Terri Schiavo has passed on

rest in peace. Hopefully the family can all stop this and come together for her burial. At least for the children.

I wish her parents could have at least been at her bedside. I heard Michael barred them from being with her in her final hours. Finally she can rest in peace. She was such a beautiful lady.

I just heard it on the radio......God Bless her.....

just saw it too

I heard that too... makes me question everything all over again. But I hope now her parents will accept that their daughter is in a better place and don't spend their time sueing Michael, doctors, etc, you know?

The article I read didn't mention that. I did, however, hear that they are now going to fight over how and where to bury her...how very very sad.

God bless her spirit. Perhaps if what she has gone through can inspire people to have the difficult conversation with their loved ones before the 11th hour, she can save others the same hardship and suffering.

I read a few days ago (BEFORE she died which is awful!!!) how they were planning her autopsy. And yeah they are fighting over where to bury her. Michael wants to cremate her; her parents want to bury her. In different states. The whole thing is so sad.

Terri was a very beautiful woman and I just hope and pray that he family is able to make it through this. They went to the ends of the earth to save her life. Their love for her amazed me every day. I know Terri is in a better place right now and is no longer suffering, I hope her parents are able to find comfort in that and in the fact that they did everything they could, I hope they have no regrets.

I was beginning to believe that Michael had her best interest at heart, and that he loved her and was trying to look out for her beliefs. But, he has now proved that not to be true. I can understand him wanting to be with her at the final moments, but to not let her parents inside At that moment in time it should not have been about him, her parents or all of this politcal mess that has come about from this. That should have been put aside so that she could have her family- husband, parents, brother and sister standing at her side together. I don't know what to think about the arguments on where to bury her. At this point I feel so sadly for her parents that I wish they could have their way. But, he was her husband and I know that legally he will prevail. I just wish he could have a bit of a heart and allow her parents a small victory after all that they have done.

I can see what you mean, but I dont think it vilifies him to want the last few minutes to himself...

from CNN.com..."David Gibbs, a lawyer representing the Schindlers, said his clients were "with Terri up until 10 minutes before she passed."

RIP Terri.

This chapter is over. Unfortunately, I doubt the story is finished. I hope they don't make another media circus of the autopsy and final resting place.

I said this in the other thread, but I just heard in an interview on the radio (sorry, don't know who was speaking) that the lawyers were trying to make a deal for all of them to be in there and couldn't do it in time. I think at this point, with all the legal wrangling, none of them have much control of the situation. The lawyers do.

May Terri, Michael and the Schindlers find peace. I do have to think though...how much more time could have been spent with Terri if only...

I have said it before, this became a family feud, and the truth is a casualty. So I would discount everything you hear about who was where etc. I mean family feuds make wars look like a picnic! It's so ugly.

You're right Marge, a lot of this whole thing was about he said, she said... everyone countering what the other said... so you had to wonder who was lying. I guess the end is no different, which is sad.

So who was with her in the last 10 minutes?

I heard on Fox News the version that Micahel Shiavo denied the
parents' request to be with Terri as she died. Now that I've
seen other reports from other news outlets, I realize there are
differing versions about what happened. Some say Michael was
there, others say he was not. Some reports are that Terri's
family was there until medical people were arriving to do an
assessment, and that Terri died 10 minutes after her parents
left. Some reports are noting that no one knew precisely when
Terri was going to pass away and that the request that the
parents leave was not based upon Michael saying they couldn't be
there when Terri died. So, we might not have all the facts yet.
(We may never have all the facts since everything we hear will
be filtered through the bias of either side.)

heard it on the way out of the office. may she finally be resting, now that she is wholly passed how sad the way the family's been.

I was just thinking that its possible Michael may have needed the private time with her at the end.

