Terri Schiavo: Treated worse than a convicted murderer
The Tracy Press ^ | April 1, 2005 | Steve Wampler
By Steve Wampler
Starved to death because of a state judge's order, Terri Schiavo has been treated worse than a convicted murderer.
Suspects on trial for murder cannot be deprived of their lives without being proven guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt." A strong case can be made that this standard was never met to prove Terri Schiavo preferred death to being disabled and was truly in a persistent vegetative state.
Though many courts have reviewed the Schiavo case, the federal and state judges essentially only accepted Florida probate judge George Greer's findings of fact. And Greer showed a blatant disregard for basic legal procedures throughout the case.
Greer allowed Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband at the time of her February 1990 collapse, to remain as her guardian though Michael has since had multiple girlfriends. He has lived with his current fiance, Jodi Centozone, for close to a decade and fathered two children with her. The relationship of Michael to Terri has been a marriage in name only, and even Greer should have been able to see the massive conflict of interest.
Neither was the Florida judge troubled by Michael Schiavo's poor memory. In early statements, Schiavo said Terri had not spoken of any end-of-life directives. However, years after Terri's collapse, and after he had won $1.3 million in medical malpractice and other legal awards, Schiavo suddenly recalled that Terri had allegedly said she wouldn't want extra measures to keep herself alive.
However, Terri never made such comments to any of her family or friends, according to Terri's mother, Mary Schindler. In court testimony, one of Terri's friends, Diane Meyer, recalled a conversation she had with Terri after watching a 1982 movie about Karen Ann Quinlan. Terri told her friend she disagreed with the decision of Quinlan's parents to remove their comatose daughter from a respirator. As Meyer recalls Terri's statement, "Where there's life, there's hope."
If this isn't enough, a woman who dated Michael Schiavo for about a year in the early 1990's, said she has insight on his flip-flop on Terri's wishes. In an April 2001 deposition, Cindy Shook said that when she asked Michael about Terri's end-of-life wishes, he responded: "How the hell should I know? We never spoke about this. My God, I was only 25 years old. How the hell should I know? We were young. We never spoke of this..."
More than $700,000 of the $1.3 million in settlement money was placed into a trust fund to cover Terri's therapy and medical expenses. But since 1992, Terri received no therapy or rehabilitation. Where has the money gone?
More than half of the trust fund money, with the permission of Greer, has been used to pay noted right-to-die attorney George Felos ($358,434) and another attorney retained by Michael Schiavo, Deborah Bushnell ($80,309). In effect, the money awarded by a jury for Terri's therapy has been used by her "husband" to pay lawyers to help terminate her life.
Nurses who have worked with Terri state that Michael Schiavo has publicly wished for Terri to die. According to the September 2003 deposition of Carla Iyer, who cared for Terri from April 1995 to August 1996, Michael asked "Can't you do anything to accelerate her death?" and "When is that b____ gonna die?"
Michael Schiavo has also refused, with the consent of Greer, to have basic medical tests performed upon Terri. For example, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans are considered standard tools for assessing the extent of brain injuries. Terri never received either test.
When Dr. Peter Morin, a neurologist who specializes in degenerative brain diseases and who has an M.D. and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Boston University, learned of this information, he offered a sharp reaction to an interviewer.
"That's criminal," he said. "How can he continue as guardian? People are deliberating over this woman's life and death and there's been no MRI or PET." Morin's conclusion: "These people (Michael Schiavo, George Felos and Judge Greer) don't want the information."
Dr. William Cheshire, a neurologist with the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., was asked to study Terri's case for the Florida statewide Adult Protective Services. Chesire came into the case believing it was ethically permissible to discontinue food and water to people in a permanent vegetative state.
After studying Terri's case and meeting her, Chesire concluded: "As I looked at Terri and she gazed directly back at me, I asked myself whether, if I were her attending physician, I could in good conscience withdraw her feeding and hydration. No, I could not...I could not withhold life-sustaining nutrition and hydration from this beautiful lady whose face brightens in the presence of others."
According to Rev. Robert Johansen of the Kalamazoo, Mich. Catholic diocese, almost 50 neurologists all had the same assessment: Terri should be reevaluated and there are grave doubts about the accuracy of Terri's PVS diagnosis. All of these neurologists are board-certified, some are fellows of the prestigious American Academy of Neurology and several are professors of neurology at major medical schools.
When Congress asked Greer under subpoena to keep Terri alive to be a witness, he thumbed his nose. When Congress instructed the federal courts (which are set up by Congress) to take a new look at Terri's entire case, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refused.
Many U.S. newspapers, including the San Jose Mercury News, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times, all shamefully editorialized in support of withdrawing food and water from an innocent, disabled woman. What they didn't do was accurately or fairly report this story.
If Michael Schiavo wasn't such a callous person; if the judiciary wasn't so tyrannical and had a little common sense; and if our nation's media reported both sides of this story, maybe someone could have come up with a humane solution -- letting Bob and Mary Schindler love and care for their daughter, Terri. |
