closest to the epicenter, apparently, and then one on the north side of Nias, which is rivaling this one for being the closest. So right in between these two stations is ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big were they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big were what, the eight stations?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That aftershocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stations were about this tall. The aftershocks were on the order of 6, 5.8, 6.0. So big enough to be felt. But considering that the people here probably felt three to five minutes of unceasing shaking so strong they couldn't stand I suspect a 6 will simply be entertainment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Comparing this to the December earthquake, how do you differentiate between an aftershock and just an independent earthquake? What this factor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't worry about it. It doesn't a matter me whether it's called and aftershock or not. It doesn't have any particular physical relevance to me. The real issue, do big earthquakes trigger other earthquakes? And we know from our experience in California and everywhere the world, when we have a big earthquake, we typically have hundreds and hundreds of smaller earthquakes and the numbers of those earthquakes taper down over the years, weeks, months and even years.

But sometimes - And typically the size of the biggest aftershock is two magnitude units below the main shock. In this case, we have a nine or 9.3 main shock happening in December, we now have an earthquake of 8.7. And who knows what will end up being the case in - thanks -- in a couple of days. As you know, the magnitude changed over the course of the first day appreciably in December. So this would be a very large aftershock, if you really insist on talking about aftershocks, this would have to be a very large aftershocks.

The relevant question is how does the rupture relate to the earthquake on December 26th? I think it's pretty apparent to even the laymen these earthquakes are related because they happened so closely in time, right? So we're going to be looking in the next few months and the next few years, to see how this relates, how the rupture relates to the one on December 26th.

And also importantly, you may note here, that this is not quite accurate. Ah! There's a poster we can talk about later. Is the other poster done or not? Printing? OK. We'll have a poster that shows in more detail and more correctly what the previous history of earthquakes has been. Notice this orange is shaded 1861. There was a giant earthquake judged to be an 8.5, based just on the historical records, not based upon seismic instruments that devastated Nias Island and had tsunamis up and down this entire coast from the equator up to about three or four north.

In 1907, there was an earthquake that also severely damaged Nias and Simalu. Big tsunamis, and in fact, that's the earthquake and big tsunamis that alerted the Simalu citizenry to run for the hills in December, so that's the reason why there were so few people killed in Simalu in the earthquake.

If I had to guess right now, only an 8.2, I'd say it's a repeat of the 1907 earthquake. Now that we think it's an 8.7, now that the survey is telling us it's an 8.7, perhaps the rupture is this long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this 8.7 shaker, from what I've been told, lasted about two minutes? Is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's news to me but doesn't surprise to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the length of time of a shaker have any effect on whether or not it's going to conjure up a tsunami? We know that the magnitude does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fault only moves as the rupture -- It's like a crack in a windshield, say you throw a pebble and get a crack. You know in the next few weeks it might propagate and you might have to replace your windshield, right?

In the case of a fault, the rupture starts in one place, like the crack in your windshield, bit it propagates about a mile a second. So if it's going to be 8.7, it has to have a big enough fault to create that magnitude. It has to start here and go to miles per second at 600 kilometers, 600 miles, 600 seconds. That means a ten minute rupture. I'm just speaking roughly. So a big earthquake like this has to take on the order of several minutes to occur. So the earthquake shaking then lasts a couple of minutes.

O'BRIEN: We have been listening to officials there briefing at the United States Geological Survey office. They share an office at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, where they have a full array of instruments and literally have the world wired for this sort of thing, giving the latest on what is now 8.7 magnitude, a significant, significant earthquake, and to call it an aftershock really doesn't do it justice.

A significant earthquake, clearly, however, linked to the 9.0 or beyond earthquake of December 26th. As we have been telling you, no reports of a significant tsunami but reports of a tremendous amount of damage, particular loin the island Nias, where hundreds of homes have been damaged and there are reports of dozens of deaths. We're tracking this story for you along with a lot of other stories today. Stay with us. More CNN's LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Let's bring you up to date on this 8.7 magnitude earthquake that struck off the western coast of Indonesia. On the island of Nias CNN has confirmed 50 people are dead, 100 injured and 30 homes have been destroyed. Again this was a very large earthquake on the island of Nias. Fifty dead. One hundred injured and at least 300 homes are destroyed. People have headed for higher ground. An evacuation is under way there. We want to let you listen to something Jan Egeland had to say, the UN spokesperson. Here' what he had to say about the damage on Nias Island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, UN UNDERSECRETARY, HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Some 10,000 people are reported to live on the islands within 50 kilometers of the epicenter that we have marked on this map. And there is unconfirmed reports of people dying under structures that collapsed on the island of Nias, which is south of the epicenter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

As an indication of Nias being hard hit, it is very hard to get contact with any of the local authorities, or even aid groups that are active on Nias Island. On the island of Aceh Selatan (ph), there has been contacts and more limited damage there has been reported.

