Terri Schiavo timeline

This timeline is in reference to Terri Schiavo.

1963

• December 3: Terri Schindler is born in the Huntingdon Valley area of Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania.

1982

• Terri meets Michael Schiavo in a sociology class at Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
• Five months later, Terri and Michael get engaged.

1984

• November: Michael Schiavo and Terri Schindler are married.

1986

• April: Michael and Terri move to Saint Petersburg, Florida.

1989

• Michael and Terri begin visiting an obstetrician and receive fertility services.

1990

• February 25: Terri collapses of a heart attack and falls into a coma.

• May: Terri emerges from her coma but remains unconscious.

• May 12: Terri is discharged to a rehabilitation facility.

• June 18: Court appoints Michael Schiavo as Terri's legal guardian without objection from the Schindlers.

• June 30: Terri is transferred to Bayfront Hospital for further rehabilitation efforts

• September: Terri is taken home to be cared for by her family, but after being overwhelmed by her needs, she is returned to the rehabilitation facility.

• November: Michael takes Terri to California for an experimental procedure using a thalamic stimulator implanted in her brain. After several months, the procedure proves unsuccessful.

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1991

• January: Michael and Terri return from California to Florida. Terri is admitted to a brain injury center in Brandenton.

• March: Dr. W. Campbell Walker performs a bone scan on Terri. The scan shows prior traumatic injuries to multiple ribs (on both sides), both sacroiliac joints, both knees, both ankles, several thoracic vertebrae, and her right thigh. In addition, the scan shows a minor compression fracture of her L1 vertebra.

• July 19: Terri Schiavo is transferred to Sable Palms skilled care facility where she receives neurological testing as well as speech and occupational therapy until 1994.

• Michael begins studying nursing at St. Petersburg Community College to better care for his wife. He eventually becomes a respiratory therapist and an emergency room nurse.

• Dr. Victor Gambone, Terri Schiavo's primary care physician, concludes that she is in an irreversible persistent vegetative state (PVS).

• The Schindlers (Terri's parents) actively encourage Michael to "get on with his life" and date. Michael introduces the Schindlers to women he is dating. [1] Michael starts dating Cindi Shook.

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1992

• May: Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers stop living together.
• August: Terri Schiavo is awarded $250,000 in an out-of-court medical malpractice settlement with one of her physicians.
• Michael brings a medical malpractice suit against the obstetrician who had been treating Terri for infertility. Jury finds the obstetrician had not properly diagnosed Terri's condition. The case is appealed.

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1993

• January: The medical malpractice suit against Terri's obstetrician is settled before an appeal is decided. Terri receives $750,000. Michael receives $300,000. Terri's award is placed in a trust fund controlled by a third party for her medical care.

• February 14: Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers disagree over the course of treatment and therapy for Terri Schiavo. Michael Schiavo claims that the Schindlers demanded that he share the malpractice money with them. Both parties are no longer on speaking terms following this event..

• July 29: The Schindlers began to challenge Michael Schiavo's guardianship of Terri Schiavo and attempt to remove him as legal guardian.

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1994

• March 1: Guardian ad litem John H. Pecarek, submits his report which states that Michael Schiavo had acted appropriately and attentively toward Terri Schiavo.

• In March, Terry is moved to Palm Gardens of Largo, a skilled nursing facility in Seminole, Florida.

• The administration of one nursing home attempted, unsuccessfully, to get a restraining order against Michael because he was demanding more attention for his wife at the expense of other patients' care.

• Michael accepts the diagnosis that Terri is in an irreversible persistent vegetative state. In consultation with Terri's physician, Schiavo halts most therapy for his wife.

• Terri develops a urinary tract infection. Following a doctor's recommendation, Michael chooses not to treat it. Michael enters a "do not resuscitate" order, which he later rescinds after the parents protest.

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1995

• Michael begins his relationship with Jodi Centonze.

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1998

• May: Michael Schiavo files a petition to discontinue life support for Terri Schiavo. Terri's parents fight the petition. This is the first legal battle between Michael and Terri's parents.

