(LifeSiteNews) – Twenty years ago today, Terri Schiavo breathed her last.
Terri Schiavo, a married woman of 41, died at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida, on March 31, 2005, thirteen days after her feeding and hydration tube was removed. Schiavo had been living with a serious brain injury stemming from the cardiac arrest she suffered at home on February 25, 1990. She had also been for many years the subject of bitter litigation between her parents Bob and Mary Schindler, who fought for Terri’s right to life, and her husband Michael Schiavo, who wanted her to die. In the end, her husband’s wishes prevailed.
Central to the dispute was whether Terri Schiavo was in what doctors called a “persistent vegetative state,” completely unaware of her surroundings. Her birth family rejects this diagnosis, holding to this day that Terri was conscious, responded to their presence, and could track objects with her eyes. Meanwhile, her case forced the world to consider the claims of both brain-damaged patients and people with disorders of consciousness to their right to life. Sadly, since Terri Schiavo’s death from dehydration, the court-enforced killing of helpless patients through the removal of food and water has continued, seemingly unabated.
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However, there is a ray of hope: the Schindler family has continued to fight for the right to life of vulnerable patients.
“My family established the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network and a 25/7 National Crisis Lifeline twenty years ago to assist families facing the same fate as Terri but also to increase awareness of these government policies taking away a patient and family’s rights,” said Bobby Schindler, Terri’s brother and the president of the network.
“Unfortunately, in these last twenty years, the world has become even more hostile toward a patient’s right to life-affirming care.”
To honor the twentieth anniversary of her passing, the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network has announced plans for the Terri Schiavo Home for the Brain Injured, which will help those most in danger of being removed from their life-supporting hydration and nutrition. There is currently a special exhibition about Terri’s story at the Saint Mary Cathedral Parish Centre in Lansing, Michigan. Cardinal Raymond Burke celebrated a Mass in honor of Terri at St. Mary’s Cathedral on March 22, 2025.
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