COLUMBIA, S.C. – The sister of Terri Schiavo said Saturday that her family’s failed court struggle to keep the brain-damaged woman alive shows a society that has “lost sight of the value” of human life.
Suzanne Vitadamo said her sister did not want to die and was not terminal when she died after her feeding tube was removed in March. Schiavo’s husband, Michael, had a court order to remove the tube.
“Our society has shifted to a quality of life mentality and has lost sight of the value and sacredness of all human life,” Vitadamo told about 1,000 people gathered for an annual Statehouse rally usually focused on anti-abortion issues. “We now as a nation are deciding when it is OK or not OK to kill those suffering from disabilities.”
Schiavo’s case reached all the way to Congress, the Supreme Court, the Vatican and White House as Terri Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, tried to prevent their daughter’s death.
Terri Schiavo was 26 when she collapsed in her Florida apartment in 1990 and was left with irreversible brain damage. Her parents and siblings contended that she had some level of consciousness and interacted with them when they visited.
The autopsy supported Michael Schiavo’s contention that she was in a persistent vegetative state with no consciousness and no hope of recovery.
Michael Schiavo and his longtime girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, applied for a marriage license Friday in Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
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