No Easter basket for Terri Schiavo

'Needle-mark' incident called 'stunt' to keep parents from brain-disabled daughter

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It was a sad Easter for Robert and Mary Schindler and their daughter, Terri, the 40-year-old brain-disabled Florida woman whose estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, is trying to end her life by removing her feeding tube.

There was no basket of pretty things chosen and brought to her by her loving mother, no fluffy toy bunny, no sweet-smelling flowers, and no Holy Communion. Indeed, she's not allowed to see her parents or her priest at all.

Although she is not able to talk and no one knows how aware she is of her surroundings, Terri may well wonder and worry why two weeks ago her parents and siblings suddenly stopped coming to see her. She'll not understand that Schiavo, who as her legal guardian can exert absolute control over her, has forbidden her family from visiting even at Easter, pending the outcome of a police investigation over mysterious "needle marks" in her arm that is taking far longer than expected.

For the Schindlers it was the strangest Easter they'd ever experienced: a far cry from the joyful family celebrations remembered from decades past.

Robert Schindler, 65, told WorldNetDaily that as a young wife and mother in Philadelphia, Mary always "went to extremes" to make all the holidays memorable for their three children -- Theresa Marie ("Terri"), the oldest, and her brother and sister, Bobby and Suzanne. But since the Schindlers are Roman Catholic, Christmas and Easter are especially important.

"At Easter our house would smell of hyacinths and Easter lilies," Schindler said. "Everywhere you looked would be an Easter ornament and all sorts of candies. Each of our children received Easter baskets."

It was a time to "dress up and pig-out," is how he puts it. "Everyone had given up something for Lent so by the time Easter rolled around we had pretty healthy appetites."

There would be new dresses for the girls, a new suit for Bobby. After High Mass on Sunday the entire family -- aunts, uncles, grandparents, young and old -- gathered for a feast followed by a free-for-all Easter egg hunt, in which grownups joined the kids in a search for dozens of colored eggs.

"To this day, depending on the holiday, Mary still adorns the house with the appropriate decorations in preparation for the upcoming festive occasion," he said.

Terri responding to her mother from video clip on < a href="www.Terrisfight.org">Terrisfight.org

And for the past 14 years, no matter where Terri is living, Mary has continued this tradition to make her daughter's immediate surroundings as pretty and pleasant as possible. This isn't something Mary does solely for personal gratification: it has a therapeutic value for Terri. To regain brain function Terri needs sensory stimulation -- changes in what she looks at, bright colors, new shapes, and people bustling about and chatting to her like her mother does. Without that kind of stimulation her chances for improvement are significantly decreased.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Terri collapsed under unexplained circumstances in February 1990 at the age of 26. Oxygen to her brain was cut off for several minutes, leaving her severely brain-disabled and dependant upon a feeding tube for sustenance.

Schiavo insists his wife told him years before her collapse that she would never want to be kept alive "through artificial means," and four years ago he convinced probate Judge George Greer to allow him to remove her feeding tube so she would die. But her parents do not believe Terri made the statements attributed to her, and through a series of legal maneuvers have managed to keep the case and their daughter alive. Their options appeared to have run out last year when the 2nd District Court of Appeal made a final ruling in Schiavo's favor and the Florida Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

In October, Terri endured six days without nourishment and hydration before Florida lawmakers passed "Terri's Law" that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to intervene and order her feeding tube reinserted, an action immediately challenged by Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, a well-known "right-to-die" advocate. That case is being litigated. If the appeal court strikes down Terri's Law as unconstitutional, her feeding tube could be removed again.

According to the Schindlers, for 10 years following her collapse Terri was well looked after in the nursing homes Schiavo selected. Then in April 2000, shortly before Easter, he had her transferred surreptitiously and without court authorization from Palm Garden Nursing Home to Woodside Hospice of Pinellas Park, a facility owned by the Hospice of the Florida Sun Coast, a non-profit organization.

Usually, to be admitted to a hospice, a patient must be terminally ill and in the final stages an incurable disease -- which Terri certainly wasn't, nor is she to this day. But Felos was on the board of hospice and made the arrangements.

Her family protested the move, calling it a kidnapping, and demanded her return to the nursing home, but Judge Greer upheld it and Terri had to stay where she was placed.

That was four years ago. In mid-December, Woodside began a massive renovation project and its several hundred patients were placed in temporary quarters scattered throughout Pinellas County. Terri and 18 other patients were moved into rooms on the fourth floor of Park Place in Clearwater. Because Park Place is an assisted living facility and doesn't have a nursing staff, Woodside is providing the nurses and caregivers to look after the hospice patients.

