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Schiavo’s Death Marked by Rancor

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Times Staff Writer

Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman who became the focus of a family feud that mushroomed into a national right-to-die debate, died Thursday, 15 years after slipping into what doctors said was a persistent vegetative state and 13 days after a Florida judge ordered her feeding tube removed. She was 41.

About 9 a.m., cradled by her husband, Michael, and holding a stuffed tabby cat under one arm, Schiavo “died a calm, peaceful and gentle death,” said George J. Felos, Michael Schiavo’s lawyer.

Terri Schiavo’s parents were not at the hospice at the time. Her brother and sister were in her room -- which was decorated with lilies and roses -- before she died. But Felos said that hospice personnel asked them to leave so that Terri could be examined.

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Bobby Schindler started arguing with a law enforcement official, Felos said. Michael Schiavo feared a “potentially explosive” situation and would not allow the brother in the room.

“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 dispute over who would be at Schiavo’s side -- and arguments over what would happen to her remains in coming days -- reflected the bitterness that had surrounded her case for years. What began as a private matter escalated into a legal battle and a political fight that occupied Florida’s Legislature and governor and, more recently, Congress and the president.

Until Wednesday, Bob and Mary Schindler continued the legal battle to keep their daughter alive; they maintained that she had been misdiagnosed and could be helped through therapy.

Michael Schiavo said that his wife told him she never would have wished to be kept alive by artificial means.

The Rev. Frank Pavone, a Roman Catholic priest and spiritual advisor to the Schindlers, said Schiavo’s death was “a killing.”

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“We grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this, and we pray that it will never happen again,” Pavone said.

Outside the hospice, Schiavo’s sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, thanked religious leaders, protesters, politicians and the media for taking an interest in Schiavo.

“After these recent years of neglect at the hands of those who were supposed to protect and care for her, she is finally at peace with God for eternity,” Vitadamo said.

The Schindlers’ cause had been embraced by conservative and religious activists. Last month, Congress and President Bush rushed through emergency legislation intended to keep Schiavo alive.

But federal judges from Tampa, Fla., to the U.S. Supreme Court refused to step in and overrule Pinellas Circuit Judge George W. Greer, who consistently sided with Michael Schiavo and ordered the feeding tube disconnected.

As the days passed without Schiavo receiving any food or water, national attention was riveted on the Woodside Hospice, where she was being cared for in a small private room with a blue bedspread and a large picture window.

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Outside, protesters kept up a round-the-clock vigil, offering prayers for a miracle and accusing the courts of committing legal murder. They were mostly peaceful, but police said they made 52 arrests for trespassing and one for intoxication.

The announcement that Schiavo had died was met by the demonstrators with weeping, gasps, hymns and prayers.

“Another part of innocence died today. She wasn’t guilty of anything,” said Frank D’Angelo, 49, of Toronto, who joined the vigil Saturday.

Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski said Mass in front of the hospice.

“Terri never said she wanted to die by starvation,” Malanowski said. But the priest also offered soothing words: “I’m sure God said this morning, ‘Peace be to you, Terri ... come into paradise.’ ”

Near the hospice driveway, a trumpeter played “Amazing Grace.” James Dunn, 34, a construction contractor, knelt on the grass, reading his Bible.

“I was very angry at first when I found out she died,” Dunn said. “But I’m going to try to forgive [Michael Schiavo].”

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Marianne Pasha, spokeswoman for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department, said an interagency plan was in place to protect Michael Schiavo, the woman he now lived with, their two children, and Greer.

In Washington, statements from Bush and congressional leaders were largely muted -- focused mostly on offering condolences to the Schindler and Schiavo families -- although a few comments had a sharper edge.

The politicians’ low profile Thursday contrasted with their actions in the days after Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed. Then, Congress returned from a recess to pass a law allowing the federal courts to intervene, and Bush returned from vacation at his Texas ranch to sign it.

“Millions of Americans are saddened by the death of Terri Schiavo,” Bush said, adding that he appreciated “the example of grace and dignity” displayed by her family. “I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life, where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others,” the president said.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, (R-Texas) a central figure in congressional efforts on the Schindlers’ behalf, said the judges who failed to reconnect her feeding tube were “arrogant, unaccountable and out of control.”

Terri Schiavo was a Roman Catholic, and the Vatican on Thursday called the circumstances of her death “a violation of the sacred nature of life” that had “rightly shocked consciences.”

