Schiavo dilemma

1990. On February 25, Terry Schiavo, 26, collapses in her home from what doctors believe is a potassium imbalance. Oxygen flow to her brain is interrupted for about five minutes, causing permanent damage. A court rules that she is incapacitated and her husband, Michael Schiavo, is appointed as her legal guardian.

The feeding tube that has kept Terri Schiavo alive for 15 years has been removed, said Suzanne Vitadamo, her sister. The move comes amid a flurry of legal activity focusing on the brain-damaged woman Friday, including two very different orders handed down by two judges. Seven years ago Schiavo's husband, Michael, and her parents began a legal tug-of-war over whether to have her feeding tube removed and allow her to die.

El caso Schiavo mantiene a la población encendida en un debate muy intenso, lleno de complejidad. El tubo que la mantiene alimentada, ha sido retirado y puesto de nuevo en varias ocasiones, siempre en medio de una gran batalla legal que implica a toda la nación. Los principales documentos en torno al caso se encuentran aquí. Mel Gibson, el Vaticano, el hermano de Bush, el Congreso, todos intervienen. La Terri Schindler-Schiavo foundation (a traves de Terrisfight.org) batalla contra el marido, que es respaldado por grupos que defienden una "muerte digna" (Hospice Patients Alliance - Fighting Against Euthanasia).

Por un lado se trata el caso como un intento de asesinato (the attempted murder of Terry Schiavo) y, mientras tanto, el marido rechaza una oferta de 1 millon de $ por mantener enchufada la maquina. Schiavo's husband rejects $1 million to bow out. Calif. man's bid to keep woman on life support called ‘offensive’