NGUYEN: All right. That was UN spokesperson Jan Egeland talking about the damage on Nyas Island. Just to recap, he says about 10,000 people live on that island which is 50 kilometers or 30 miles from the epicenter of this 8.7 magnitude earthquake, a very powerful earthquake.

And CNN has confirmed that 50 people are dead on Nias Island, at least 100 injured and some 300 homes destroyed. An evacuation is underway. People are headed toward higher ground. But just as a reminder, there are 10,000 people who live on that island. We will continue to follow this breaking news throughout the day. We're going to take a short break right now. Stay with CNN's LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where we are seeing an across the board rally after three weeks of declines. One contributing factor, oil prices down a buck after $54 a barrel. There you see the blue chips up, pretty much at the high of the session, 83 points, the NASDAQ Composite, meanwhile, up better than half a percent.

GM, a drag, one of the few, fewer than a handful of Dow stocks that's on the down side, down about 2 1/2 percent after UBS downgraded the stock saying it was worried about its ability to navigate an increasingly tough environment. And that's the latest business news. LIVE FROM will continue right after this.

NGUYEN: Here's what's making news at this hour. Thousands of people in coastal regions in South Asia are headed inland as new tsunami fears grip that region. A massive earthquake struck several hours ago just off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island. And there are concerns the quake may have triggered a tsunami. We'll have more details straight ahead.

In Minnesota, funeral services being held today for three of the victims of last week's shooting rampage at Red Lake High School. Among them, a teacher, a student, and the security guard, who were killed. Funeral services are also being held today for the teenage shooter.

In California, a serious blow to Michael Jackson's case. Jurors in his child molestation trial will be allowed to hear testimony about past allegations of sexual abuse against the pop star. That decision today for the judge in the case.

In Iowa, new charges today in the abduction and killing of a 10- year-old girl. The suspect, convicted sex offender Roger Bentley is now charged with first degree murder and kidnapping. The victim disappeared Thursday and her body found the next day. Authorities say she died of asphyxiation.

O'BRIEN: Watching and waiting in Asia, hours after a massive earthquake struck near Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The region is bracing for another possible tsunami. The magnitude 8.7 tremor is already spawning aftershocks of its own even though it is considered an aftershock and a small tsunami has been spotted near the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Well, we've spoken to someone on the islands there, and it appears everything is fine.

There were reports of panic in Banda Aceh, thousands of people fleeing to higher ground. That's also the case in Thailand and the United Nations disaster coordinator says it is still hard to know the scope of the damage.

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Aired March 28, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: This just in. I want to show you video now of George Lopez stepping out of a limousine in California today as he prepares to testify in the Michael Jackson trial. A big ruling was made in that trial that past accusations will be heard during it. Jurors will hear those past accusations. As you're seeing, actor, comedian, George Lopez, smiling as he's walking to the courtroom to testify in the Michael Jackson trial. Of course, we'll continue to follow all of this.
We're also following some major breaking news out of Indonesia, as well, where a magnitude 8.7 earthquake has struck. That has been upped by the U.S. Geological Survey. We thought it was 8.2 quake but now it appears it's much stronger.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And to call it an aftershock doesn't do it justice. This is a rather significant earthquake in its own right coming on the heels, certainly geologically speaking, on the heels of the 9.0 quake of December 26th. We have reports of damage, we have reports of death in the areas south and southwest of the island of Sumatra in the Banda Aceh region.

Look at these pictures from Banda Aceh, though. Folks there taking no chances. Of course, by the time they felt the quake there, there really was no time to flee, anyway, because it was so close. Almost instantaneously, a tsunami would have formed. Question there is, once daybreak settles in, how much damage was caused, in fact, by the earthquake itself? We do not have any reason to believe a tsunami of any size struck this part of the world.

