2005 – Terri Schiavo Has Her Feeding Tube Removed after Long Court Battle

The Terri Schiavo case garners national media attention. Terri Schiavo had been brain damaged since 1990 when, aged 26, her heart stopped beating temporarily and oxygen was cut off to her brain. In 1998, her husband Michael Schiavo filed a petition to have her feeding tube removed. Seven years of legal battles ensued between Michael Schiavo and Terri’s parents, the Schindlers. After a Florida Circuit Judge ruled that Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube be removed and the Florida Supreme Court overturned “Terri’s Law,” a law intended to reinsert the feeding tube, the United States Supreme Court refuses for the sixth time to intervene in the case. Terri Schiavo dies on Mar. 31, 2005, 13 days after her feeding tube is removed.