FPRA - Florida Public Relations Association Blog

Next up is a presentation on the Terri Schiavo case.

For those of you new to the case (or from outside Florida), the case was about a woman from St. Petersburg, Fla. whose medical and family circumstances and legal battles fueled intense media attention and led to several high-profile court decisions and involvement by politicians and interest groups.

Schiavo, then 26, collapsed in her home in 1990 and experienced respiratory and cardiac arrest. She remained in a coma for ten weeks. Within three years, she was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state (PVS).

The legal history around the Schiavo case included fourteen appeals and numerous motions, petitions, and hearings in the Florida courts; five suits in Federal District Court; Florida legislation struck down by the Supreme Court of Florida; a subpoena by a congressional committee in an attempt to qualify Schiavo for witness protection; federal legislation; and four denials of certiorari from the Supreme Court of the United States.

Ultimately, Terri's husband won the legal right to have her feeding tube removed on March 18, 2005. She died thirteen days later at a Pinellas Park hospice on March 31, 2005, at the age of 41.

We'll have insight on the presentation afterward...