Associated Press
March 31, 2005 10:08 a.m.
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose final years tethered to a feeding tube sparked a bitter feud over her fate that divided a family and a nation, died Thursday, her husband's attorney said.
Ms. Schiavo, 41 years old, died quietly in a Pinellas Park hospice 13 days after her feeding tube was removed despite extraordinary intervention by Florida lawmakers, Congress and President Bush -- efforts that were rebuffed at every turn by the courts.
Her death was confirmed by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, and announced to reporters outside her hospice by a family adviser.
A shy woman who avoided the spotlight, Ms. Schiavo spent her final months as the focus of a media frenzy and an epic legal battle between her husband and parents over whether she should live or die.
Protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. The Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an innocent woman.
Politicians repeatedly tried to intervene as her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, pleaded for their daughter's life, calling the removal of the feeding tube "judicial homicide."
"Something has to be done and has to be done quick," Mr. Schindler said, a week after the tube was removed March 18, as the family's legal options dwindled. "I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish."
The news of Ms. Schiavo's death comes after the Supreme Court on Wednesday once again refused to order her feeding tube reinserted, the latest in a series of setbacks to her parents' attempts to keep their daughter alive.
The decision, announced in a one-sentence order, was the sixth time since 2000 that the court declined to intervene in the case. Justices did not explain their decision and there was no indication how they voted.
It was also the second time in a week that the high court refused to reinsert the tube. Justices on March 24 denied the parents' emergency request based on similar claims that husband Michael Schiavo did not have her consent to remove the tube.
The high court's decision was the latest in a string of losses in state and federal courts for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, who say their 41-year-old daughter faces an unjust and imminent death based on a decision by her husband to halt nourishment without proof of her consent.
The latest emergency request argued that the federal courts didn't consider whether there was enough "clear and convincing" evidence that Terri Schiavo would have chosen to die in her current condition. It asked that her tube be reinserted while the parents more fully litigate the matter in the lower courts.
The Schindlers' appeal went first to Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee who has staked a moderate position on social issues. Mr. Kennedy has responsibility in the first instance for cases emanating from the Southern district that is home to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. He referred the Schiavo case to the full nine-member court.
The order from the court was swift. Ms. Schiavo's parents filed their request shortly after 9 p.m., and the court released its order at 10:40 p.m. For the parents' previous request, last week, it took the justices about 12 hours to reject.
The court's decision was expected. Not only had justices repeatedly declined to intervene in the Schiavo case on previous occasions, but they routinely defer to state courts on family law issues. Judges in various Florida courts have sided with Schiavo's husband in the 15 years since she suffered brain damage.
On Wednesday, the 11th Circuit had rejected the Schindlers' request to reinsert the tube.
Wall Street Journal
Define "died quietly." I'm sick.
when are we going to finally TELL the truth in the MSM!!!!!!!!!
The courts sided with the VERY EVIL GREER, FELOS and Michael Schiavo. They permitted a GREAT EVIL to be thrust upon Terri, the Schindlers, and this NATION. If they don't pay on this earth, they will pay BIG TIME when they stand before Almighty God. I can't WAIT!!!!