How long did Terri Schiavo live without food and water?
Dozens of armed police maintained a tight ring of security around the hospice as demonstrators continued to parade banners protesting at her death on her 13th day without food or water.
How did Terri Schiavo become disabled?
What caused Terri Schiavo’s condition? On February 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo collapsed at her Florida home from what doctors said was a potassium imbalance. After she collapsed, her brain did not receive oxygen for about five minutes. The oxygen deprivation caused severe brain damage.
What was the controversy regarding Terri Schiavo?
Terri Schiavo, a 41-year-old Florida woman who was in a persistent vegetative state for the 15 years before her death on Mar. 31, 2005, was at the centre of a political, legal and media tempest over the removal of a feeding tube. Hyperbole has run high on both sides of the controversy.
What is the bioethical issue in the Terri Schiavo case?
Her feeding tube was removed on March 18 and her body took its last breath on March 31, 2005. This case was one of the most divisive in bioethics history. The issues in this case of removing feeding tubes and deciding who was the appropriate decision-maker had been largely settled by previous cases and experiences.
What issue was the at the heart of the debate in the Terri Schiavo case?
So let’s recall what happened. At the heart of that case, Michael Schiavo, her husband, began requesting in 1995 that she legally be allowed to die. He believed she would never emerge from her comatose state — as did every doctor who examined her.
Was Terri Schiavo on a ventilator?
She was on a ventilator for the first few weeks but ultimately was taken off mechanical life support and had been breathing on her own since that time. In June of 1990, Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband, was appointed her plenary guardian by the courts.
What does it mean when you are in a vegetative state?
People in a vegetative state cannot do things that require thought or conscious intention. They cannot speak, follow commands, move their limbs purposefully, or move to avoid a painful stimulus. Most people in a vegetative state have lost all capacity for awareness, thought, and conscious behavior.