However, there were some reports of small tsunami waves to the south of this region. We don't know what that means, though, a small tsunami. We have no indication of any killer tsunami waves to tell you about, however the Island of Nias which is in the Indonesian chain there, there are reports of damage, hundreds of homes wiped out, damaged in one way or another and many dozens dead. Very difficult for us to pin that down independently. We don't have anybody on the ground but we are doing our best to track that for you.

NGUYEN: Just to give you a little more information on that island of Nias, dozens of people are being reported dead. They have been buried, according to wire reports, buried under the remains of hundreds of collapsed buildings. Although it's very interesting that there has been no tsunami reported in that area. So all we can gather from this is that that is the result of the earthquake, which is now being called and 8.7 magnitude quake, a very strong quake. As you remember, the earthquake that sparked the killer tsunami back on December 26th last year was a magnitude 9 earthquake. Today, we're talking about an 8.7 quake, which is very large. We don't know the extent of the damage that may have been caused or tsunamis that may have been sparked by it. But we're hearing in the island of Nias, dozens of people buried under the remains of hundreds of collapsed buildings. All this happened just over three hours ago at about 11:00 Eastern time. We're looking some video now of people frantically trying to get out of the area, evacuating.

This is Banda Aceh. This happened in the middle of the night. People were woken up by the earthquake, the rumbling, buildings moving, and they're trying to get out of the area, not only Banda Aceh, but Thailand has ordered evacuations of six of its provinces. And that includes thousands of people. Sir Lanka as well, ordering evacuations. So a lot of people trying to get to higher ground, trying not to experience what they saw last year, when that killer tsunami struck.

But there is also being reported a lot of chaos. A lot of people really not knowing what to do, as they wait for the possibility of a tsunami, which we must say, has not been reported just yet.

O'BRIEN: All kinds of things. You know, we just hear the numbers. There's so many more factors to create a tsunami, the type of earthquake it is, the death, all kinds of factors involved. And as time goes on and scientists get a better opportunity to analyze what they're seeing right now, we should be able to give you a better sense what happened and why the tsunami didn't occur as it did back on December 26th.

The truth is there's a lot of mysteries when it comes to earthquakes, still. Scientists know a lot, but there is a lot of things they don't know. We do know this. Many of them were predicting a rather significant aftershock in the wake of the December 26th event and that appears to have come true a few hours ago.

Let's turn back now to the Terri Schiavo case. It has been ten days without food and water for the brain damaged woman now. Doctors say she will likely die by the end of the week. Earlier today her father said she's fighting for her life, but alleged medical staff may try to speed up her death.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S FATHER: When the inmates at these concentration camps are released you can visualize in your mind how they came out where their faces were all sunken in and eyes budging. That's how Terri looks. I'm sure that she's still in discomfort. And I am -- I have a grave concern they'll expedite the process to kill her with an overdose of morphine. Because that's the procedure that happens. We have to -- She has to be saved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's Bob Schindler. Now, that drew a rare response from the hospice that has been caring for Terri Schiavo. They haven't said much all along. It issued this statement. "We are not going to do anything to hasten or postpone natural death. That's just fundamental to hospice. We are trying to provide comfort to the patient as well as the family." End of quote.

Meanwhile, supporters of Schiavo's parents took their case to Washington today. They want lawmakers to intervene yet again before she dies.

For many, the Schiavo case is infused with powerful religious and moral dimensions; it has raised some very tough ethical questions. And for Catholics in particular, caused a lot of confusion. Let's take up some of these questions with the Reverend John Paris, he is a Jesuit priest at Boston College. He is an expert on right to die issues and a bioethicist. Father Paris, good to have you with us.

FR. JOHN PARIS, BOSTON COLLEGE ETHICIST: Good to be with you.

O'BRIEN: Is it safe to say the waters have been muddied a bit? And that Catholic teachings on just what is appropriate in these circumstances are a bit confused right now in the public domain?

PARIS: That's quite correct. The church's teaching had been, at least until a year ago, rather clear on this issue. That no one was obliged to use disproportionate means to prolong life. But this case has muddied the waters and some are now arguing that you must always provided artificial nutrition and fluid to patients in a persistent vegetative state.

O'BRIEN: All right. I want to talk about what the pope said a year ago. But before I do back let's go back even further in time to 1980. This is the declaration on euthanasia and I want to just share a little bit of this with our viewers. That's a lot of text. We know that's intimidating, but let's just go through it very quickly.

