Terri’s Walls
...s old when she suffered brain damage. Her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder, causing a lack of oxygen to the brain and placing her in a persistent vegetative state. After two failed attempts, Michael Schiavo petitioned for the third time to have the feeding tube removed from Terry. And on February 25th, 2005, Florida Circuit Court Judge George Greer gave permission for it to be removed. Terry was at Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, FL where her feeding tube was pulled on March 25th, 2005. Then 13 days later, on March 31st, Terry passed away. Michael Schiavo has always insisted that his wife requested never to be kept alive artificially. Many people believed Michael wanted his wife to breathe her last breath so that he could get money out of the marriage, but that just truly was not the case. All of the Shiavo’s monetary resources were running low. However, her parents persistently believed that their daughter will recover someday if kept alive. A large number of people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Persistent Vegetative State (PVS). These patients range in age from infant to elderly, and can become PVS for many different reasons. PVS can be brought about through traumatic injury, degenerative disease, or metabolic disease. Each of these are responsible for similar damage to the cortex of the brain, however each leads to a different likelihood of recovery. This is true because with degenerative diseases the body is not able to reverse the disease process, and recovery does not occur.* In 1998 Michael Schiavo filed a petition in State court to remove Terris feeling tube. It was denied. Then again in 2000, Michael filed a pet...