On March 21, 2005, US President George W. Bush signed legislation allowing the federal courts to review the case of a brain-damaged Florida woman, Terri Schiavo, whose "persistent vegetative state" led her husband, Michael Schiavo, to request the removal of her feeding tube against the wishes of her parents. The legislation signed by President Bush was not intended as a precedent for Congress to "step into future battles over the fate of similarly disabled or ill patients." The controversy over Schiavo sparked a whirlwind of legal action, and heated debate over whether terminally ill patients and their families have the "right to die" by refusing medical treatment. Terri Schiavo died on March 31, 2005.

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