Terri Schiavo Dies
6 years ago, court-ordered dehydration death called 'peaceful,' 'barbaric'
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It was six years ago today, March 31, 2005, that 41-year-old Terri Schiavo succumbed to 13 days of court-ordered dehydration and starvation under the watchful eyes of a security guard posted nearby. Thousands of protesters were gathered outside her Pinellas Park, Fla., hospice, surveilled by rooftop sharpshooters paid for by the hospice at a cost of $98,162. Schiavo's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, and his attorney took turns with her parents and siblings and their attorney holding a bedside vigil during what right-to-die advocates called her "death process," which was triggered by the court-ordered removal of her feeding tube and accompanying ban on oral hydration and nutrition on March 18, 2005. Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court Judge George Greer's latest death order concluded an 11-year tug of war over Schiavo's life waged by divided family members, and came despite the unprecedented intervention of first the Florida Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush, and then Congress and President George W. Bush. Continue reading...
To learn more about the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, visit our website at http://www.terrisfight.org/
