Terri Schiavo was 26 when she collapsed
Case timeline:
25 February 1990: Terri Schiavo collapses at home
November 1992: Michael Schiavo wins case against doctors he accused of misdiagnosing his wife; awarded $700,000 for her care and $300,000 for himself
29 July 1993: Schindlers file petition to have Mr Schiavo removed as Mrs Schiavo's guardian; case later dismissed
May 1998Mr Schiavo files petition to remove Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube
11 February 2000: Judge Greer rules feeding tube can be removed
20 April 2001: Schindlers win a stay to exhaust appeals
23 April 2001: US Supreme Court refuses to intervene
24 April 2001: Feeding tube removed from Mrs Schiavo
26 April 2001: Judge orders doctors to reinsert tube
22 November 2002: After more hearings, Judge Greer rules there is no evidence that Mrs Schiavo has any hope of recovery and orders tube to be removed on 3 January 2003
13 December 2002: Judge Greer stays order to remove feeding tube to allow appeal
6 June 2003: Appeal court upholds Judge Greer's ruling
26 August 2003: Florida Governor Jeb Bush asks court to appoint new guardian for Mrs Schiavo; court does not act
17 September 2003: Judge orders feeding tube removal on 15 October
22 September 2003: Parents petition federal court
10 October 2003: Federal court hearing due
15 October 2003: Tube removal scheduled
Terri Schiavo's parents say her husband has "deprived her of her dignity"
chael Schiavo says it is time to let his wife dieThat Schiavo guy looks just plain evil.
Unlike a patient in a coma, Dr Walker believes there is no hope for recovery for someone in Mrs Schiavo's condition - known as permanent vegetative state - because the cerebral cortex does not regrow once destroyed Scientists have been wrong about the brain in the past.
Textbook rewrite: brain cells can regrow Friday, 15 October 1999
A Princeton study has added to mounting evidence for the brain's ability to regenerate by showing, in adult monkeys, that new nerve cells are continually added to the cerebral cortex, the largest and most advanced part of the brain. Elizabeth Gould and Charles Gross report in the current issue of Science that the formation of new neurons or nerve cells, neurogenesis, takes place in several regions of the cerebral cortex that are crucial for cognitive and perceptual functions. Their results strongly imply that the same process occurs in humans.[snip]
The Princeton scientists found that the new neurons were formed in the lining of the cerebral ventricles, large fluid-filled structures deep in the center of the brain, and then migrated considerable distances to various parts of the cerebral cortex. This type of migration had never been seen before.[snip
Within the cerebral cortex, the researchers found neurogenesis in three areas: 1) the prefrontal region, which controls executive decision making and short-term memory; 2) the inferior temporal region, which plays a crucial role in the visual recognition of objects and faces, and 3) the posterior parietal region, which is important for the representation of objects in space.
Interestingly, there was no sign of neurogenesis in a fourth area, the striate cortex, which handles the initial, and more rudimentary, steps of visual processing.
