Gone But Not Forgotten

American Journalism Center ^ | April 5, 2010 | Melissa Barnhart

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Gone But Not Forgotten

Melissa Barnhart, April 5, 2010

The Family Research Council commemorated the fifth anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo by hosting a panel discussion, “Terri Schiavo and a Culture of Life: Looking Forward on the Anniversary of Terri’s Death,” in Washington, D.C. on Monday, March 29.

Terri died from dehydration at age 41, on March 31, 2005, 13 days after Judge George W. Greer of the Sixth Judicial Court in Pinellas County, Fla., ordered that her feeding tube be removed.

FRC’s four-person panel included David Gibbs III, lead attorney in Terri’s case and author of the new book, Fighting for Dear Life, the Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us; Terri’s brother, Robert Schindler, who works full time as a pro-life and disability rights advocate for terrisfight.org; Cathy Ruse, senior fellow for legal issues at the Family Research Council; and Robert Destro, a civil rights attorney and professor of law at The Catholic University of America.

Gibbs opened the discussion by explaining that Terri’s case was unusual. Unlike most end-of-life cases, Terri was not being kept alive by a ventilator or a heart machine, but was “a disabled woman who was alive [and], a disabled woman who wasn’t dying,” he said. “There was no illness, no heart disease, no cancer; no issue of any type of expectancy that she was going to die anytime soon.” She was a woman who “just needed food and water.” And now, five years after her death, Gibbs said people are more confused than ever about what really happened....

[SonnyBubba]

This travesty still makes me angry. If she had been my daughter I would have chained myself to her bed with a shotgun and dared anyone to harm her.