From Fr. Rob
http://www.thrownback.blogspot.com/ -Lori
Exclusive! Schindlers Respond to Michael Schiavo's Larry King Love-
Fest
Sorry to miss posting an update yesterday. It was kind of a crazy
day, with more things to do than I had time to do them, including
travelling. which limits my access to the Internet.
I watched the whole Larry King interview with Michael Schiavo Monday
night, and I took note of a number of issues he addressed which
didn't seem consistent with things that either Terri's family told
me, or that I had read.
While Michael was on Larry King, Terri's father Bob Schindler was on
Hannity & Colmes, so he didn't see the interview. Terri's mother Mary
watched the first few minutes, but she said she turned it off because
she couldn't stand to watch Michael lie on TV.
I questioned Bob and Mary about several of the claims that Michael
made on the Larry King show, and they had quite a bit to say in
response.
CNN trumpeted their interview with Michael Schiavo Monday night as
an "Exclusive". I guess that means that Bob & Mary Schindler's
response, which I present to you here, is also an "Exclusive!".
Because of the wide variety of issues addressed and the consequent
length of the reponse, I'm posting it in two parts, with the second
part to be posted this afternoon.
Part I
I started off by asking them, "Michael claimed that after he won his
settlement, you confronted him in Terri's room at the nursing home,
and demanded money. Is that true?" Bob replied categorically that
that is not what happened that day. "I never asked him for money,
ever," Bob said. Bob admits that he got into an argument with Michael
that day, but it was over Michael's promise to use Terri's settlement
money for rehabilitation.
Bob and Mary had gone to visit Terri, and found Michael sitting in
her room at the nursing home, reading a book. After some small talk,
Bob said to Michael, "We can use some of that money now to take Terri
to Shands [the Shands Medical Center at the University of Florida in
Gainesville] for rehab." Bob explained to me that the doctor who
oversaw Terri's treatment in California, a Dr. Youngling [Bob isn't
sure of the spelling], recommended that they take her to Shands.
Michael alluded to this treatment in his Larry King interview, saying
that the attempts to stimulate Terri using implants didn't work. Bob
and Mary confirm that those treatments didn't work as hoped, but that
the doctor had nonetheless observed some improvement in Terri's
condition, and he recommended they take her to Shands for a different
course of treatment. Bob had wanted to bring her to Shands right
away, but Michael insisted on waiting to do so until after he
received a settlement.
Michael received the settlement in January of '93, and this
confrontation took place in February. "A month had gone by since he
[Michael] had gotten the money, and he hadn't done anything yet," Bob
explained, nor had Michael said anything about what he planned to do.
Mary said that Michael appeared to ignore Bob, so Bob repeated his
remark. At this point, Mary said, "Michael looked up, threw his book
against the wall, then he stood up and kicked the tray table by
Terri's bed, and went into the hall." The Schindlers followed him
into the hall, and Bob, angry at this point, reminded Michael that he
had "promised to use the money for Terri's rehab." Michael then ran
down the hall, turned back and yelled at Bob and Mary, "I'm going to
call my lawyer, and you'll never see your daughter again." At this
point Michael's lawyer was not George Felos. Felos only became
involved once Michael sought Terri's death.
Bob repeated to me that he has never asked Michael for any of Terri's
settlement money. He said, "I tried to remind him of his promise." A
promise, Mary added, that Michael had made under oath. This promise
may not be legally binding, but the Schindlers certainly regard it as
morally binding.
About a month after this incident, the Schindlers were informed that
Michael had cut off their access to Terri's medical information.
Terri's doctors and nurses were not to discuss Terri's medical
condition with the Schindlers. Bob & Mary are still denied access to
medical information about their daughter.
They learned later that shortly after this, Michael gave a Do Not
Resuscitate order for Terri. This struck the Schindlers as odd, since
Terri was in no danger of death. Also, up to this point Michael had
yet to say anything about Terri's suppposed wish not be kept alive in
her condition.