"One cannot impose on anyone the obligation to have recourse to a technique which is already in use but which carries a risk or is burdensome." My emphasis there. "Such a refusal is not the equivalent of suicide, on the contrary, it should be considered as an acceptance of the human condition or a wish to avoid the application of medical procedure disproportionate to the results that can be expected or a desire not to impose excessive expense in the family or community."

That is very clear cut. But flash forward to last year, March 20th, 2004, Pope John Paul II speaking perhaps not coincidentally to a group of right to life campaigners saying, "The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural way of preserving life, not a medical procedure."

And there and in there a nutshell, those two passages lies the confusion. What's a Catholic to do, father?

PARIS: Well, when ever there is a dispute, you look at the tradition and see what have we consistently taught. And that declaration of euthanasia which was an official Vatican statement summarized 400 years of clear Catholic moral analysis on this subject. That's been the teaching and continues to be the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. The speech you referred to, was to the pro-life committee in the Vatican, to a group of doctors, is seemingly at odds with that. And so it must be put in the context of that longstanding traditional teaching.

O'BRIEN: All right. Let's show one more quote here into the pot, if you will. This comes from the Florida Bishops Council. And this comes from Bishop Robert Lynch. "The decision to remove Terri's artificial feeding tube will be that of her husband, Michael. It is he who will give the order, not the courts or certainly the governor or legislature or the medical personnel surrounding or caring for Terri."

I've heard many Catholic clerics say things completely to the contrary of that. Are they being irresponsible?

PARIS: Well, here's the bishop, the bishop of St. Petersburg. He's the bishop - he's actually Terri Schiavo's bishop. He has not politicized this case. He has emphasized the traditional understanding and the traditional norms and guidance and says that this is a situation where the treatment might be considered too burdensome.

And as the court said, this was Terri's desire, the court found that, not Michael Schiavo. And said you can then apply these traditional norms to this case and Bishop Lynch clearly seems to believe that there is not an untoward act being had here, that this was a legitimate decision to be made within a family context.

O'BRIEN: So, in my own personal case, I had a grandfather, a daily communicant, a very fervent Catholic, who had a very specific living will which we had to use after his stroke which specifically stated that the feeding tube could be removed. He was being a good Catholic, wasn't he?

PARIS: I should hope so, because my living will says exactly the same thing. And in fact, the living will published by the Florida Catholic bishops has the same language in it. This is the official statement of the living will, or advanced directive published by the Florida Catholic Conference. It is available to anybody on the Web.

And it says that "a presumption should be made in favor of providing nutrition and hydration to me, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration as long as there is sufficient benefit to outweigh the burdens involved to me." This is the official living will promulgated by Catholic bishops of Florida which says there are occasions in which I might decide that it's too burdensome to continue this way with artificial nutrition and hydration and ask to have them removed.

O'BRIEN: Well, so father, what has happened here? Has the Catholic teaching been hijacked by the religious right?

PARIS: Well, we certainly have seen the religious right attempt to hijack the American political system and I suspect they may be equally at work attempting to hijack very traditional longstanding Catholic teaching on this question.

O'BRIEN: All right. Father Paris. Thank you very much for your time. We have to break away, unfortunately. Some breaking news. I'm sure you understand. The United States Geological Survey with an update on this earthquake. They are housed at California Institute of Technology. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Associated with the rupture of this huge fault beneath the sea. When that fault breaks, the land moves up and it probably and I'm just guessing, as someone who studies these things, the islands probably came up, seafloor probably came up a meter or two meter, a yard or two yards and shortened by ten meters or so. And what that does, it means the water goes into a big budge of maybe a couple hundred kilometers long and hundred kilometers wide.

