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Her husband, Michael Schiavo, who witnessed her collapse, says that Terri, then 26, had a heart attack caused by a low potassium level—possibly due to an eating disorder. This is the theory Michael, a nurse and respiratory therapist, successfully presented in a malpractice suit against Terri’s doctors. The jury award was over $1 million: $300,000 for Michael’s loss of companionship and $750,000 for Terri’s ongoing care and rehabilitation.
Another theory as to what happened is based on a recently discovered 1991 total-body scan, taken after her collapse and resultant brain damage. That scan reveals a history of severe physical abuse. "Somebody worked her over real good," concluded a doctor after reviewing the scan. During a court hearing, another doctor testified that, when she was brought into the emergency room, she had a "suspiciously rigid neck" and that the only other time he had seen this in a cardiac patient was in the case of an attempted strangulation. Despite the doctors’ findings, Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George Greer—who has consistently ruled in Michael’s favor—refused to allow discovery of this body-scan evidence during the November 2002 hearing. Greer ultimately ruled that Terri is in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) and, therefore, there is no hope of recovery. The judge also granted Michael’s petition and ordered the removal of Terri’s feeding tube. He later stayed that order pending an appeal filed by Terri’s parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who had obtained numerous opinions from neurologists and therapists that Terri is not PVS. (See Terri's Fight website for more information.)
Yet, when Michael testified at the malpractice proceedings in hopes of getting a sizable