The nursing home staff was sympathetic to the Schindlers, and
frequently gave them information in spite of Michael's medical "gag
order." In July of that year, Bob & Mary were told that Terri had a
serious urinary tract infection. The nursing home staff also told
them that Michael had ordered the nursing home not to treat the
infection, which treatment would have consisted of a simple course of
antibiotics. The staff were worried, because left untreated, the
infection would eventually cause sepsis and Terri's death. Bob and
Mary were powerless to do anything, but fortunately the nursing home
eventually gave the antibiotics anyway, and Terri recovered.
At this point, Bob & Mary made their first attempt to have Michael
removed as guardian. In his deposition for this proceeding, Michael
admitted that he had ordered the nursing home to deny Terri treatment
for the infection, and that left untreated, the infection would have
caused Terri's death. Bob and Mary then explained that when asked in
the deposition if he would do something like that again, he said he
couldn't "because the law prevented him from acting in that way."
When asked why he did it, he responded that he "didn't think Terri
would want to live like this." Notice that Michael said he didn't
think so. Bob said, "he had the perfect opportunity there to talk
about Terri's "wish" not to be kept alive, and he didn't. In fact, it
was another 5 years before they heard anything about Terri's supposed
wish not to be kept alive.
The judge denied the Schindler's petition to have Michael removed as
guardian. 3 years later (1996), they tried again to have Michael
removed as guardian, and were again refused. This in spite of
testimony from the administrator of Terri's second nursing home that
Michael had given similar orders to them to deny potentially life-
saving treatment to Terri. Fortunately, that nursing home also
decided to go against Michael's wishes and administered the
appropriate medication.
I would add that this was not the last of Michael's attempts to cause
Terri's death by denying medication for perfectly treatable ailments.
When Terri developed pneumonia earlier this year, Michael's attorney
George Felos asked the judge if medication could be denied to Terri
for the pneumonia. He wanted her to be removed from the hospital,
returned to the hospice, and "allowed" to die "naturally".
Fortunately, even Judge Greer thought this beyond the pale and
ordered her treatment continued.
I also asked Bob and Mary about Michael's claim that Bob had offered
him $700,000 to walk away and let them take care of Terri. Bob
admitted that after Terri's feeding tube was restored the first time,
he did offer Michael money, but that it was more like $500,000. Bob
explained, "that was our attorney's idea [at that time their attorney
was Jim Eckert]. He thought that since Michael was after Terri's
money, let's give him what he wants to make him go away." I asked Bob
and Mary how they intended to come up with the money. Bob
replied, "we didn't know. Jim [their lawyer] thought we could raise
the money somehow, but first we had to get Michael to agree to the
idea." I asked him if any pro-life or other "right-wing" group ever
offered him money for that purpose. He laughed and said no, nothing
like that ever happened.
Furthermore, as to the contention that the Schindlers are being put
up to their defense of Terri's life by "right-wing" pro-life groups,
Bob & Mary Schindler dismiss it as ridiculous. "The first offers of
assistance we got from national pro-life or conservative groups was
about two weeks ago", Bob said. Furthermore, the assistance offered
was in terms of organization and mobilizing grass-roots support, not
financial support. "We actually approached a couple of organizations
back in 2000 after the first trial", Bob added, "but they weren't
interested in getting involved at that time."
Indeed, the Schindlers have fought for this decade and more with
little more than their own resources and some local help. After the
first trial in 2000, "Professionals For Excellence" a local
organization of conservative professionals, offered some help, and
since then have occasionally contrbuted the expertise of their
members in publicity, legal opinions, and other organizational help.
According to Bob, Pat Anderson, their lead attoney, has worked on
Terri's case largely pro bono with some occasional grants from legal
foundations.
The Schindlers started the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation to get
the word out about Terri's plight and to raise money to help defray
the considerable expenses they have incurred in the efforts to save
her. In the past three years, Bob Schindler estimates that the
foundation has raised "about $40,000." "In addition to that," Bob
continued, "Msgr. Malanowski [the priest who has been offering
spiritual support and guidance to the family for the past few years]
raised about another $10,000."
Far from being well-financed pawns of "right-wing" groups and pro-
lifers, Bob and Mary have been crying out for years to get someone to
listen to them, someone to help them. Finally, within the last few
weeks, they've begun to be heard, and there has been an outpouring of
support for which they're truly grateful.
Part Two of the Schindlers response will be posted this afternoon.