That budge then, just because the gravity flows out in all directions like a stone being dropped in a pond. The waves radiate out. So I think it's inescapable there will be a tsunami associated with this. The question is -- the particulars are the details. How serious will it be? How will have people have responded? How large are the run-ups in and inundations. We'll just wait. We will have to hear from you guys, as you get your reports from the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you speak to what if any difference there is in the warning system today opposed to December 26th, that anything changed? Had anything changed? Was there any better warning than there was three months ago?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll only say a little bit on that because I'm not particularly well informed. There have been meetings almost every week around the world to talk about what to do in terms of getting something established in the Indian Ocean. My understanding from the email I just read an hour ago, same access you have to, is that the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did in fact issue a warning for tsunami, this is an earthquake big enough for a tsunami to have been generated. But I beg you to talk to people who know more about that than I do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there anything different about this earthquake versus the one on December 26th, if the one on December 26th was over the threshold size and the way it occurred produced a tsunami, everything you're saying for today's earthquake based on all the same factors or is there something different about this kind of earthquake?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This looks like a fraternal twin of the December 26th earthquake. It will probably not have as long a break. The rupture will probably not be as long as the 1300 kilometers or 800 miles of the earthquake on December 26th. But I would certainly say it's fraternal twin. It's not a duplicate. It occurred a little bit further south. A couple of hundred kilometers further south, but it's the same type of earthquake. It would be like having a duck egg and chicken egg in the same basket.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to fly out there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My plan was to return in the middle of April. And I don't know. Too soon to say. But certainly, I would like to see whether the islands have come up how much they've come up, what the pattern is. And we'll see. It takes a while to get permission to do these things. And that sort of thing can wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about aftershocks?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, just before I came down here, I looked to see what the survey was sending in the way of aftershocks. And there have been two big aftershocks on the northern tip of this island, Nias. And I fact, they're right -- those aftershocks are right beneath one of the new GPS stations we put in after the earthquake in December. So we have three new stations, one at the north end of this island, Simalu (ph), one at the south end, of Simalu, which is the closest to the epicenter, apparently, and then one on the north side of Nias, which is rivaling this one for being the closest. So right in between these two stations is ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big were they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How big were what, the eight stations?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That aftershocks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The stations were about this tall. The aftershocks were on the order of 6, 5.8, 6.0. So big enough to be felt. But considering that the people here probably felt three to five minutes of unceasing shaking so strong they couldn't stand I suspect a 6 will simply be entertainment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Comparing this to the December earthquake, how do you differentiate between an aftershock and just an independent earthquake? What this factor?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't worry about it. It doesn't a matter me whether it's called and aftershock or not. It doesn't have any particular physical relevance to me. The real issue, do big earthquakes trigger other earthquakes? And we know from our experience in California and everywhere the world, when we have a big earthquake, we typically have hundreds and hundreds of smaller earthquakes and the numbers of those earthquakes taper down over the years, weeks, months and even years.

But sometimes - And typically the size of the biggest aftershock is two magnitude units below the main shock. In this case, we have a nine or 9.3 main shock happening in December, we now have an earthquake of 8.7. And who knows what will end up being the case in - thanks -- in a couple of days. As you know, the magnitude changed over the course of the first day appreciably in December. So this would be a very large aftershock, if you really insist on talking about aftershocks, this would have to be a very large aftershocks.

The relevant question is how does the rupture relate to the earthquake on December 26th? I think it's pretty apparent to even the laymen these earthquakes are related because they happened so closely in time, right? So we're going to be looking in the next few months and the next few years, to see how this relates, how the rupture relates to the one on December 26th.

And also importantly, you may note here, that this is not quite accurate. Ah! There's a poster we can talk about later. Is the other poster done or not? Printing? OK. We'll have a poster that shows in more detail and more correctly what the previous history of earthquakes has been. Notice this orange is shaded 1861. There was a giant earthquake judged to be an 8.5, based just on the historical records, not based upon seismic instruments that devastated Nias Island and had tsunamis up and down this entire coast from the equator up to about three or four north.

In 1907, there was an earthquake that also severely damaged Nias and Simalu. Big tsunamis, and in fact, that's the earthquake and big tsunamis that alerted the Simalu citizenry to run for the hills in December, so that's the reason why there were so few people killed in Simalu in the earthquake.

If I had to guess right now, only an 8.2, I'd say it's a repeat of the 1907 earthquake. Now that we think it's an 8.7, now that the survey is telling us it's an 8.7, perhaps the rupture is this long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And this 8.7 shaker, from what I've been told, lasted about two minutes? Is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's news to me but doesn't surprise to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does the length of time of a shaker have any effect on whether or not it's going to conjure up a tsunami? We know that the magnitude does.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A fault only moves as the rupture -- It's like a crack in a windshield, say you throw a pebble and get a crack. You know in the next few weeks it might propagate and you might have to replace your windshield, right?

In the case of a fault, the rupture starts in one place, like the crack in your windshield, bit it propagates about a mile a second. So if it's going to be 8.7, it has to have a big enough fault to create that magnitude. It has to start here and go to miles per second at 600 kilometers, 600 miles, 600 seconds. That means a ten minute rupture. I'm just speaking roughly. So a big earthquake like this has to take on the order of several minutes to occur. So the earthquake shaking then lasts a couple of minutes.

