Husband in Right-to-Die Case Says Money, Politics Motivate Inlaws (Terri Schiavo)

AP | 10/28/03 | Vickie Chachere

[kattracks]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - The husband seeking to end his severely brain-damaged wife's life told a national television audience Monday that his in-laws have set out to block his actions because they initially wanted part of a medical malpractice settlement and more recently because of right-to-life political causes. Appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" in his first interview in recent weeks, Michael Schiavo said he continues to fight to let his wife Terri die because her wishes were not to be artificially kept alive.

Terri Schiavo, 39, has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990 when a chemical imbalance, brought on by an eating disorder, caused her heart to stop and deprived her brain of oxygen.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, believe their daughter could be rehabilitated and do not believe she had any wishes to not be kept on life support. Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed for six days earlier this month before the Florida Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush enacted a special law to have it reinserted and touched off an international debate over the Schiavo case and right-to-die issues.

"He's always wanted the money," Michael Schiavo said of his father-in-law, Bob Schindler. "...He wants the money. He wants the control."

Appearing less than an hour later on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta Van Sustern," the Schindlers' attorney countered that Michael Schiavo knew his wife never had end-of-life wishes.

"It's hard to know what to believe with him because he says whatever the occasion demands or what is in his financial interests," said the attorney, Pat Anderson.

Terri Schiavo is being treated at a Pinellas Park hospice while her husband's attorney and the American Civil Liberties Union prepares to challenge to constitutionality of "Terri's Law." The first filings in that legal fight are due Wednesday.

Michael Schiavo denied that he has withheld therapy from his wife, saying he once took her to California for an experimental therapy in which a stimulator was implanted in her brain. It didn't work, he said.

"Now, they (his in-laws) are being fed all this information by those right-to-life activists who are feeding their little flame," Michael Schiavo said.

He also answered criticism that he has abandoned his wife for a longtime girlfriend with whom he has one child and another on the way. Schiavo said his girlfriend is supportive of his care for Terri Schiavo.

"This is Terri's wish," he said of the removal of the feeding tube. "And I am going to follow that if this is the last thing I can do for Terri."

Michael Schiavo's said his relationship with the Schindlers soured after he was awarded a 1993 medical malpractice claim of about $1 million. He said after that, his father-in-law asked him for a share of the money, and he refused to give him any.

A jury had awarded the money after Michael Schiavo testified he intended to take care of his wife for the rest of her natural life, which medical experts predicted would be about 51 years.

It was then the Schindlers sought to have their son-in-law removed as his wife's guardian. Michael Schiavo did not publicly mention anything about his wife's end-of-life wishes until years later, when in 1998 he first sought court permission to remove her feeding tube.

Michael Schiavo said there is only about $50,000 left in the trust fund - his attorney, George Felos has said as recently as Thursday that Terri Schiavo is indigent and her medical bills far outstrip what money is left.

Most of the fund has been spent on attorney's fees in the legal battle to remove the feeding tube, attorneys have acknowledged.

Michael Schiavo said two years ago he offered to donate what money was left in his wife's trust fund to charity if his in-laws would drop their legal challenge, but he said they refused. He said they also offered him $700,000 to divorce their daughter, and he refused that.

"The ultimate honor for Terri and respect for her dignity is to follow her wishes," Michael Schiavo said.

He and his attorney refused a request by King to allow CNN cameras into Terri Schiavo's hospice room to provide independent video.

Her parents recently released a secretly recorded case showing what appeared to be Terri Schiavo interacting with her mother. CNN showed some of that footage again on the King show.

Michael Schiavo and Felos countered by showing viewers a scan of Terri Schiavo's brain showing a dark area where doctors have said her brain has atrophied and is now filled with spinal fluid.

"Let this poor woman die naturally as the court has found was her choice, as she stated was her choice," Felos said.

[kattracks]

What money? I thought Schiavo said there was no money left.

Schiavo made certain to mention thr Right To Lifers often on the LK show. Odd, that was never brought up before.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

The psychologists call this "projection".

[DB]

I'd like to "project" him into his wifes body to switch places with her.

[Future Useless Eater]

From FoxNews Channel Oct 27,2003 Hannity and Colmes program:

Sean Hannity: A 1990 heart attack left Terri Schiavo with severe brain damage; Since then, a ferrocious legal battle has raged over whether or not to keep Terri alive. On October 15th her feeding tube was removed, according to her husbands wishes. Last week after intervention by the Florida legislature, Governor Jeb Bush ordered that her feeding tube be re-inserted. Now time is running out for Terri's husband to challenge the constitutionality of the law that has been dubbed by many as "Terri's Law".

