Death of Terri Schiavo

No cause found for charges in Schiavo's collapse

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A prosecutor asked by Gov. Jeb Bush to investigate Terri Schiavo's collapse 15 years ago said yesterday that there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

Fla. governor reopens Schaivo case

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Embarking on what may be a politically risky path, Gov. Jeb Bush reopened Terri Schiavo's case yesterday by asking a prosecutor to review a perceived delay by her husband in seeking medical help after her collapse 15 years ago.

Autopsy for Schiavo is completed

TAMPA, Fla. - The medical examiner completed the autopsy of Terri Schiavo yesterday, clearing the way for the release of the body to her husband, who plans to cremate her remains and bury the ashes without telling his in-laws when or where.

Gregory Kane: Schiavo case turned conservatism on its head

NOW THAT Terri Schiavo has gone -- not peacefully, but as a national spectacle -- to her maker, we are left to ponder how conservatives trashed and savaged what was supposedly their own philosophy.

Schiavo dies, anger remains

What began as one family's bitter split over painful end-of-life decisions and grew into an unprecedented political battle that reached Congress, the White House and the Vatican ended yesterday with the death of Terri Schiavo at a hospice in central Florida. She was 41.

The Schiavo Legacy

In America, candid, new discussion of last wishes

WASHINGTON - The end of Terri Schiavo's life won't end the arguments over the issues raised by her case, an unusual intersection of religion, politics and morality that sparked a national conversation about self-determination, the rights of one family and just how far into our lives the government should reach.

Private Tragedy, Public Uproar

Final hours marked by family drama

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - The final 15 minutes of Terri Schiavo's life were filled with family warfare - her brother locked out of her room, her husband and his lawyers at her bedside, a police officer standing between the battling relatives.

Private Tragedy, Public Uproar

Activists hope to keep up momentum

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - The Rev. Ed Martin does not want to squander the attention that the Terri Schiavo case has given his cause. In the month the anti-abortion activist spent outside the hospice housing the severely brain-damaged woman, he has given his business card - emblazoned with a logo of an adult hand protectively holding a baby - to every reporter who has approached him.

15 years in the Terri Schiavo case

1990

U.S. courts refuse Schiavo rehearing

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - A federal appeals court rejected another plea by the parents of Terri Schiavo to have her feeding tube reinserted yesterday, with one judge rebuking Congress and President Bush for intervening in the case.

Jackson lends support to Schiavo's parents

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Saying the plight of Terri Schiavo "transcends politics," the Rev. Jesse Jackson lent his support yesterday to her parents and earned cheers of "God bless you" from their largely conservative backers.

State had own Schiavo case in 1990s

Maryland had its own Terri Schiavo case in the 1990s, a court battle that led to the state's living will law.

When choices are a matter of life, death

In the family lounge of the Gilchrist Center -- a homey spot with a gas log fire, plants, an aquarium and comfy couches -- the headlines of the newspaper on the coffee table seem particularly devastating: Schiavo Parents at Legal End: How Terri's Family Ripped Apart.

As Schiavo saga winds down, leaders pursue broader debate

Efforts by lawmakers in Washington to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo failed in the courts and tanked in opinion polls, but intense interest in the Florida woman's saga is expected to force a broader debate in Congress and state legislatures about government's role in sensitive end-of-life issues.

Pinellas Park, Fla.

Residents of Florida town inundated by Schiavo saga

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - When a plane flew overhead the other day hauling a banner, some folks figured it was another ad urging them to save Terri Schiavo, like the one Saturday that read: "Terri: I want to live." They had to look hard to see that it was just a promotion for a beach bar.

Schiavo's family urges Jeb Bush to act as legal appeals fail

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Legal options appeared to run out for Terri Schiavo's parents yesterday as a state judge and Florida's Supreme Court denied their petition to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted.

For Congress, a quiet retreat from Schiavo

WASHINGTON - After rushing headlong into the emotional fray over the life of a brain-damaged Florida woman just a week ago, political leaders reacted to the apparent end of the wrenching saga with another near-unanimous position - silence.

Eileen Ambrose: Create your living will, then be sure to discuss it

MOST OF US might never have heard of Terri Schiavo if she had put her medical wishes in writing.

