Posted on 03/31/2005 7:22:52 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (Reuters) - Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of a wrenching dispute over her fate that drew in the Congress and President Bush, died on Thursday, a spokesman for the parents said.
"She's just died," said Brother Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk and spiritual adviser to the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who fought a seven-year legal battle to keep their daughter alive.
Schiavo, 41, died 13 days after her tube feeding was halted under order from a state court.
She had been in what courts ruled was a "persistent vegetative state" since her heart briefly stopped in 1990, depriving 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 like this and should be allowed to die.
But the Schindlers fought in courts to prolong their daughter's life and won support from an array of conservative Christians and right-to-life and anti-abortion activists.
The Republican-controlled Congress rushed through a special law after Schiavo's feeding was halted on March 18 to allow the parents to take their case from state courts into federal courts.
But the effort, which opinion polls showed was unpopular with most Americans, failed when federal judges refused the parents' request to order feeding resumed. The latest rebuff, from the U.S. Supreme Court, came late on Wednesday night.
She's dead. Washington never crossed the Delaware. Why? It was a sure loss. Why risk it.
President Bush knows they are a bunch of "clymers". But, he should have done what needed to be done despite a hostile press. His character and integrity does not come from the press, but from his soul.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.