The Schindlers claim that since the move, Terri's custodial care has deteriorated. Mary complains that her hair is washed infrequently and is allowed to become greasy. She is not being kept washed and clean. Recently she lost two teeth -- hardly a surprise since Schiavo has never allowed dental care and the teeth in question had become black before breaking off. The Schindlers are kept in the dark as to what became of the teeth. Did they fall out of her mouth or did Terri swallow them? No one will say.

Worse, Terri developed a bedsore on her buttocks, the first she'd ever had. The Schindlers do not know if it has healed or gotten worse. A bedsore, if left untreated and allowed to fester, can be fatal.

Then there was the mysterious bout of vomiting over Valentines Day weekend, Which prompted the Schindlers' attorney, Patricia Anderson, to file a "show cause" motion, demanding that Schiavo be held in contempt of court for non-compliance with a 1996 court order that mandates he keep them informed of changes in their daughter's medical condition -- something he has never done.

Nor does it seem he will ever have to. As WND Reported, on Monday, Mar. 29, following a Friday hearing and a weekend of mulling, Greer denied the Schindlers' motion and refused to hold Schiavo in contempt of the court order.

The Schindlers must sign in when they arrive and leave. All packages, handbags, backpacks are left with the guard. Cameras, cell phones, audio-recorders are strictly forbidden. Recently Mary was told she couldn't bring in a bottle of lotion to smooth on Terri's skin.

Terri is not allowed to be taken from her room, not even for a wheelchair ride down the corridor. She is forbidden contact with the other patients and may not attend the many social events Park Side offers.

It was like this for her at Woodside. There were no outings, no visitors other than her family. It's a drab existence, except for the cheer her family is able to provide -- and now that's been cut off.

Terri's room at Park Place is particularly bleak. Her room at Woodside had more furnishings and was on the ground floor so there was something she could look at through the window. Here, apart from her bed and a special chair she can sit in, the room has no furniture. There are no pictures, no shelves for ornaments, not even chairs for visitors. When they visit, the Schindlers have to borrow a chair from the nursing station in the next room or perch on the edge of the bed.

It's not an easy setting to beautify, but despite drawbacks Mary has managed to bring in decorations that are changed with the seasons so her daughter will have a modicum of visual stimulation; something to look at besides bare walls.

For Easter -- "I'll take flowers, hyacinths, since Terri likes their smell," she told WND. "And of course a basket and new bunny rabbit."

That didn't happen. This year Terri would wait in vain for a glimpse of her mother's smile and "happy Easter" and her father's cheerful, "Hi, honey. How're you doing?"

Schiavo's ban on visitors was prompted, he said, by an alleged discovery of needle marks on Terri's arms in the late afternoon of Mar. 29, supposedly following a visit by the Schindlers. How this was accomplished when there was an armed guard at the door watching the Schindlers' every move is not addressed.

The allegations were made about the time the Schindlers and other parties received word of Greer's order denying the parents' motion to hold Michael Schiavo in contempt of court.

Upon learning of the incident from his client, attorney Felos hurriedly sent a statement to the media that came just short of charging the Schindlers with deliberately hurting their daughter.

"Schiavo Puncture Wounds Found After Parents' Visit," the headline on the press release screamed.

The text said that "immediately after" a 45-minute visit, "medical personnel" discovered "numerous wounds, five of them apparently caused by a hypodermic needle," on the incapacitated woman.

It further declared that "Mrs. Schiavo was found in a disheveled state with her feeding tube wrapped around her back and an allergy band pulled up very tight on her arm like a tourniquet. On one arm were four fresh puncture wounds with another fresh puncture wound on her other arm. Also found were fresh scratch wounds, over the puncture wounds as if an attempt were made to conceal the puncture wounds."

A purple needle cap was said to have been found "in Mrs. Schiavo's gown, confirming the belief that the puncture wounds were caused by a hypodermic needle." It was not known whether something was injected into Terri or "fluids were withdrawn from her."

Terri was whisked away in an ambulance to Morton Plan Hospital for toxicology testing and blood work.

"A forensics team has examined the crime scene, and the Clearwater Police are investigating," Felos's statement continued, and concluded with the announcement that "Mrs. Schiavo's husband and guardian has issued orders stopping all persons from visiting his wife until the police investigation is completed."

