Terri Schiavo was deliberately starved and dehydrated to death in a Florida hospice after a protracted court battle was waged to determine her fate. Terri died March 31, 2005.

In the wake of this high profile case, people are being urged to complete written advance directives specifying their wishes regarding medical treatment in the event they are no longer able to make medical decisions. The assumption is that having an advance directive will assure that a person's wishes will be respected. This is not necessarily so.