Sean: So what will happen next in this tragic case? Joining us now, is Terri's father, Robert Schindler, and also joining us, a neurosurgeon who has examined Terri, Dr. William Hammesfahr. Ahh, Thank you both for being with us... How is she doing first of all, Mr. Schindler, after the tube has been re-inserted?

Robert Schindler: Oh, She's really made a remarkable comeback, but she's very very tired naturally, being without food for seven days and hydration. But, ah, today, she was probably a little more responsive than yesterday, and she was very agitated today... She didn't want to bother with anybody or anything.

Sean: Doctor, you've examined her, and you've come to the conclusion that, number one, she CAN be rehabilitated, and ah, when's the last time you evaluated her? and what else did you find?

Dr.Hammesfahr: Well, I saw her last, about a year ago for the court... I want to just jump in her for a second and say I'm a neurologist, and not a neurosurgeon.

Sean: oh I'm sorry,

Dr.Hammesfahr: But I saw her last about a year ago, and ahh, as part of the court ordered evaluations.

Sean: Yea, but you basically said that that she could be rehabilitated.

Dr.Hammesfahr: Oh ABSOLUTELY. She is NOT in coma. She did NOT have a heart attack... She is not in coma presently. She absolutely CAN be rehabilitated. There is NO question about that!

Sean: Umm, you know Mr. Schin...

Dr.Hammesfahr: In fact...

Sean: yes, go ahead..

Dr.Hammesfahr: She follows commands right now... She follows commands right now, which means she is NOT in coma.

Sean: Well I can see that on the.. I am not, sir, a doctor, but when I see this video, it is heartwrenching to me, and the fact that this poor woman went six days without a feeding tube, is frightening to me...

Sean: You know, the last time we had you on Mr. Schindler, you were VERY harsh in your comments about the husband. and, and you believe, his fear is, is that if your daughter wakes up, she will have a tale to tell about him.

Schindler: Well, that comes from the evidence, that ah, there is medical evidence that she had neck injury, and as the doctor said, she had no heart attack, and her ribs and parts of her body suffered fractures, and there's really no explanation for what her collapse was. None at all.

Alan Colmes: Doctor Hammesfahr, I read the medical report, There was a report that when she came into the E.R. she had a "rigid neck". Is that consistent with a neck injury?

Dr.Hammesfahr: ABSOLUTELY. Yes it is. They also did xrays at the emergency room, and the xrays showed that a straightening of the normal spinal curvature, which is very typical of a NEW neck injury.

Alan: We heard a lot about low potassium, but this neck injury ahh, stuff is very interesting. Would that kind of situation be consistent with the possibility of foul play?

Dr.Hammesfahr: Umm, I'd like to go back to potassium for a second? Because people have talked about the potassium, and also about the diet pills issue... or some other drugs...

Alan: Sure,

Dr.Hammesfahr: But the medical record clearly shows that there has NEVER been heart attack. Potassium causes damage by causing heart attacks, so we know that potassium is not an issue. And second...

Alan: But with that 'rigid neck'... Rigid Neck, is that consistent with what could be foul play?

Dr.Hammesfahr: I have seen a neck that rigid from trauma to the neck.

Alan: So you wouldn't venture to say foul play? but are you intimating that?

Dr.Hammesfahr: I think that that type of a neck shows a degree of injury, and I think that it needs to be looked at much more closely to find out the exact cause. Right now, we have a woman who had a collapse, with no known cause. No evidence of infection, or heart attack, respiratory failure, or ANYTHING, The only thing found in the emergency room is the damaged neck.

Alan: Mister Schindler, are you going to try to prove foul play at some point? and try to press some kind of a case here, against your son-in-law?

Shindler: Well, what we're TRYING to do... we have... there's two issues... One is to get Terri therapy, because we believe she can recover. And the second thing, is we want to have an investigation... we're asking the local police, the attorney, ahhh, and NO ONE will touch it! There's a cap on it. Someone is blocking everything.

Sean: Mister Schindler, we're going to continue to follow this story. I'm very very grateful for the Florida legislature and Jeb Bush. I think they did the right thing. And we'll monitor this, and have you back on again.

Shindler: So are we.

Sean: Thank you sir, doctor, good to see you again.

