The severely brain-damaged woman at the centre of the US right-to-die case has died in Florida.
Terry Schiavo, the woman at the centre of a controversial right-to-die case in the US, has died in a Florida hospice.
The case of Mrs Terri Schiavo, who spent the past 15 years connected to a feeding tube in a persistent vegetative state, sparked an epic legal battle that went all the way to the White House.
It was her 14th day without food and water after the feeding tube was removed by court order. The 41-year-old died at the Pinellas Park hospice where she lay for years while her husband and her parents fought over her fate.
Her death was confirmed by her husband's lawyer and announced to reporters outside the Florida hospice by a family adviser. Brother Paul O'Donnell, an adviser to Mrs Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, said the parents and their two other children "were denied access at the moment of her death.
"They've been requesting, as you know, for the last hour to try to be in there and they were denied access by Michael Schiavo. They are in there now, praying at her bedside."
She was expected to survive one to two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order on March 18th. Her husband, Michael, insisted he was carrying out her wishes by having the tube removed.
Mrs Schiavo's parents had fought many losing court battles in a bid to keep her alive. Their final attempt failed in an appeals court yesterday. There were tears from the many supporters of the woman who had held a vigil outside the hospice.
Mrs Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance that was believed to have been brought on an eating disorder.
Court-appointed doctors ruled she was in a persistent vegetative state, with no real consciousness or chance of recovery. The feeding tube was removed with a judge's approval on March 18th after Mr Schiavo argued that his wife told him long ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially.
His in-laws disputed that, and argued that she could get better with treatment. During the seven-year legal battle, Florida lawmakers, Congress and President George Bush tried to intervene on behalf of her parents, but state and federal courts at all levels repeatedly ruled in favour of her husband.
After the tube that supplied a nutrient solution was disconnected, protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water.
The Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an innocent woman. The Schindlers pleaded for their daughter's life, calling the removal of the tube "judicial homicide."