Panel again denies Schiavo's parents

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Inside what is described as a bare hospice room with an armed police officer seated next to her bed, Terri Schiavo continued the slow process of dying yesterday. Outside, beyond earshot and out of view, protesters were hoping for a last-ditch court victory ordering the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube.

Senate set to vote on extending medical decision-making rights

Jodi Kelber-Kaye was thrown out of a hospital room when her long-time partner was emerging from heart surgery.

Legal options waning in Schiavo case

With their daughter near death, the parents of Terri Schiavo saw their legal options to prolong her life all but disappear yesterday as the U.S. Supreme Court refused to order that her feeding tube be reinserted and a Florida judge blocked an effort by state officials to take the severely brain-damaged woman into protective custody.

Awareness diagnosis a medical challenge

When Florida Gov. Jeb Bush challenged the diagnosis of Terri Schiavo's condition yesterday, attention focused on her state of awareness.

Dan Rodricks: Exploiting the tragedy of Terri Schiavo

MAYBE YOU know the feeling - that you're about to see or hear something that's really someone else's private business, and it makes you embarrassed and uncomfortable. You're a sucker for human drama in all forms, but you'd rather not be caught gawking.

Court refuses to reinsert Schiavo's tube

The extraordinary legal and political scramble to try to prolong Terri Schiavo's life seemed to approach a finale yesterday, with a federal appeals court twice refusing to order her feeding tube reinserted and Florida lawmakers failing in their last-ditch effort to intervene.

Rejected by federal judge, parents of Schiavo turn to appeals court

Rebuffed by a federal judge yesterday, the parents of Terri Schiavo immediately turned to the U.S. appeals courts to try to keep their severely brain-damaged daughter alive, a frantic effort that legal scholars predicted had little chance for success.

Living Wills

A rush to write final wishes

Alan Meadoff knew two years ago when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer how he wanted to go in the end.

Woman's expressions misleading, experts say

Terri Schiavo's eyes look vacant. Her mouth hangs open. Then, her mother approaches, saying, "Hi, baby," in a bright voice. Schiavo's lips turn upward, and her blinking accelerates.

Up to 35,000 Americans in condition like Schiavo's

At any one time, up to 35,000 Americans - up to 10,000 of them children - are in a persistent vegetative state similar to that of Terri Schiavo, medical experts said yesterday.

Judge hears arguments in Schiavo case

TAMPA, Fla. - Armed with a new law rushed through Congress over the weekend, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents pleaded with a federal judge yesterday to order that the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube be reinserted. But the judge appeared cool to the argument.

GOP's role in Schiavo case worries some party members

WASHINGTON - The extraordinary steps taken to save the life of Terri Schiavo have won plaudits from evangelical Christians and other conservative activists, but some Republicans worry about a potential backlash among others who view the intervention as an overbearing use of government power.

Lawmakers send Schiavo case on to U.S. court

WASHINGTON - After an extraordinary emergency session, the House voted early this morning to send the Terri Schiavo case to a federal court in Florida.

Congress tries again to keep Schiavo alive

WASHINGTON - Congressional leaders said yesterday that they had reached agreement on legislation that would force the Terri Schiavo case into federal court - a move aimed at reinserting the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube while her fate is considered.

Schiavo's feeding is stopped

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Shortly before 2 p.m. yesterday, a chaplain, a doctor and other health care workers prayed in Terri Schiavo's room, gave her Holy Communion through her feeding tube and then tearfully disconnected the life support that has kept her alive for 15 years.

Medical advances make decisions on life difficult

As a long and bitter battle over the fate of a brain-damaged Florida woman dragged drearily on yesterday, legal scholars, ethicists and medical experts said it was unlikely the case would offer any new lessons to Americans who quietly face the same wrenching decisions every day.

GOP effort unlikely to hold up in court

An extraordinary eleventh-hour maneuver by Republicans in Congress to intervene in the Terri Schiavo saga had no legal precedent and was unlikely to withstand a court challenge, congressional analysts said yesterday. In harsher words, an attorney for Schiavo's husband called the late play by lawmakers "the lowest type of political strong-arming."

With woman's feeding tube set for removal, a rush for legislation

WASHINGTON - Terri Schiavo's feeding tube will be removed today at 1 p.m. unless a House committee succeeds in a last-minute effort to issue subpoenas that would stop doctors from doing so.