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“A life has been interrupted,” Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a written statement. “A death was arbitrarily brought forward, because to feed a person can never be considered trying to keep a patient alive at all costs.”

For defenders of the court decisions to disconnect Schiavo’s feeding tube, all the judge had done was respect her wishes as she had expressed them to her husband and others.

“The overriding issue in this case was her choice,” Felos said. According to court testimony, the attorney said, Schiavo reportedly had said “no tubes for me.” Her parents called the testimony hearsay.

On Feb. 25, 1990, Schiavo had a heart attack and collapsed in the hallway of her home. Doctors cited a potassium imbalance caused by an eating disorder. Schiavo stopped breathing for several minutes, cutting off the oxygen supply to her brain.

The result, neurologists said, was the destruction of Schiavo’s cerebral cortex, the area of the brain that governs thought, feelings and awareness. Although she could breathe on her own, Schiavo could not speak, eat or drink; she had to receive nutrition and hydration through a plastic tube connected to her stomach.

In their legal petitions to keep their daughter alive, the Schindlers cited experts who said Schiavo had been misdiagnosed. They said she was responsive to words and gestures.

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The day the feeding tube was removed, one of the Schindlers’ lawyers swore in an affidavit, Schiavo attempted to say: “I want to live.”

The debate about the extent of her brain injuries may be resolved by the autopsy ordered by William A. Pellan, director of forensic investigation for Pinellas County. The autopsy will include X-rays and an examination by a board-certified neuropathologist, Pellan said Thursday.

The autopsy also could resolve allegations made by the Schindlers and their supporters that Schiavo may have suffered broken bones at the hands of her husband, and that her brain injuries may have been caused by an attempted strangulation.

Bob and Mary Schindler arrived at the hospice after their daughter had died, and Michael Schiavo left the room so they could be alone with her, Felos said. Hospice workers later bathed the body, Felos said, and 30 to 40 nurses and other hospice workers formed a circle to bid farewell to a patient they had cared for for the last five years.

At 11:14 a.m., a white van accompanied by a police motorcycle escort transported Schiavo’s body to the county morgue. Pellan said it could take several weeks to issue an official cause of death and the autopsy report.

Money seems to be the source of the family split.

In 1992, Michael Schiavo sued his wife’s doctor for malpractice. The $750,000 awarded to Terri was placed in a trust to pay for her care. Her husband was awarded $300,000.

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The following year, Michael Schiavo and his in-laws had the falling-out that lasted until her death. He has said that they asked for some of the malpractice award, something the Schindlers deny.

Terri Schiavo’s parents then sued to have Michael replaced as their daughter’s guardian, claiming he was not properly caring for her, but a judge dismissed the action.

In 1994, after consulting with physicians, Michael Schiavo, a nurse, authorized a do-not-resuscitate order in the event she had another heart attack.

In 1998, he petitioned a state court to allow the removal of her feeding tube.

Terri Schiavo’s parents opposed the request. What followed was a seven-year legal struggle that wound through six state and federal courts, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining six times to intervene.

“There is just no doubt that this case is the most litigated end-of-life, right-to-die case there has ever been, hands down,” said Michael P. Allen, associate professor at the Stetson University College of law in St. Petersburg, Fla., which held a seminar on the Schiavo case last year. “It’s touched ... every level of the state court system and federal court system, not to mention the Congress and the state Legislature.”

Greer first ordered Schiavo’s feeding tube removed five years ago. The judge stayed his own order, however, to allow the Schindlers time for an appeal. When both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court turned them down in 2001, the tube was removed.

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The device was reconnected two days later, after the Schindlers filed a civil suit claiming their son-in-law had lied about Schiavo’s wish not to be kept alive by artificial means. In 2002, after hearing the testimony of five doctors appointed by court order, Greer again decided that there was no real chance her condition would improve.

On Oct. 15, 2003, the tube was removed by Greer’s order a second time.

Bombarded with e-mails and phone calls from religious conservatives, Florida lawmakers passed emergency legislation authorizing Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother, to order the tube reinserted, which he did after it had been out for six days. But “Terri’s Law” was ruled unconstitutional the following year by the Florida Supreme Court.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Bush’s appeal to preserve “Terri’s Law.” Greer then set March 18 as the date the tube would be removed for the third time.

