TERRI SCHIAVO
Name: Terri Schiavo
Born: 3 December 1963 Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania
Died: 31 March 2005 Pinellas Park, Florida
Theresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo (December 3, 1963 - March 31, 2005), from St.
Petersburg, Florida, United States was a woman who suffered brain damage and
became dependent on a feeding tube. She collapsed in her home on February 25,
1990, and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest, resulting in extensive
brain damage, a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS) and 15 years of
institutionalization. In 1998, Michael Schiavo, her husband and guardian,
petitioned the Pinellas County Circuit Court to remove her feeding tube. Robert
and Mary Schindler, her parents, opposed this, arguing she was conscious. The
court determined that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures.
This controversy stretched on for seven years and included involvement by
politicians and advocacy groups, notably pro-life and disability rights ones.
Before the local court's decision was carried out, on March 18, 2005, the
governments of Florida and the United States had passed laws that sought,
unsuccessfully, to prevent removal of Schiavo's feeding tube. These events
resulted in extensive national and international media coverage.
By March 2005, the legal history around the Schiavo case included fourteen
appeals and numerous motions, petitions, and hearings in the Florida courts;
five suits in Federal District Court; Florida legislation struck down by the
Supreme Court of Florida; a subpoena by a congressional committee to qualify
Schiavo for witness protection; federal legislation (Palm Sunday Compromise);
and four denials of certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States.
She died at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005, at the age of 41. Some
have since maintained that her death constituted judicial murder.
Name: Terri Schiavo
Born: 3 December 1963 Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania
Died: 31 March 2005 Pinellas Park, Florida
Theresa Marie "Terri" Schiavo (December 3, 1963 - March 31, 2005), from St.
Petersburg, Florida, United States was a woman who suffered brain damage and
became dependent on a feeding tube. She collapsed in her home on February 25,
1990, and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest, resulting in extensive
brain damage, a diagnosis of persistent vegetative state (PVS) and 15 years of
institutionalization. In 1998, Michael Schiavo, her husband and guardian,
petitioned the Pinellas County Circuit Court to remove her feeding tube. Robert
and Mary Schindler, her parents, opposed this, arguing she was conscious. The
court determined that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures.
This controversy stretched on for seven years and included involvement by
politicians and advocacy groups, notably pro-life and disability rights ones.
Before the local court's decision was carried out, on March 18, 2005, the
governments of Florida and the United States had passed laws that sought,
unsuccessfully, to prevent removal of Schiavo's feeding tube. These events
resulted in extensive national and international media coverage.
By March 2005, the legal history around the Schiavo case included fourteen
appeals and numerous motions, petitions, and hearings in the Florida courts;
five suits in Federal District Court; Florida legislation struck down by the
Supreme Court of Florida; a subpoena by a congressional committee to qualify
Schiavo for witness protection; federal legislation (Palm Sunday Compromise);
and four denials of certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States.
She died at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005, at the age of 41. Some
have since maintained that her death constituted judicial murder.