History Book: 20 years later

JENNY ROUGH, HOST: Today is Monday, March 31st. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Jenny Rough.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Next up, the WORLD History Book.

In the pre-dawn hours of February 25, 1990, a 26-year-old Florida woman named Terri Schiavo suffered a severe brain injury — an injury that, according to the Pinellas County coroner, remains unexplained. Terri Schiavo’s medical plight triggered a bitter legal battle that’s still studied in universities today.

Depending upon one’s perspective, the issue is either the right to die, or the right to live.

ROUGH: The Schiavo case ended in 2005.

But Terri’s family returned to court just last year.

Two decades have passed since Terri died, but they’re still trying to uncover the whole truth.

Here is WORLD’s Lynn Vincent.

LYNN VINCENT: It’s March 18, 2005, the first day of Terri Schiavo’s slow-motion death.

ANCHOR: Despite the prayers of millions, pleas from the Vatican, the President and an act of Congress, it came down to a handful of judges, especially this judge, George Greer of Florida, who time after time ruled that Terri should be allowed to die.

Allowed to die. It’s one of those slippery phrases that’s lodged itself in the historical catechism of the Terri Schiavo case. There are others, such as comatose, unresponsive, and right-to-die.

You may remember this case:

SHANNON BREAM: It started as a fight between her parents and her husband over ending her life support…

Terri suffered a severe anoxic brain injury in her St. Petersburg, Florida, apartment. It happened in the middle of the night. Only her husband Michael was at home. The incident left Terri dependent on caregivers—and on a feeding tube for nutrition, but no other life support.

Eight years later, Michael Schiavo took Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to court. His claim? That Terri had once told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially. That she would have wanted to die.

MICHAEL: She told me what she wanted. And the courts heard it over and over and over again.

For twelve long years, the Schindlers argued that Terri was alive and responsive, especially with family. They said Michael invented Terri’s wish to die only after receiving money from a medical malpractice suit—and after falling in love with another woman.

Terri’s brother Bobby Schindler:

BOBBY SCHINDLER: He was living with another woman. There was a lot of money that he would have assumed upon her death. What else do you need to know?

The Schiavo case inspired a generation to create advance medical directives, to spell out their wishes on paper in case of tragedy. The case is still studied in university schools of law and medicine, and in the field of bioethics. That’s one reason that though 20 years have passed, the Schindler family has not given up.

In March 2024, Bobby and his mother Mary filed a motion to unseal guardianship records in the case—that is, court records that show the history of Michael’s actions during the 15 years he served as Terri’s legal guardian.

BOBBY: Almost immediately after Terri passed away… one of the first things that Michael did… is petition the court to seal her guardianship files … And I remember at the time we wanted to look into it and find out why, or oppose it or somehow fight it.

That was in 2005. In 2021 and 2022, WORLD Radio reinvestigated Terri’s case for a our true crime podcast, Lawless. What we found drew bright lines between the received version of history—what you’ll likely read on the internet and hear on other podcasts about the Schiavo case—and what actually happened.

Bobby says it was WORLD’s investigation that put the guardianship records back on his radar.

BOBBY: So from that time, I've been talking to our attorney, David Gibbs, about it, and we, we decided to go ahead and petition the court to see if, in fact, we can have them reopened. We don't know … what is contained in those records. We don't know why Michael was so quick to seal them.

In Florida, guardianship records contain a wealth of information, including financial transactions. From the very beginning of the Schiavo case, money was a burning issue. On Terri’s behalf, Michael won a seven-figure medical malpractice judgment in November 1992.

During the trial, Michael told the jury—and the Schindlers—he would use any money won in the case to take care of Terri. But just a few months later, after nearly coming to blows with Terri’s father Bob, he broke with the Schindlers—and made the first of at least six attempts to end Terri’s life.

During the 12-year court battle that followed, each side accused the other of wanting Terri’s medical trust fund for themselves.

In court last March, attorney David Gibbs argued that there’s no point in keeping Terri’s guardianship records sealed after all this time. That all the facts should now be known —especially since the Schiavo case still affects law and medicine.

DAVID GIBBS: We in Florida have a concept called the Sunshine laws … basically the idea is that good government, good courts, should be examined by the public, that they should be in the sunshine. They shouldn't be in the shadows.

But last month, Judge Sherwood Coleman denied the Schindlers’ motion, and today, the guardianship records remain sealed.

When Schindler vs. Schiavo finally hit the national news in 2003, it galvanized protests:

PROTESTERS: [Chanting] Let Terri live. Let Terri live…Why are you out here today? I don't want to live in a Christian fascist theocracy…

CARRIE KIRKLAND: Demonstrators who have remained camped out in front of Terri Schiavo’s hospice in Pinellas Park showed frustration and desperation yesterday. …a half dozen got out of their wheelchairs yesterday and laid out in the road…

It drew in Congress, President George W. Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court, and even the pope. There were death threats against Michael Schiavo and the main judge in the case, probate judge George Greer.

GEORGE GREER: I wore a bulletproof vest when I wasn't in the court house and wasn't at home. When I walked the dog, I wore a bulletproof vest.

By the spring of 2005, the street outside Florida Hospice of the Suncoast was jammed with satellite trucks and celebrity news anchors. The Reverend Jesse Jackson showed up. There were even snipers on the rooftops.

By then, Terri’s parents had exhausted their legal options. And on March 18 at 1pm (ck), doctors removed the only life support Terri relied on: that feeding tube that delivered her nutrition since she couldn’t swallow on her own.

This was the third time doctors had removed the tube. The first two times, 11th-hour seeming miracles pulled Terri back from the brink of death. But this time Mary Schindler prayed as though this might be the end:

MARY: Just going to Mass … and just asking the Lord to please just whatever you're gonna do …I don’t want her to suffer.

For 13 days supporters around the world prayed with Mary for yet another miracle. Instead, Terri wasted away. Her eyes sank into her skull. Her tongue turned white and flaky. As her face caved in, her teeth protruded like those of an Auschwitz prisoner. And in her final hours, as Terri labored to breathe, the death rattle in her chest could be heard halfway down the hospice hall.

Twenty years ago today, on March 31, 2005 at 9:05 AM, Terri Schiavo took her last breath.

From the White House briefing room, President George W. Bush addressed the nation:

GEORGE BUSH: I urge all those who honor Terri Schiavo to continue to work to build a culture of life. Where all Americans are welcomed and valued and protected, especially those who live at the mercy of others. The essence of civilization is that the strong have a duty to protect the weak. Cases where there are serious doubts and questions, the presumption should be in the favor of life.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lynn Vincent.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.