Terri Schiavo Case on February 25, 1990-

Terri Schiavo Case

On February 25, 1990- to 26-year-old Terri Schindler Schiavo collapsed in her home and was admitted to the Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg Florida. Although her collapse was inexplicable, it would later be attributed to an eating disorder. Unfortunately Terri Schiavo was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy, a "brain injury caused by oxygenation starvation to the brain." ("Timeline") Although originally claiming that he wanted to care for her for the remainder of his life, by 1993 Terri's husband, Michael, then claimed that she would not want to be kept alive in this condition. After a number of years of legal battles between Terri's husband and her family, the Schindlers, a court decided in the year 2000 that life support should be removed and Terri allowed to die. However, Terri's parents appealed this decision and won a temporary stay on the removal of her feeding tube. Then, after a number of more battles in court, which culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court refusing to hear the case, on March 18, 2005, her feeding tube was once again removed. Fourteen days later, at around 9:00 AM on March 31, Terri Schiavo died of severe dehydration, ending eight years of court battles and infighting among her loved ones.

The source of disagreement between Terri's husband and her family came in early 1993 when, after winning a large lawsuit, Terri's husband decided that he did not want to restart her physical therapy. Michael Schiavo then claimed that Terri had previously told him that she did not want to be kept alive in this manner and both his brother and sister in law confirmed this. However, Terri's parents claimed that she did not believe in suicide and when she had undergone physical therapy in 1991 she had been aware and able to speak. Whether or not she was in a persistent vegetable state became the issue which the two parties fought for the next few years.

The court cases first began in June of 1990 when Michael Schiavo was appointed by the court to be her plenary guardian, responsible for her care. But the real fight came in 1998 when he filed a petition to withdraw life support and was it granted in two years later in 2000. Terri's parents immediately appealed the decision and attempted to get the court to stop her husband from disconnecting her feeding tube. In essence, the court had to decide two things: firstly, whether or not she was in a persistent vegetative state, and then whether or not it was her intention not to live in such a manner. Despite the decisions by the different courts, a number of politicians got involved and both the Florida legislature and the U.S. Congress even went so far as to pass a law intended to help Terri's parents in their legal fight. But the courts eventually found these legislative attempts to intervene unconstitutional, in effect saying that it was a court case and not a legislative matter.