Terri Schiavo

Florida resident whose right-to-die legal case became nationally famous

Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage following cardiac arrest in 1990 and was soon diagnosed by doctors to be in a “persistent vegetative state.” Her husband Michael later petitioned a Florida court to remove her feeding tube to allow her life to end, but the decision was challenged by her parents and turned into a national issue after state and federal Republican lawmakers and officials, including President George W. Bush, intervened. After multiple legal interventions, Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed in March 2005 and she passed away soon after.