Brain-damaged Terri Schiavo dies

jason · 31-03-2005, 18:28

Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a wrenching dispute over her fate that drew in the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush, has died, 13 days after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

"Terri Schiavo has passed away just a little while ago," said Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk and spiritual adviser to the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who fought a bitter seven-year legal battle to keep their daughter alive.

Schiavo, 41, died on Thursday just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rebuffed yet another last-ditch appeal by her parents for the feeding to be restored.

Schiavo had been in what courts ruled was a "persistent vegetative state" since a cardiac arrest in 1990 deprived her brain of oxygen.

Courts had long sided with her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, in ruling she would not have wanted to live in that condition and should be allowed to die.

Michael Schiavo, estranged from his parents-in-law, was with his wife when she died soon after 9 a.m. at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, where she had been cared for.

There was no word from him or his lawyer, who said earlier this week that she was dying peacefully and with dignity.

But supporters of the parents were bitter.

"This is not only a death with all the sadness that brings. This is a killing," said Frank Pavone, a Roman Catholic priest who visited Schiavo shortly before she died.

"And for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed, but we grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this, and we pray that it will never happen again,"

The Schindlers were backed by conservative religious activists, anti-abortion campaigners, advocates for the disabled, and by mainly Republican politicians.

A small group of protesters who had kept vigil outside the hospice calling for Schiavo to be kept alive, sobbed and prayed when her death was announced, and then sang hymns in the morning sunshine. Pavone said Schiavo's blood relatives were sent from her room just 10 or so minutes before she died because her condition was to be assessed and Michael Schiavo was going to visit.

jason · 31-03-2005, 18:29

'HEARTLESS CRUELTY'

"Bobby Schindler, her brother, said 'We want to be in the room when she dies.' Michael Schiavo said, 'No, you cannot.' So his heartless cruelty continues until this very last moment," Pavone said.

The Schindlers were able to pursue their case further after the U.S. Congress passed a special law giving federal courts jurisdiction in what traditionally has been the domain of state courts and Bush cut short a vacation to sign it.

But the effort, which opinion polls showed was deeply unpopular with most Americans, failed when federal judges refused the parents' requests to order feeding resumed.

The last rebuff, from the U.S. Supreme Court, came late on Wednesday night. The highest U.S. court had repeatedly refused to take on the case.

President Bush expressed his condolences in a White House statement.

"I urge all those who honour Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others," he said.

"The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions the presumption should be in the favour of life."

"I pray for her mother and father, her family, and all those involved in this regrettable loss of life," Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, who helped push the Schiavo legislation through Congress, said in a statement.

The mood outside the hospice was bitter.

"Well they got their way," said a grizzled New York City man who gave his name as "Lifeboat" and knelt clutching a wooden rosary. "We've become barbarians. We've lost our humanity in this country."

"I don't know if anything can stop this evil," said Mary Ann McGuire of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who sat weeping with her 16-month-old son on her lap and said she feared Schiavo's death would open the way for widespread euthanasia. "This can only get worse."

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, also became heavily involved on the side of the parents, but last week courts denied his efforts to have the state welfare agency take custody of Schiavo.

And the governor also failed to persuade the Florida Legislature to push through a new state law to intervene.

"Many across our state and around the world are deeply grieved by the way Terri died," Jeb Bush said.

The Florida Senate held a moment of silence for Schiavo.

"Regardless of your perspective on end-of-life issues this is very sad moment and a very reflective moment for a lot of us," said Senate President Tom Lee.

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said on Monday that his client had requested an autopsy to prove the extent of Terri's brain damage and to dispel questions from critics that his plans to cremate his wife's body were aimed at hiding something.

A court has said in the past Michael Schiavo can cremate his wife's body and bury the remains in Pennsylvania, his home state. The Schindlers, who are Roman Catholics, had wanted a full burial.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS??

janet · 31-03-2005, 18:54

I can only comment on what i would want if i was in that situation. I would not want to live if i was being kept alive by a machine. If i was not aware of what was going on then i could not call it living.My family have known my views on this for a number of years so hopefuly if it was to happen to me they would do the same thing as her husband and let me die.

jason · 31-03-2005, 18:58

I must agree Janet,that is what i would want and not to vegetate in an hospital bed.
Its a sad situation but it is getting more and more common everyday.People should have the right do what they want in this day and age,but there will always be groups trying to put a stop to the things we want to do.

grannyclaret · 31-03-2005, 19:19

surely it would have been more humane to give her a lethal injection than to leave her 13 days without food or water ,how could her husband be so cruel as to not let her parents be there at the end ,if it was one of my 3 sons ,i would certainly want to be with them ,,all i can say is may she truly find peace now .....

Busman747 · 31-03-2005, 19:20

It sounds to me that the family have objections towards her husband..and don't really care about the suffering that Terri Schiavo was going through. I am glad that she died in relative peace and applaud her husband Michael for making the right decision!

Bazf · 31-03-2005, 19:34

Well thank god it all over, we have had to put up with this for a while now. Doesn't matter which side your on you can't win, Bush has had a bitter fall out over this with his popularity rating going down the tubes, both him and his brother are right wing christains and both tried to interven in a private matter. Thank god in the UK you don't have to put up with all this religous right crap that is spouted over here, a recent poll found that 6 out of every 10 Americans considered relgion as part of there lives on a daily basis, with the southern states being the most vocal. In the UK they found only 2 out of every 100 with the same opinion. Kinda says it all really.

Aquarius · 31-03-2005, 19:56

My views on this are the same as Grannyclaret's, I think it would have been far more humane to give her a lethal injuection, and I also think this is a personal vendetta between the husband and his in-laws....

JohnW · 31-03-2005, 20:49

What many people will not know over in the UK is that the husband moved on with his life a long time ago. He is living with another woman and they either have a child already or she is pregnant. I can't remember which. Fair enough. But if he has moved on with his life, why did he not just divorce the poor woman and leave the decision about her welfare to the parents? There has also been much talk of physical abuse. I heard that there will be an autopsy to try to determine what caused her problem in the first place.

Like others on this forum I have a living will which states that I do not wish to be kept alive in some vegetative state. However, the lady in question had no living will and as her husband was obviously heavily involved with someone else, perhaps the parents would have been the better people to make a decision.

lindsay ormerod · 31-03-2005, 21:12

That certainly puts a new slant on things;is there a life policy/insurance money involved?Why didn't he just simply divorce Terri and get on with his new life?It all sounds odd to me;and just in case it does ever happen to me it wil be my blood relations making the decision!

entwisi · 01-04-2005, 06:52

I too agree with GrannyClaret. How we can consider ourselves to be an advanced being when we will pass a judgement that this lady should be starved to death I really don't know. The rights and wrongs of the initial decision I'll leave to someone else as I haven't read enough about her situation and teh relationships with her family to feel able to give an opinion. But once the decision that she should die had been made then a quick painless deathwith the minimum suffering should have been administered. Be that injection or some other means.

I too would not want to be kept alive if I was unable to communicate with people. as I think it would drive me insane.

wayneyboy1942 · 01-04-2005, 13:27

What a way to die! I can't think why they could'nt give her an injection to speed up death than to starve and die of lack of water,I would hate to see a time when people are made to feel they are a burden and a waste of money,it's a very slippery slope between having a right to die and if you've seen Logan's run where once your no longer neede killed off!