Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Abergan.

This day, March 18, 2005, a feeding tube for a Florida woman by the name of Terry Shivo is removed.

By the end of the month, Shivo would die at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida.

But the lead up to this moment was an incredibly long, difficult, and contentious one.

Terry Chivo had been on a feeding tube for over 15 years at this point since suffering a heart attack in

1990.

In the final years of her life, a bitter dispute broke out between her husband and her parents.

Her husband wanted to remove the tube and let Shivel die. Her parents

believed she could still rehabilitate and wanted to keep her on life support.

Over the years this case became a huge political and legal battle it would come to include 14 appeals

motions petitions hearings in Florida courts 40 different judges at various levels of court

political intervention by Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the U.S. Congress and Senate,

President George W. Bush, and six times the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene.

So here to discuss the Terry Shavel story,

its massive political and media moment,

the right to life issues, the right to die issues,

lots more around this story,

are, as always,

Nicole Hammer of Columbia and

Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley hello Nicky hello Kelly hello Jody

hey there so you know I wanted to lay out some of the basics of Terry Shivo and how we got to this moment, but Nicky, do you want to jump in in terms of as a political story, what the Terry Shivo story became by spring 2005.

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