Can you tell me about the Terri Schiavo case?

Question

Was she brain dead? Was was wrong and why is it controversial?

Answer 1

In 1990, she had collapsed from a heart attack but doctors were able to revive her. The cause was never determined but it was believed to have been the result of strenous dieting in recent years. She had been quite heavy as a child and a teen and then slimmed down drastically. Unfortunately, her heart attack caused her to suffer massive brain damage, which left her in a vegetative state for the rest of her life. She was in the middle of a legal battle between her parents, who wanted her care to continue, and her husband, who wanted to allow her to die. This battle dragged on for more than a decade and judge after judge sided with her husband because he was able to prove that's what she wanted. It really was no different than what goes on in countless hospitals daily around the country where families realize their loved ones have no real chance for recovery and agree to withdraw life support. The difference is this one was heavily publicized and it got real ugly. He and her parents had been close but had a major falling out in 1993 over her care. In the end, he was able to have her feeding tube removed and she died about two weeks later. The autopsy later revealed that her brain had shrunk to less than half its normal size and she was blind. There was no way she could have been watching the balloons floating around in her hospital room as depicted on a video that was widely shown on national TV.