Campaign to save life ends in inevitable failure

THE extraordinary race to save Terri Schiavo’s life reached a tragic but inevitable end yesterday when she died after 13 days without food or water.

The bitter family feud over the brain-damaged woman’s right to life evolved into an unprecedented political battle in the United States. The 41-year-old died as police monitored protests from the Florida hospice roof, patrol cars blocked every entrance and uniformed officers patrolled the grounds.

Her Catholic parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had passionately insisted she was not in a vegetative state, that she responded to them, had the potential to improve with treatment and therefore the right to be kept alive.