[kattracks]

BTW, Schiavo also claimed on the LK show that his in-laws offered him $700,000 to walk away from Terri. If they were interested in money why would they make that offer.
He also claimed that he's doing this because he loves Terri. That must have come as a shock to his pregnant girlfriend, who's also the mother of his child.

[TheAngryClam]

It says that the brain scans that show that Terri Schiavo's brain has atrophied were displayed on Larry King Live.

I wonder how the Terri Troopers will complain about them now...

[Future Useless Eater]

From FoxNews Channel - "On the Record with Greta" - Schiavo segment - Monday, 27 oct 2003

Greta: The husband of a severely brain-damaged woman has until Wednesday to challenge Florida Governor Jeb Bush's order to reinsert his wife's feeding tube. Last Tuesday, Bush issued the order six days after Michael Schiavo won court approval to disconnect his wife Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

Tonight, in an interview, Michael Schiavo said: "This is Terri's wish and I'm going to follow that wish if its the last thing I can do for her".

Joining us from Tampa is Pat Anderson, the attorney for the parents of Terri Schiavo. Welcome Pat.

Pat Anderson: Good evening, You know, Michael Schiavo ALSO said, NOBODY ever talks about death, and I think he's got it quite right. He knows that these are not Terri's wishes. She was just 26 years old!

Greta: Alright, well I want to talk a little bit about, her last day before she ended up in the hospital, and the unfortunate things that unfolded since then. But, umm, when was the FIRST time he ever said that Terri would not want to be on life support?

Anderson: The first time that anybody in the family ever HEARD about that was in January of 2000. He SPRUNG that on the family. And he brought his brother, and one of his sisters-in-law down, to back him up on that, but NOBODY had EVER heard that before! Certainly not...

Greta: Well let me tell you what I'm a little bit confused about... I've got a deposition from two different occasions, maybe you can explain it to me. The first one I will pull up, its from November 19, 1993, in which Michael said: "He was talking about removing the feeding tube," meaning the doctor, "and I said I couldn't do that to Terri." Now that means his intention was NOT to remove the... at least in 1993.

Greta: That same day, in the same deposition, he said this: "I put a - after speaking with my doctor, I gave an order not to treat a bladder infection Terri had." The attorney then asked a question, "So when you made that decision not to treat Terri's bladder infection, you in effect, were making a decision to allow her to pass on?" Michael Schiavo: "I was making a decision on what Terri would want"

Greta: So in that same day, we have two conflicting things he was saying in 1993. How do I know what to believe?

Anderson: Its HARD to know what to believe with him, because he says what the occasion demands, or whats in his financial interest. He told a medical malpractice jury just exactly one year before that deposition fragment that you put up, that he would ALWAYS take care of Terri, for the REST of his life. And yet there he was within a matter of months, directing that antibiotics be withheld. Its HARD to know.

Greta: Alright, lets go back... give me a quick rundown... the day she ah, tell me what happened her last day before she ended up in the hospital.

Anderson: Terri ahh, got her hair done that day, and spent more money than he thought she should have... They had a GREAT BIG fight before he went off to work. Ahh, she was so upset about the fight, that she called her best friend from work, a girl that she had discussed, perhaps both of them getting a divorce, and taking an apartment together... She called this girl, Jackie Rhodes, told her about the big fight... She was sufficiently upset that Jackie Rhodes asked her: "Should I come over? Should I come over and spend the night with you so you'll be safe?"

Anderson: And Terri said, "No, I'll either be asleep, or pretend to be asleep when he gets home from work."... and the next thing Jackie heard, was she was in the emergency room.

Greta: Alright, um, is there ANY indications she had ANY head injuries from from any records there are... any physical injuries at all?

Anderson: There is a NOTATION that her neck was "rigid", and "stiff", and that her body was stiff, when she posit...[interrupted]

Greta: What does that mean? in the 40 seconds we have left, I'm sorry to do this time thing to you.

Anderson: Well, Dr. Hammesfahr, a neurologist who testified at a big evidenciary hearing last year, said HE had only seen ONE other neck THAT rigid, and that was in an attempted STRANGULATION victim. There's LOTS of questions about this case. LOTS of unanswered questions.

Greta: And, we're going to continue to follow this. I'm sorry to give you so little time but these fires have consumed all of our time tonight. Pat THANK YOU!

[Lion in Winter]

I think you need to ask mike for more money, bub.

[tuckrdout]

"The ultimate honor for Terri and respect for her dignity is to follow her wishes," Michael Schiavo said.

Okay, honor and respect her by showing her parents respect and allow them to see her for unlimited amounts of time. It was never her wish to be separated from her family; or to hurt them in any way.