O'BRIEN: We have been listening to officials there briefing at the United States Geological Survey office. They share an office at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, where they have a full array of instruments and literally have the world wired for this sort of thing, giving the latest on what is now 8.7 magnitude, a significant, significant earthquake, and to call it an aftershock really doesn't do it justice.

A significant earthquake, clearly, however, linked to the 9.0 or beyond earthquake of December 26th. As we have been telling you, no reports of a significant tsunami but reports of a tremendous amount of damage, particular loin the island Nias, where hundreds of homes have been damaged and there are reports of dozens of deaths. We're tracking this story for you along with a lot of other stories today. Stay with us. More CNN's LIVE FROM in just a moment.

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NGUYEN: Let's bring you up to date on this 8.7 magnitude earthquake that struck off the western coast of Indonesia. On the island of Nias CNN has confirmed 50 people are dead, 100 injured and 30 homes have been destroyed. Again this was a very large earthquake on the island of Nias. Fifty dead. One hundred injured and at least 300 homes are destroyed. People have headed for higher ground. An evacuation is under way there. We want to let you listen to something Jan Egeland had to say, the UN spokesperson. Here' what he had to say about the damage on Nias Island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAN EGELAND, UN UNDERSECRETARY, HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Some 10,000 people are reported to live on the islands within 50 kilometers of the epicenter that we have marked on this map. And there is unconfirmed reports of people dying under structures that collapsed on the island of Nias, which is south of the epicenter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

As an indication of Nias being hard hit, it is very hard to get contact with any of the local authorities, or even aid groups that are active on Nias Island. On the island of Aceh Selatan (ph), there has been contacts and more limited damage there has been reported.

NGUYEN: All right. That was UN spokesperson Jan Egeland talking about the damage on Nyas Island. Just to recap, he says about 10,000 people live on that island which is 50 kilometers or 30 miles from the epicenter of this 8.7 magnitude earthquake, a very powerful earthquake.

And CNN has confirmed that 50 people are dead on Nias Island, at least 100 injured and some 300 homes destroyed. An evacuation is underway. People are headed toward higher ground. But just as a reminder, there are 10,000 people who live on that island. We will continue to follow this breaking news throughout the day. We're going to take a short break right now. Stay with CNN's LIVE FROM.

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SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, where we are seeing an across the board rally after three weeks of declines. One contributing factor, oil prices down a buck after $54 a barrel. There you see the blue chips up, pretty much at the high of the session, 83 points, the NASDAQ Composite, meanwhile, up better than half a percent.

GM, a drag, one of the few, fewer than a handful of Dow stocks that's on the down side, down about 2 1/2 percent after UBS downgraded the stock saying it was worried about its ability to navigate an increasingly tough environment. And that's the latest business news. LIVE FROM will continue right after this.

NGUYEN: Here's what's making news at this hour. Thousands of people in coastal regions in South Asia are headed inland as new tsunami fears grip that region. A massive earthquake struck several hours ago just off the west coast of Indonesia's Sumatra Island. And there are concerns the quake may have triggered a tsunami. We'll have more details straight ahead.

In Minnesota, funeral services being held today for three of the victims of last week's shooting rampage at Red Lake High School. Among them, a teacher, a student, and the security guard, who were killed. Funeral services are also being held today for the teenage shooter.

In California, a serious blow to Michael Jackson's case. Jurors in his child molestation trial will be allowed to hear testimony about past allegations of sexual abuse against the pop star. That decision today for the judge in the case.

In Iowa, new charges today in the abduction and killing of a 10- year-old girl. The suspect, convicted sex offender Roger Bentley is now charged with first degree murder and kidnapping. The victim disappeared Thursday and her body found the next day. Authorities say she died of asphyxiation.

O'BRIEN: Watching and waiting in Asia, hours after a massive earthquake struck near Indonesia's Sumatra Island. The region is bracing for another possible tsunami. The magnitude 8.7 tremor is already spawning aftershocks of its own even though it is considered an aftershock and a small tsunami has been spotted near the Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean. Well, we've spoken to someone on the islands there, and it appears everything is fine.

There were reports of panic in Banda Aceh, thousands of people fleeing to higher ground. That's also the case in Thailand and the United Nations disaster coordinator says it is still hard to know the scope of the damage.

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