Terri Schiavo Case Summary

Terri Schiavo – The Right to Die

In 1990 Terri Schiavo slipped into a permanent vegetative state. She remained in this vegetative state for 15 long years before she was allowed to die. Mrs. Schiavo’s husband, Michael Schiavo fought relentlessly to honor his wife’s wishes to never live like this. Michael was faced with opposition from Terri’s parents, religious and right to life organizations. The opposition caused the Schiavo case to be challenged and put in the public eye for all to see. The US Congress and President became involved. Prior cases similar to the Schiavo case had been heard and ruled on. Such cases as the case of Karen Quinlan and Nancy Cruzan set a precedent and had positive outcomes but were ignored in this case. We will be taking an in depth look at the moral case of Terri Schiavo and the government involvement in the case. We will compare her case with the …show more content…
Terri’s parents did not agree with the ruling. They believed it was unethical to withhold nutrition from their daughter. This was different than the other cases. Terri’s parents challenged the court’s decision and appealed to Florida Supreme Court. After multiple unsuccessful pleads with Florida Supreme court, Terri’s parents gained support of religious and right to life organizations. The involvement of religious organizations and right to life organizations made this a very public case. The religious organizations based their please on the moral standing and absolute rule “thou shalt not kill”. Demonstrators picketed the court house and death threats were made toward Judge George Greer. They viewed that withholding tube feeding and hydration from Terri was killing her. It was viewed not only as unconstitutional but immoral. In their eyes Terri’s wishes did not matter. At this time the Florida courts would not rehear the case and Terri’s feeding tube was