Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman who spent 15 years connected to a feeding tube in a wrenching medical and legal battle that went all the way to the White House and Congress, died 13 days after the tube was removed. She was 41.
Schiavo died around 9am Thursday at the Pinellas Park hospice. Michael Schiavo was at his wife's bedside, cradling her, when she died a "calm, peaceful and gentle" death, a stuffed animal under her arm, and flowers arranged around the room, said his attorney, George Felos. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, were not at the hospice at the time. Her brother had been barred from the room at Michael Schiavo's request moments before the end came.
"Mr. Schiavo's overriding concern here was to provide for Terri a peaceful death with dignity," Felos said. "This death was not for the siblings, and not for the spouse and not for the parents. This was for Terri."
The Schindlers' advisers said Schiavo's brother and sister had been at her bedside a few minutes before the end came, but were not there at the moment of her death because Michael Schiavo would not allow them back into the room.
Felos disputed the Schindler family's account. He said that Terri Schiavo's siblings had been asked to leave the room so that the hospice staff could examine her, and the brother started arguing with a law enforcement official. Michael Schiavo feared a "potentially explosive" situation and would not allow the brother in the room, because he wanted his wife's death to take place in calm and peaceful surroundings, Felos said.
President George W. Bush said: "Today, millions of Americans are saddened by the death of Terri Schiavo."
"In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in favor of life."
Bush, who signed an extraordinary bill March 21 that let federal judges review her case, praised Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, for their "display of grace and dignity." But he was also careful to extend condolences to both her "families," meaning her husband and her parents.
The feeding tube was removed with a judge's approval March 18 after Michael Schiavo successfully argued that his wife told him long ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially.
During the seven-year legal battle, Florida lawmakers, Congress and President George W. Bush tried to intervene on behalf of her parents. But state and federal courts at all levels repeatedly ruled in favor of her husband, and refused to overturn the central ruling by Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer, who approved the removal of the feeding tube. On six occasions, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene.
After the tube was disconnected, protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water.
An autopsy is planned, with both sides hoping it will shed more light on the extent of her brain injuries and whether she was abused by her husband, as the Schindlers have argued.
In what was the source of yet another dispute between the husband and his in-laws, Michael Schiavo will get custody of the body and plans to have her cremated and bury the ashes in an undisclosed location near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A funeral mass, sought by the Schindlers, was tentatively scheduled for Tuesday or Wednesday.
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