On March 21, the U.S. Senate and House agreed on the bill to allow the federal courts to review the case, which the president signed.

For the Schindlers, the federal review proved in the end to be a crushing disappointment.

U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore ruled that state courts had not violated Schiavo’s due-process or religious rights. He refused to issue an injunction requiring the feeding tube to be reinserted.

As their daughter was failing, the Schindlers’ appeals were turned down by the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and the U.S. Supreme Court, for the final time, on Wednesday.

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David C. Gibbs III, the Schindlers’ lawyer, said they “can comfort themselves that as a mom and dad, they have done everything possible to save their daughter’s life.”

Even after death, the rancor continued between the Schindlers and their son-in-law.

The parents had wanted their daughter’s body for a funeral Mass, but Felos said that Michael Schiavo would have his wife’s remains cremated after the autopsy and interred in his family plot in Pennsylvania.

“We loved you, but God loved you more,” Bobby Schindler said. “We must accept your untimely death as God’s will.”

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Times staff writers Richard Boudreaux in Rome and Maura Reynolds in Washington contributed to this report.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

A 15-year journey

Feb. 25, 1990: Terri Schiavo collapses in her home from a chemical imbalance that may have been caused by an eating disorder. Her heart temporarily stops, cutting off oxygen to the brain.

November 1992: The Schiavos are awarded more than $1 million in a malpractice suit.

Feb. 11, 2000: Pinellas Circuit Judge George W. Greer approves Michael Schiavo’s request to have her feeding tube removed, agreeing that she had told her husband she would not want to be kept alive artificially.

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April 2001: State and U.S. Supreme courts refuse to intervene, and Schiavo’s tube is removed, but another judge orders it reinserted two days later.

Nov. 22, 2002: After hearing medical testimony, Greer finds no evidence that Schiavo has any hope of recovery.

Oct. 15, 2003: Tube is removed for a second time.

Oct. 21, 2003: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush signs emergency bill allowing him to intervene, then orders tube reinserted.

Sept. 23, 2004: Florida Supreme Court strikes down the law that allowed Bush to intervene.

Feb. 25, 2005: Greer gives permission for tube removal.

March 18: Feeding tube removed.

March 19: Congressional leaders from both parties agree on a bill that would allow a federal court to review the case and prolong Schiavo’s life.

March 20-21: Congress passes the bill after members scramble to return to Washington for an early morning vote. President Bush signs the bill outside his White House bedroom. Parents file an emergency request with a federal judge to have the tube reconnected.

March 22-24: Case makes its way to the Supreme Court, which denies the parents’ appeal.

March 31: Terri Schiavo dies at 41.

Source: Associated Press

Los Angeles Times

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Voices

‘I think it was very cruel ... they simply starved her to death. If it was God’s will for her to die, she would’ve died with or without the feeding tube. We have no right to starve anybody to death.’

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Margarine Nash

60, Los Angeles

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‘It was an eye-opener. I told my mother [today] if I’m ever in the same situation, please let me die and donate my organs to somebody who could use them.’

Violeta Rodriguez

33, La Puente

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‘I think they should have let her go a long time ago.... She’s been dead for 15 years.... I’m thinking of having Do Not Resuscitate tattooed on my chest.’

Diana Curland

51, Monrovia

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‘It was the right thing to do ... I don’t think the government should have gotten involved at all. I think it’s a personal matter between the person and their family.’

Janette Giles

50, Canoga Park

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‘It makes it seem like the convenience of having her gone was more important than the fact that she had a life at all.... We just had a Bible study on the Sixth Commandment .... this essentially was murder.’

Carol Lee

21, Ventura

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Congress ‘was wrong. That’s a family thing. If they get involved like that, then everyone will be having their say-so.’

Bill Davis

84, Los Angeles

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‘Catholics believe God should be the one to decide.... But I don’t believe in the entire Catholic doctrine.’

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Evelyn Bassel

48, Oxnard

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‘Pulling that tube was the right thing to do. It’s so discouraging to see how things are blown up like this for political purposes.’

Ken Rogers

76, Ventura

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‘I can see why the country agonized.... But in the end, the right thing happened.’

Bill Stewart

63, Camarillo

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Source: Times staff writers Patrica Ward Biederman, Catherine Saillant and Erica Williams

Los Angeles Times

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