I whole-heartedly agree with you. I know over the years Michael has pretty much allowed them to come and go as they please, so it would be hard for me to believe that he would have denied them time with her suddenly today... and apparently there were with her right up to 10 minutes prior to her passing. Of course, the problem is that being in the same room together at this point has become next to impossible and I can't fault him for wanting to be with her up to the end. There is also always so much more to these stories than what we hear on the news. I was very displeased to wake up to the additional video that was released this morning, and it upsets me that either side would allow this. This poor woman has had no privacy in her death, and that is something under the law she was entitled to.

May she finally rest in peace now that she has gone on to a better place...

If you have ever sat at the bedside of a dying person, you will realize that death is a very private thing to most people, and they don't want people around when they let go. Just ask any hospice worker. My dad crossed 10 minutes after mom left his bedside. My mom crossed within 10 minutes after my brother fell asleep in the chair next to her. Neither wanted anyone to witness their passing.

To the media: enough of the accusations already. Terri is at peace. Everyone in the family played their part in caring for her over the last 15 years. No one is the villain, they are all victims of this unfortunate circumstance. My heart goes out to the entire family.

100% RIGHT!

Couldn't agree more. My father also passed away 10 minutes after the last visitor of the day had left.

And yes, enough! Let her rest in peace...

Very well said!

Yep, my Mum passed away about 10 minutes after the family left. I had not arrived, because I couldn't get an early enough flight, and I felt really crappy about that, until I realized that even if I had arrived earlier, I still would not have been with her at the end.

I was mostly silent on the other threads about this subject, as I am torn. There is no clear position for me, as I believe both in life and in choice. I understand both sides completely.

I have been appalled by the circus which played out, and is still playing out; both from the federal government and media as well as the family. I also see some good coming out of this; I've had "the conversation" with my entire family, and have become far more clear as to their positions. They have become far more clear as to mine.

But I am also sadly happy for Terri, that she now is free - completely and utterly free to move to the next phase, whatever that may be. To move toward her God, and to have obeyed the last rites of her faith must have been a release for her soul. To know she is now complete and whole again, to have been released from her body, has brought me some peace with the situation.

It also appalls me the manner in which the release was delivered. The starvation, the dehydration is atrocious. A compassionate society does not allow the suffering this must have created, even if she "didn't know." What we don't know is what she suffered; and this is horrifying to me. The worst of our society receives more humane treatment in their final moments via lethal injection, and no suffering is allowed (cruel and unusual punishment was the rallying cry to change the manner of death from hanging to firing squad to electric chair to lethal injection). To know that a woman who committed no crime was treated less humanely by our society than a serial killer is utterly incomprehensible to me.

And so now, knowing she has died, I still have no clear answer. I have no position pro or con, as again I see both sides.

I can only think "at last, Terri, you're free. At last, Terri, you're whole. And at last, Terri, you rest."

God speed and God bless.

Best-
Michele

Michele, your post expresses my sentiments better than I ever could. I find it difficult to comprehend that it's legal to withdraw fluids and nourishment (passive euthanasia) and watch somebody die over a period of days or weeks, but illegal to give them an overdose and have them die within a matter of minutes. Oregon, to me, is on the right track - allow a physician to prescribe enough medication for an overdose, and let the patient decide when it's time to go. That wouldn't have applied in Terri Schiavo's case, of course, but think of the thousands that such a law could help.
I truly hope that Terri Schiavo has been released, and is at peace.

I wanted to comment about needing to be there when the person dies. I took care of my Mom during her last months and I wasn't there when she literally died, and I am at peace with that. In fact I had a strong intuition she would die within a few days and so one day I even went out to the movies, one she would like (Quiz Show if you remember it, it was her kind of movie, very intellectual with a moral point of view...) I felt like i was taking her with me. Anyways when I returned i went into her room and she had stopped breathing (she looked beautiful by the way...she had been doing this labored breathing for days and it was hard to watch) Now granted she had been in a barely conscious state for weeks so I had already said my goodbyes.

Anyways, for parents though I can imagine it's harder because your children aren't suppose to go before you do. But i do think this idea that we have to be holding the persons hand right when they pass like in a TV movie is a myth.

People die, love doesn't.

God RIP Terri.