Terri Schiavo (born Theresa Marie Schindler on - ) Is an American , emblematic figure of the polemic on the euthanasia . His case has made several press releases in the United States following legal proceedings initiated by his parents to keep him alive despite the opinion of the doctors.
Victim of prolonged cardiac arrest, following hypokalaemia (falling potassium) due to repeated and excessive vomiting (it was bulimic ). This cardiac arrest resulted in severe irreversible brain damage. In 1991 , 14 years before her death, she was considered by doctors to have sunk into a permanent vegetative state and therefore irreversible, although she was capable of certain movements and facial expressions.
In 1998, her ex-husband, Michael Schiavo, made a legal request to stop feeding her. His parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, opposed and began a lengthy legal process to keep their daughter alive. They were rejected by both the justice of Florida by the federal courts that ruled that Terri would not have wanted to continue living in this way, despite a controversial intervention of Congress at the initiative of US President George W. Bush that Was designed to keep her alive.
She died on March 31, 2005, after the catheter feeding her was finally unplugged.
The episode ” Potes pour la vie” from the South Park series aired on the eve of Terri Schiavo’s death parodies the event.