Husband in Right-to-Die Case Says Money, Activists Motivate in-Laws
Published: Oct 27, 2003
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In his first interview since the latest round of legal fighting in the highly publicized case, Michael Schiavo said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that he continues to fight to end his wife's life because her wishes were not to be kept alive artificially.
"This is Terri's wish," he said of the removal of her feeding tube. "And I am going to follow that if this is the last thing I can do for Terri."
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 dispute the husband's contention that she did not want to be kept alive artificially.
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. The move touched off an international debate over the Schiavo case and right-to-die issues.
Terri Schiavo is being treated at a Pinellas Park hospice while her husband's attorney and the American Civil Liberties Union prepare to challenge to constitutionality of "Terri's Law." The first filings in that legal fight are due Wednesday.
Appearing less than an hour later on Fox News' "On the Record with Greta Van Sustern," the attorney for the Schindlers 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.
Michael Schiavo said his relationship with the Schindlers soured after he was awarded a 1993 medical malpractice claim of about $1 million. Schiavo says the settlement was awarded because doctors misdiagnosed Terri Schiavo's health problems.
He said after that, his father-in-law asked him for a share of the money, and he refused to give him any.
"He's always wanted the money," Schiavo said of Bob Schindler. "He wants the money. He wants the control."
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," he 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.
"I'm fortunate to have two women in my life that I love very much," he said. "My girlfriend right now has done more for Terri than her own mother did. She shopped for her. She washed her clothes."
AP-ES-10-27-03 2308EST