Posted on 06/18/2005 7:49:15 AM PDT by wdkeller
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Jeb Bush said Friday that a prosecutor has agreed to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, citing an alleged gap in time between when her husband found her and called 911.
"It's a significant question that during this ordeal was never brought up," Bush told reporters, saying he wasn't suggesting any wrongdoing by Michael Schiavo.
But in a statement issued by his Dunedin lawyer, Schiavo called the development an outrage.
"I have consistently said over the years that I didn't wait but 'ran' to call 911 after Terri collapsed," Schiavo said in a release issued by the law office of George Felos.
In a letter he faxed to Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe requesting an investigation, Bush said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m. on Feb. 25, 1990, and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her at about 4:30 a.m. He called 911 at about 5:40 a.m.
"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay," Bush said. "In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."
McCabe was out of state Friday and couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but Bush said McCabe has agreed to his request.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, has said his client has conceded confusing dates and times but didn't wait to call for help. Felos has said that if Michael Schiavo had not called 911 immediately, as Bush and others allege, Terri Schiavo would have died that day.
"There is no hour gap or other gap to the point Michael heard Terri fall and called 911," Felos said. "We've seen the baseless allegations in this case fall by the wayside one by one ... That's what I would call it, a baseless claim to perpetuate a controversy that in fact doesn't exist."
Terri Schiavo died March 31 from dehydration after her feeding tube was disconnected despite unsuccessful efforts by Bush to keep her alive.
Bobby Schindler, Schiavo's brother, said Friday his family believes more questions were raised than answered by an autopsy report issued this week and that a new legal review is appropriate.
"Anything that can shed some light on the cause of Terri's collapse is going to be welcomed by our family," he said from Bloomington, Minn., where the family is speaking at an anti-abortion convention.
The battle between Terri Schiavo's husband and parents over whether she should be allowed to die also engulfed the courts, Congress, the White House and divided the country.
An autopsy released Wednesday supported her husband's contention that she had been in a persistent vegetative state. It revealed no evidence that she was strangled or otherwise abused before she collapsed.
It left unanswered the question of why Terri Schiavo's heart stopped, cutting oxygen off from her brain. The autopsy showed she suffered irreversible brain damage and her brain had shrunk to half the normal size for her age.
Bush's request was immediately criticized by some state lawmakers.
"Enough is enough," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "I don't want to see it on TV any more, I don't want to hear politicians talk about it. Let her be at peace."
Bush acknowledged in his letter that an investigation may be difficult.
"I understand that these events took place many years ago, and that you may not be able to collect all the relevant records and physical evidence. However, Mrs. Schiavo's family deserves to know anything that can be done to determine the cause and circumstances of her collapse 15 years ago," Bush wrote. "The unanswered questions may be unanswerable, but the attempt should be made."
ping
Yep! When that sheriff made that comment, I'd have said, "I'm going and if the national guard is needed, I'll stand right there until they arrive, and you'll be the first one incarcerated so deep in the belly of the earth, you'll not see the light of day."
"Murder WILL NOT be tolerated in Florida!"
If her heart stopped and he waited 40 to 70 mins to call 911, there would have been no 15 years of Terri lying in bed in PVS. She would have died. No one can be resucitated after their heart has stopped for 40 minutes.
Erm, what exactly is the prosecutor going to be looking at?
I mean he could ask Michael Schiavo whether he called 191 immediately, he'll reply yes. Anything else?
"I don't want to see it on TV any more, I don't want to hear politicians talk about it. Let her be at peace."
What is with this mindset anyway? It's not unlike children covering their ears and blabbering so as not to hear something they do not want to hear. We have a few here on FR who do the same thing regarding this story.
They seem to think that now that she is dead, their side has been granted victory and that no discussion should be allowed.
ping - for what it's worth at this point.
The questions are a result of his own testimony on the stand. The timeline is not Michael's friend.
Mark Fuhrman, stated on Sean Hannity that this is his area of concentration in his new book. Fuhrman stated that many criminals are caught once timelines are examined, and he spent 2 months here in FL investigating this one. He did not like what he saw.
The real shame is, this wasn't done at the time.
What discrepacies?
Oh - it must be the discrepency between those who brayed from the rooftops that Terri was a potentially fully-functioning person (proven false), and that MS was a wife-abusing monster (also proven to be crap).
so then, what occurred during this gap in time?
well, previous to the time in question.....he might have spiked something she consumed with insulin.......which would have taken time to cause brain damage, at which time oral sugar would have covered over the severe brain-death producing hypoglycemia, but leaving the brain-damage. IOW she could have very easily have had a "normal" and organic=appearing insulin and glucose level after sufficient time, upon arrival of paramedics.
see here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1371022/posts#3
that is not true. Honestly she wouldn't have been as badly brain damaged if she would have gotten help earlier. If that was the case the ME would have made your point but he knew that Terri didn't get help till over and hour later.
Whether Michael Schiavo is an S.O.B. really isn't the point of the whole affair. But I can't help but wonder if someone like that mightn't have poisoned his wife. I say poisoned because I think it unlikely that had he used some other method he wouldn't simply have finished her off. With poison, though, it would have been far more difficult (and dangerous) to give her an additional dose if the first didn't do the job. Some natural plant-based poisons might not even show up in the bloodstream, or might not be tested for.
Jeb Bush has lost his frickin mind.
Why bring all this crap back up? It makes no sense.
The Schiavvo nuts are convinced that she could have been a college student with proper training, the facts prove she was brain dead and blind . End of story.
Picking at a scab only makes the healing take longer.
It was never investigated and it led to her death. Any citizen deserves to have an unexplained death of a family member investigated.
So, Jeb is giving the family the comfort that her death - as any other unexplained death - is to be investigated since the ME found unanswered questions in the timeline. If he had not taken action, he would be trying to brush any crime under the rug. That is not something I think Jeb would be willing to do.
This is within his ability to do and it is following the law.
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