The media engaged in a two-day feeding frenzy and the Clearwater Police Department was flooded with phone calls.

"Somebody put a needle into Terri Schiavo on numerous occasions," Felos told Bay-News 9. "It's our position that that constitutes a criminal assault on her body. We want to know who did this and why it was done."

Felos told the St. Petersburg Times he had not seen the marks, but received his information from Schiavo. "Maybe one of their quack doctors told them [the Schindlers], 'Here, we have a substance that can help Terri get better, but it has to be injected," he said.

The media began contacting the Schindlers as soon as they received the press release. Robert – stunned by the news – told WTSP-Channel 10 he was disgusted by the innuendo. Yes, he had been at Park Side that afternoon, but there was nothing wrong with Terri when he left. No, he most certainly had not put a needle in her arm.

Terri's physician, Dr. Stanton Tripodis, summoned to her bedside Monday evening, told the St. Petersburg Times he was not "100 percent sure" the marks were caused by a needle.

"It could be that the skin was broken, maybe by someone's fingernail or jewelry," he said. "There was just an unusual appearance to these marks."

Clearwater Police spokesperson Wayne Shelor told WorldNetDaily</I? the department had been contacted by "someone at the nursing home" [he could not recall by whom] about 6 p.m. Mar. 29, but as of Mar. 31 the investigators had found no evidence of a crime. He took apparent exception to certain phrases in the press release.

"We're conducting an inquiry," Shelor said. "I wouldn't call it a criminal investigation. We've been interviewing people and gathering information."

He said that the Clearwater PD doesn't have a forensic team, and "since we haven't any defined crime yet, there's no crime scene either."

Terri was returned to the Park Place the day following her rush to Morton Plant. The toxicology tests came back negative. The media lost interest and remained silent.

Because the Schindlers could face criminal charges, George Tragos, a prominent criminal attorney, stepped into the fray as soon as he learned of the allegations and offered his services at no cost. He has directed the family and their spokesperson Pamela Hennessey not to discuss the case with the media, and fields press inquiries himself.

Tragos told WorldNetDaily there were two reasons he took on the case pro bono publico, that is, for the public good.

"The first is that I don't believe they should take the feeding tube out of Terri and starve her to death," he said. "The second reason is that I was outraged by the fact that someone issued a press release like that at the beginning of a possible criminal investigation."

Tragos said he had "no idea" how Terri received the marks, but then "that's not my job to find out." He pointedly remarked that he hadn't seen them, "because they don't let anybody in to look at them."

One thing he's sure of: The Schindlers weren't responsible. "The idea that her parents would stick needles in her is absurd," he declared. He views the entire action as a "publicity ploy."

Attorney Patricia Anderson, who represents the Schindlers in their effort to get Schiavo removed as guardian or at very least to obey the rules, also has serious doubts about the validity of the needle marks story.

"I don't really think she had marks on her arm," Anderson said bluntly. "I think the whole thing was a stunt, an excuse to cut off visitation. That's what it's all about. The second-day coverage on this story was, 'Well, maybe they're not puncture wounds, maybe they were caused by jewelry.'"

Anderson cited several inaccuracies in the press release -- such as the way Terri was supposedly dressed when her parents left.

"You know that business about finding a purple [hypodermic] cap in her gown?" she asked, "Well, she wasn't in a gown. When [the Schindlers] left, [Terri] was in street clothes. She was perfectly fine and sitting up in her chair. She was missing two teeth, but she was not disheveled; she was not in a hospital gown. This is a stunt."

Anderson's skepticism is shared by Terri's many supporters, who are convinced that the crackdown on visitation is a ploy to detach the defenseless woman from her family, which in turn would cause her condition to deteriorate.

Cheryl Ford, a registered nurse with 25 years of experience in the medical profession, is particularly infuriated by the situation at Park Place and Terri's isolation. In recent weeks she's sent out volleys of news about Terri via the Internet and helped organize demonstrations at Park Side to focus public attention on the decline in her health and level of care.

Ford sees the needle-mark issue as a diversionary tactic, intended to direct attention away from the real issue of overall neglect by dumping a load of blame and accusations on the Schindlers.

"They are victims who are forced to watch their daughter die," Ford told WND. "They should be out on a Sunday with her, enjoying life. Michael [Schiavo] is out with his girlfriend and their two kids. All [the Schindlers] want is to take this little disabled woman out of her room and take care of her during their retirement years. But they're not allowed to."

