Schiavo's Spouse Explains Side, Tells Of Struggle
By DAVID SOMMER dsommer@tampatrib.com
Published: Oct 21, 2003
CLEARWATER - Michael Schiavo faxed a statement to news organizations Monday in which he said he has difficulty accepting a court ruling allowing him to have his wife's feeding tube removed.
``Some people do not agree with the decision the court made to remove Terri's feeding tube,'' the three-page letter states. ``I struggle to accept it myself.''
Schiavo asked a probate court for permission to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube in 1998, saying that she would not have wanted to live in her current condition. He spent more than five years in courtroom battles with his in-laws seeking permission to remove the tube.
On Oct. 15, the tube that has supplied Terri Schiavo with sustenance since 1990, when she suffered unexplained heart failure at age 26, was removed.
Michael Schiavo was not available for comment Monday. His attorney, George Felos, said the letter reflects the self-examination that people typically go through when making the decision to remove a loved one from life support.
``Even when you decide to remove a loved one's life support, you continually struggle to accept it,'' Felos said.
Schiavo says in the letter, ``The reality is that Terri left us 13 years ago, and none of us can bring her back.''
Felos said his client decided to send the open letter Monday evening after days of hearing ``attacks and misinformation'' from his wife's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and their supporters.
The Schindlers, who are maintaining a vigil outside a Pinellas Park hospice where Schiavo placed their daughter several years ago, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The couple want their daughter kept alive. They say she reacts to them and could improve with therapy.
In his letter, Schiavo states that for the first seven years of his wife's illness he provided her with experimental therapy and made sure she received stimulus in the form of outings to parks and museums. He said tests were done to see whether she could be weaned from the feeding tube, and they failed. He also apologizes to nurses and aides he states he scolded for offenses such as failing to apply his wife's makeup or not combing her hair.
The Schindlers say their son-in-law cut off all therapy and banned nurses from trying to stimulate his wife in 1993, after winning about $300,000 for himself and more than $700,000 for his wife's perpetual care in a medical malpractice lawsuit. The $700,000 has been spent, with much of it going to legal fees incurred in the battle to remove the feeding tube.
Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (813) 259-7600.
Go to TBO.com to read the statement issued Monday by Michael Schiavo. |