• June: Richard Pearse, Esq. is appointed guardian ad litem for Terri Schiavo by the Circuit Court for Pinellas County, Florida.

• September 11: Dr. Jeffrey Karp neurologically evaluates Terri and indicates that she "is in a chronic vegetative state" exhibiting "an absence of voluntary activity or cognitive behavior...inability to communicate or interact purposefuly with her environment." Karp also noted "her chance of any improvement to a functional level is essentially zero."

• Dr. Gambone, Terri's primary care physician, informs guardian ad litem Richard Pearse that Dr. Karp's PVS diagnosis (and prognosis) is the medical consensus.

• November: Terri's parents become aware of the bone scan report that was performed in 1991. Terri's parents and Dr. William Hammesfahr claim the trauma shown in the bone scan was a result of Terri being abused by Michael. Provided with only the scan information, forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden suggests a head injury caused the trauma. After learning Terri's full history, Dr. Baden agrees that the trauma is consistent with her cardiac arrest, fall, CPR attempts, and eventual resuscitation. The parents petition the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court for a full evidentiary hearing to evaluate the new evidence. Judge George Greer denies the motion.

• December 29: The second guardian ad litem, Richard Pearse, submits his report to the Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Court. Pearse concludes that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state with no possibility of improvement and that Michael Schiavo's decisions may be influenced by the potential to inherit what remains of Terri Schiavo's estate. Due to a perceived lack of evidence for Terri's wishes, and questions regarding Michael Schiavo's credibility, Pearse recommends denying Michael Schiavo's petition to remove Terri's feeding tube.

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2000

• Michael is issued a license for nursing by the State of Florida, Department of Health.

• February: As a result of Michael's petition in 1998, the court rules that Terri would choose to have the tube removed.

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2001

• Dr. Ron Cranford, neurologist, assesses Terri's brain function as part of a court-ordered examination. His exam shows that Terri's cerebral cortex has been completely destroyed; he finds that her upper brain is 80% destroyed, and there is much damage to the lower brain.

• April 26: Terri's feeding tube is removed for the first time. It is reinserted two days later on an appeal by her parents.

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2002

• A trial is held to determine whether or not new therapy treatments would help Terri restore any cognitive function.

A new CAT scan shows severe cerebral atrophy. An EEG shows no measurable brain activity.

Five doctors are selected to provide their expert opinion: two by Terri's parents, two by Michael, and one by the court.

The doctors selected by the parents say Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state.

One, Dr. Maxfield, is the Schindler family's doctor, and is a radiologist rather than a neurologist. The other, Dr. Hammesfahr, makes several claims about therapies supposedly developed by him which the court finds to be a non-standard and generally unrecognized procedure with little chance of success.

The doctors selected by Michael and by the Court said Terri was in a persistent vegetative state.

One, Dr. Ron Cranford, is a proponent of euthanasia.

Terri's parents videotape Terri for four and a half hours. The video is edited down to several clips totaling four minutes and a half minutes. Terri's parents cite the testimony and affidavits of 33 physicians and therapists (including 15 neurologists) who, after reviewing these four and a half minutes of video segments, believe that Terri should have received further tests and/or would have likely responded to therapy. Only two of these physicians had access to her full medical history and examined her in person. (The four and a half minute clips are later released publicly. The four and a half hours of raw footage has not been released by the parents.)

Judge Greer rules that Terri Schiavo is in a PVS and was beyond hope of significant improvement.

• November 22: Judge Greer denies a motion from Terri's parents for a full evidentiary hearing to evaluate new evidence, the 1990 bone scan, which had only recently come to their attention. Greer states that the issue of trauma twelve years earlier was irrelevant to the current case.

• Florida's Second District Court of Appeal reviews all the evidence and upholds the trial court's decision.

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2003

• September 11: Petition by Terri's parents including affidavits from 3 speech therapists and 2 nurses (Heidi Law and Carla Sauer Iyer) is rejected.