Honor and respect her religious convictions by allowing the priest to give her the Host.

Michael does not honor her life long relationships, religious beliefs or their marriage; but he says he bases his actions on some off handed comment she made after watching a tv show! That is ridiculous!

BTW, What TV show, Mike? If your memory is so good, what show was it? If your brother and sister in law remember the comment, surely they remember the show that evoked the comment. What was it?

[Future Useless Eater]

    TheAngryClam   trolls Schiavo threads and issues taunting argumentative comments to start fights and destroy the thread.

I see he is even pinging people to start fights here.

I recommend everyone try to ignore him.

[tuckrdout]

Well, mike also claimed that he decided to fight to the end, because Terri's dad testified at the first trial that he would "have her legs cut off and put her on a ventilator, to keep her alive!"...like it was some weird statement on Mr. Schindler's part---he had already stated that Mr. Schindler only wanted the money for himself.

At least Felos did clarify that he had asked Mr. Schindler if his daughter was diabetic and had to have her legs cut off, if he would still want to keep her alive...and the answer was yes....

[tuckrdout]

Well, mike also claimed that he decided to fight to the end, because Terri's dad testified at the first trial that he would "have her legs cut off and put her on a ventilator, to keep her alive!"...like it was some weird statement on Mr. Schindler's part---he had already stated that Mr. Schindler only wanted the money for himself.

At least Felos did clarify that he had asked Mr. Schindler if his daughter was diabetic and had to have her legs cut off, if he would still want to keep her alive...and the answer was yes....

[Lion in Winter]

"Greta: Alright, lets go back... give me a quick rundown... the day she ah, tell me what happened her last day before she ended up in the hospital.

Anderson: Terri ahh, got her hair done that day, and spent more money than he thought she should have... They had a GREAT BIG fight before he went off to work. Ahh, she was so upset about the fight, that she called her best friend from work, a girl that she had discussed, perhaps both of them getting a divorce, and taking an apartment together... She called this girl, Jackie Rhodes, told her about the big fight... She was sufficiently upset that Jackie Rhodes asked her: "Should I come over? Should I come over and spend the night with you so you'll be safe?"

Anderson: And Terri said, "No, I'll either be asleep, or pretend to be asleep when he gets home from work."... and the next thing Jackie heard, was she was in the emergency room.

What has happened to that poor girl at the hands of that monster, shouldn't happen to a dog... a clam maybe but not a dog.

[Lion in Winter]

"Greta: Alright, lets go back... give me a quick rundown... the day she ah, tell me what happened her last day before she ended up in the hospital.

Anderson: Terri ahh, got her hair done that day, and spent more money than he thought she should have... They had a GREAT BIG fight before he went off to work. Ahh, she was so upset about the fight, that she called her best friend from work, a girl that she had discussed, perhaps both of them getting a divorce, and taking an apartment together... She called this girl, Jackie Rhodes, told her about the big fight... She was sufficiently upset that Jackie Rhodes asked her: "Should I come over? Should I come over and spend the night with you so you'll be safe?"

Anderson: And Terri said, "No, I'll either be asleep, or pretend to be asleep when he gets home from work."... and the next thing Jackie heard, was she was in the emergency room.

What has happened to that poor girl at the hands of that monster, shouldn't happen to a dog... a clam maybe but not a dog.

[Lion in Winter]

Make$ one wonder WHY$

[Lion in Winter]

Good find.

[Future Useless Eater]

excerpts from FoxNews Channel Oct 27,2003 - At Large with Geraldo Rivera:

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz: My own personal view is that when there are doubts about what she wanted... when you have a family member who is willing to care for her and wants her to be alive... When you have possible conflicts of interest... GENERALLY doubts ought to be resolved in favor of life. I think the courts were probably, my own view, WRONG in this case. They should have appointed a guardian who would have defended her right to live, rather than her right to die...
[...]
If there were any danger that she were in any pain, I would have a very different view. But without ahh, evidence of pain, and with evidence of uncertainty, and with the willingness of parents to take care of her... I'm stepping out of my role as counsel now... I really DO think that doubts generally ought to be resolved in favor of life... You have eternity to be dead; You only have a limited amount of time to live. Even if she has NO chance of recovery, the family has the RIGHT not to have her die, and the state shouldn't be in the business of telling people when to die.

[ambrose]

nah.

[onyx]

nope

[drlevy88]

If you lay in a bed doing virtually nothing for the better part of a decade your brain might atrophy too.