PINELLAS PARK, Florida (CNN) – Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman at the center of a national legal, political and ethical battle, died Thursday morning, nearly two weeks after doctors removed the feeding tube that had sustained her for more than a decade.
Demonstrators – some who had been at the site for weeks as legal maneuvering intensified – gasped, cried and prayed at the news. Some sang hymns.
Minutes before the announcement of her death, Schiavo’s parents, Mary and Bob Schindler, and her brother hurriedly entered the hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida.
Brother Paul O’Donnell, a spokesman for the Schindlers, said police denied their request to be with Schiavo when she died, but that her parents had access to their daughter’s body after her death and prayed.
Michael Schiavo, Terri’s husband and guardian, controlled who could visit her and when.
John Centonze, the brother of Michael Schiavo’s live-in girlfriend Jodi Centonze, said Michael Schiavo was with Terri Schiavo when she died.
A friend who phoned Michael Schiavo soon after news broke of his wife’s death said he couldn’t talk. “He (Michael) couldn’t speak, he was crying,” Russ Hyden said.
President Bush offered his condolences. "Today millions of Americans are saddened by the death of Terri Schiavo. … I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected.
“Especially those who live at the mercy of others. The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. In cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life.”
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who had intervened in the case to authorize continuing nourishment for Terri Schiavo in 2003, issued a written statement that said the prayers of those who supported Terri Schiavo’s family were not in vain.
“Many across our state and around the world are deeply grieved by the way Terri died. I feel that grief very sharply as well,” he added.
“I remain convinced, however, that Terri’s death is a window through which we can see the many issues left unresolved in our families and in our society. For that, we can be thankful for all that the life of Terri Schiavo has taught us.”
Inside the Florida Statehouse, legislators observed a moment of silence at the news of Terri Schiavo’s death.
David Gibbs, a lawyer representing the Schindlers, said his clients were "with Terri up until 10 minutes before she passed.
“This is indeed a sad day for this nation. This is a sad day for this family. Their faith in God remains consistent and strong,” he said. “They are absolutely convinced God loves Terri more than they do.”
The Rev. Frank Pavone was with the Schindlers during their final visit. He said, “This is not only a death with all the sadness that brings, this is a killing. And for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed, but we grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this, and we pray that it will never happen again.”
Her relatives and friends never agreed on what Terri Schiavo’s wishes would have been, but they all said the once-bashful woman would have shunned the spotlight her disability and death created. (Terri Schiavo’s obituary)
Before Schiavo’s death, her best friend in high school, Diane Meyer, told The Miami Herald that Schiavo would have asked, " ‘All this for me?’ …She just wanted to be your common, everyday, happy woman."
Terri Schiavo had grown up chubby and preferred spending time alone or with animals, her friends and family said.
And, they said, she loved romance novels and movies. As a teen, saw “An Officer and a Gentlemen” four times in one day and spent their free time window-shopping in bridal shops and planning the perfect wedding.
Wednesday, the Schindlers lost what their lawyer described as their “last meaningful legal appeal” in their desperate battle to have their brain-damaged daughter’s feeding tube reinserted.
The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday refused once again to hear an emergency appeal from the Schindlers.
Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer in Clearwater, Florida, ordered the feeding tube removed March 18 at Michael Schiavo’s request. He has said that his wife wouldn’t have wanted to live in her condition – what Florida courts have deemed a “persistent vegetative state.”
The parents believed otherwise and had sought to take guardianship of their daughter from her husband. Their bitter court battles began in 1998.
“I don’t understand why Michael Schiavo at some point didn’t walk away,” Gibbs said.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has jurisdiction over Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and could have ruled on the petition on his own, referred the appeal to the entire Supreme Court at 10:40 p.m. Wednesday.
It was the second time in a week the high court refused to hear the case, and the sixth time since 2001.
The Schindlers “can know they have done everything possible under the law in letting government know that they wanted to fight for the life of their daughter,” Gibbs said.
In his Supreme Court filing, Gibbs and other lawyers for the parents wrote that removing the tube represented “an unconstitutional deprivation of Terri Schiavo’s constitutional right to life.”
The Supreme Court’s rejection came hours after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, rejected the parents’ petition 9-2. That court denied three similar requests from the parents last week.
On March 21, three days after Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed, Congress passed a bill transferring jurisdiction of the case from Florida state court to a U.S. District Court, for a federal judge to review. President Bush signed it into law the next day. But federal courts refused to overturn the state courts’ decision.
Omg.. dats so sad..
