Somebody might ask Mr. Ruth if he's ever interviewed Michael Schiavo and asked him why he's living with another woman, has fathered two kids with her. And is it true that he only started saying in recent years (after a huge malpractice award) that Terri would want to be starved to death?
John Grogan | Second thoughts on Terri Schiavo | 2/25/05
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1350930/posts
His column begins, "Sometimes even newspaper columnists change their minds.. . . "
WND 2/26: Philly columnist (John Grogan) changes mind on Terri Schiavo
A Philadelphia Inquirer columnist who believes in the "right to die" has changed his mind about the Terri Schiavo case, pointing to "uncomfortable details" about her estranged husband that now lead him to side with the parents of the brain-damaged Florida woman, who are fighting to keep her alive.
John Grogan said in a column published today, "I no longer so blithely believe Schiavo's feeding tubes should be pulled and her life allowed to end. I'm no longer so sure her parents do not deserve a say in their daughter's future. I no longer am totally comfortable assuming her husband, Michael, who now has two children by another woman, is acting unselfishly."
Michael Schiavo has been living with his fiance Jodi Centonze since 1995 and has said he will marry her upon the death of his wife.
Grogan said he hasn't changed his opinion that everyone has a right to "die with dignity," but he believes that in the Schiavo case, the "devil is in the details, uncomfortable details that raise sticky moral dilemmas."
Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after collapsing. Michael Schiavo attributes it to a chemical imbalance caused by an eating disorder, but parents Robert and Mary Schindler believe he may have tried to strangle her.
Michael Schiavo contends his wife told him she never would want to be kept alive artificially.
But Grogan points out Terri Schiavo's heart and lungs function on their own, and she requires only a feeding tube that might not be necessary if she were given physical therapy.
The columnist notes Michael Schiavo, as her legal guardian, has forbidden any therapy.