Terri Schiavo

Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo – Due Process

Terri Schindler Schiavo, a brain injured woman who is not terminally ill, died on March 2005 as a result of starvation and dehydration that was ordered by the court. Because she had no living will, Circuit Court Judge Robert F. Michael determined that Terri was incapacitated and appointed her husband, Michael Schiavo to be her full guardian. After two and a half years since she was diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state (PVS), Michael Schiavo filed a petition to the court to permit him to remove Terri’s feeding tube so that Terri could complete her dying process. Terri’s family fought to keep her feeding tube and stated that her daughter was practicing catholic and would want to stay alive. With the feeding tube removed by state court judge ordered and Federal court refused to intervene, the only question left was whether Terri Schiavo has been deprived of her due process. Due process is “a course of formal proceedings (as legal proceedings) carried out regularly and in accordance with established rules and principles” (schmalleger page 22). The Bill of Rights was enacted to protect the people from abuse by government officials. The due process is guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments and is briefly stated in the Fifth, which reads, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, without due process of law” (schmalleger page 22).

Background

Theresa Marie Schindler was born on December 3, 1963 and was baptized to the Roman Catholic Church at St. Henry’s Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a catholic, Terri practiced the virtues of faith and hope and love by offering worship to god that she grow in grace and goodness. In 1981, Terri met Michael Schiavo at Bucks County Community College and after two years they got married in the Catholic Church. Five years of their marriage, Terri mysteriously collapsed in her Florida home. Paramedics were able to get her...