"We've got to stop this. Not just for Terri, but for ourselves. And if we don't, we're as guilty as the Nazis that sat there and let those people go to the gas chambers. We have to take responsibility -- that's heavy-duty responsibility."

Ford said she was on the phone with Mary Schindler the Monday when Mary received word her daughter had puncture marks on her arms.

"Do you know what that mother sounded like?" Ford exclaimed. "I'm surprised she didn't have a stroke! Her daughter's got wounds all over her, but she's not allowed to go to the hospital to see her?"

Ford was incensed, and she's not one to mince words. "You don't have a right to keep family members out of a hospital room," she stated emphatically. "I've been in the medical profession for 25 years, and when a father or mother or someone gets sick, everybody in the family swarms to the hospital in a panic."

Ford said she became involved in the movement to save Terri last October when she visited the weeklong vigil at Woodside Hospice during the court-ordered starvation.

Neglect of an incapacitated person is a particularly heinous crime, and Ford hopes enough public pressure can be mustered that public officials – such as state attorney Bernie McCabe or the Department of Children and Families or Gov. Jeb Bush – will step in and place Terri immediately in protective custody.

"Why does this vulnerable woman have to be treated like a caged animal – instead of the beautiful young person that she is?" Ford would like to know.

In-depth information, including court filings, are posted on the Schindler family website.

MOST EXCELLENT -- thanks for the ping. Sad prayer bump for Terri, but remembering this:

be of good cheer.
be of good cheer.
be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

He pointedly remarked that he hadn't seen them, "because they don't let anybody in to look at them."

Which goes back to why she doesn't have her own attorney. Unbelievable. It doesn't matter if it was caused by a needle or jewelry or finger nails, Terri was injured and it certainly doesn't sound like an accident. Someone intentionally caused injuries to her, wrapped the tube around her, and placed a needle cap on her to be found. Who and why??? Who - HINO or his in-house accomplish. Why - it wasn't clear to me at the time but it could be he didn't want the parents there during Easter. What is disgusting is that adult protective services doesn't step in and take over custody of her. JEB would back them.

Yet despite an observed deterioration in Terri's overall care, since October the hospice has been spending big bucks for a 24-hour armed guard in compliance with Schiavo's demands. The guard is composed of off-duty officers of the Clearwater Police Department, at the rate of $25 per hour per officer. Assuming only one guard is on duty during an eight-hour shift, the tab at Park Side comes to over $70,000. The total cost of police services since October has been estimated at over $125,000.
The Schindlers must sign in when they arrive and leave. All packages, handbags, backpacks are left with the guard. Cameras, cell phones, audio-recorders are strictly forbidden. Recently Mary was told she couldn't bring in a bottle of lotion to smooth on Terri's skin.

To Protect and Serve

The unbeliveable cruelty shown this poor woman by Govt. and hospital staff... is an outrage...

Dear God, kill the evil that is her 'husband' so that Terri can be back in her parents' custody.

Strange to invoke the name of God for killing, but stranger that people here would let it pass...

This fiendish S*B could not kill his wife through starvation and dehidration and has now chosen an even sinister method at ending Terri's life. It's still Michael Schiavo's intent to see his wife dead, but the wicked one now has it in his plans to see Terri's suffering, loneliness, demoralization and despair prolonged for as long as possible before her ultimate death. In his demented mind the mutant feels that prolonging his wife's suffering will give him the satisfaction of getting at Terri's parents and siblings and somehow make his spiritual void disapper.

While reading this article Roberta Flack's(?) song Killing Me Softly was on my mind. Except there is nothing soft about this murder - he's killing her slowly.

You're not quoting solitas correctly, the post clearly states "Kill the evil that is her husband". How can this be interpreted as not meaning kill the husband. Certainly we'll not have you arguing the definition of the word "is", will we?

Here is a good "why" answer. So they cannot force this bedsore to be treated, or report that it is not being treated.

I have always felt that the way to free Teri is to go back to the beginning and find out how the mysterious bruises and brain damage occurred in the first place. I'd bet the farm that Mr. Schiavo is as guilty as sin, and that he really thinks he'll get away with murder. In large part with help from gov't officials. People often seem to forget how this tragedy happened to a healthy 26 yr. old woman. Her parents need to go on the offensive, IMO.

Michael has demonstrated publicly that he is an evil person who enjoys tormenting others.

Yet a poll shows that he has the support of 41 percent of the people of FL -- are they just like him? Or are they just uninformed?

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