Terri Schiavo video released just before her death
 | |
 | |
 |  VIDEO |
 Newly released court video shows doctors examining Terri Schiavo.
|
RELATED |
History of spouse as next of kin
|
|
(CNN) -- Just hours before Terri Schiavo's death on Thursday, Florida's Pinellas County Probate Court released nine of 11 videotapes of the brain-damaged woman that had been recorded in 2002.
The 41-year-old woman, whose life was the center of a nationwide legal fight, died 13 days after doctors removed a feeding tube that had sustained her for more than a decade. (Full story)
The videos, which were viewed in a Florida appeals court hearing about her medical condition, show doctors talking to and examining Schiavo in preparation for their court testimony. The tapes were recorded from July to September 2002.
Family members, including her mother and husband, also appear in the videos.
Two of the 11 tapes remain sealed by the court, but it is not known why.
In October 2002, Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeals heard a week of testimony from five doctors who examined her, including two chosen by her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, two chosen by her parents and one picked by the court.
Three doctors, including one appointed by the court, testified that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The two doctors selected by the Schindlers testified they thought she could recover.
The appellate court concurred with a lower court decision that Schiavo had no hope of recovery and that her feeding tube could be removed.
Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home in 1990, suffering from heart failure that led to severe brain damage because of lack of oxygen.
Her husband has said she suffered from bulimia, an eating disorder, that resulted in a potassium deficiency that triggered the heart failure.