Carla Sauer Iyer's affadavit:

Ms. Iyer states in her affadavit that her initial training in 1996 consisted solely of the instruction "Do what Michael Schiavo tells you or your terminated." She states that Michael said "When is that bitch gonna die?" and that he made many other similar statements. She states that on five different occaisions, she tested Terri's blood sugar levels after Michael visited Terri, and Iyer states that Terri's blood sugar levels were so low it wouldn't even register a number. She stated that it was medically possible that Michael injected Terri in an attempt to kill her. Iyer states that standing orders were that the family wasn't to be contacted, but she stated "I would call them anyway". Iyer states that she eventually called the police and was terminated the next day.

Despite her repeated calls to the Schindlers in 1996, there is no evidence the Schindlers did anything at the time to demand the nursing home or police investigate Iyer's allegations. Nor did they subpeona Iyer during their 2000 court battle with Michael.

Judge Greer writes "Ms. Iyer details what amounts to a 15-month cover-up (April 1995 through July 1996) which include the staff of Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center, the Guardian of the Person, the Guardian ad Litem, the medical professionals, the police, and believe it or not, Mr. and Mrs. Schindler. It is impossible to believe that Mr. and Mrs. Schindler would not have subpoenaed Ms. Iyer for the January 2000 evidentiary hearing had Iyer contacted them (in 1996) as her affidavit alleges." [2] [3]

• October 10: The final remaining appeal filed by the Schindlers is dismissed.

• October 15: Terri's feeding tube is removed for the second time.

• October 21: The Florida Legislature passes "Terri's Law." Governor Jeb Bush immediately orders the feeding tube reinserted.

• December: Dr. Jay Wolfson reports to Governor Bush, "within the testimony, as part of the hypotheticals presented, Schindler family members stated that even if (Terri) had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it. Throughout this painful and difficult trial, the family acknowledged that (Terri) was in a diagnosed persistent vegetative state." [4]

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2004

• May 19: Florida Judge W. Douglas Baird overturns "Terri's Law". The ruling is appealed.

• September 23: Florida Supreme Court agrees that "Terri's Law" is unconstitutional.

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2005

• January 24: The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear the case.

• February 25: Judge George Greer orders Terri's feeding tube removed on March 18.

• March 11: Media tycoon Robert Herring offers one million dollars to Michael Schiavo if he agrees to waive his guardianship over Terri to her parents. Michael declines.

• March 17: Members of the Florida Legislature considered a bill that would make removing food and water from patients in a persistent vegetative state illegal without a living will. Although this bill was passed by the Florida House of Representatives by a vote of 78 to 37, the Florida Senate defeated a similar measure hours later, 18 to 21.

• March 17: U.S. Senators Bill Frist and Michael Enzi announce that Terri Schiavo would be called to testify before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on March 28 in Washington. No one expects Terri to testify, but the move extends witness protection to Terri, requiring reinsertion of her feeding tube.

• March 18: Greer strikes down the subpeona as unconstitutional and Terri's feeding tube is removed for the third and final time.

• March 20/21: U.S. Congress approves emergency legislation, the Palm Sunday Compromise.

• March 21: Bob and Mary Schindler files a request for an emergency injunction with the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.

• March 22: Judge James D. Whittemore refuses to order the feeding tube reinserted.

• March 22: Three Florida neurologists view 12 of Terri's CT scans. Dr. Leion Prockop says it was the "most severe brain damage I've seen." Dr. Walter Bradley says that he "doubts there's any activity going on in the higher levels of her brain." Dr. Michael T. Pulley said, "The chance that this person is going to recover is about zero" [5]

• March 23: The Florida Senate again debates this proposed law, which is again rejected, 18 to 21.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta denies the request to reinsert the feeding tube. The three-judge panel rules 2-1.

• March 23: Bob and Mary Schindler appeal again to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• March 24: The U.S. Supreme Court declines to grant certiorari. Judge Greer issues an injunction denying the Florida State government's right to have the Florida Department of Children & Families take over Schiavo's care.

• March 27: Terri is given the Anointing of the Sick ("Last Rites").

• March 30: The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta agreed to consider a petition by Mrs. Schiavo's parents to have a new hearing to decide whether the feeding tube should be reinserted. Later that day, the court denied the petition.

• March 31: Terri Schiavo dies at 9:03 AM EST.

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