Advocacy Center--State of Florida--Press Release [Schiavo Abuse Investigation]

The Advocacy Center ^ | Oct 26, 2003 | staff

[TaxRelief]

Re: Terri Schiavo

Since the initial withdrawal of hydration and nourishment from Terri Schiavo on Wednesday October 15, 2003 The Advocacy Center has received numerous complaints of possible neglect concerning Ms. Schiavo. Additionally we have received reports that there may have been a change in circumstance regarding Ms. Schiavo’s condition since the last full review in State Court.

It is The Advocacy Center’s federal mandate (pursuant to 29 U.S.C. §794(a) (doc 1) and 42 U.S.C.§1504 3(a)(2)(B) as the designated Protection and Advocacy Agency for the State of Florida to investigate complaints of abuse and/or neglect against persons with disabilities.

The Center is presently making demands in order to acquire reports and records necessary to undertake a thorough and impartial investigation of complaints we have received.

In order to preserve the integrity of our investigation during its pendency no further statement will be made to the Press.

[TaxRelief]

The family still seemed to view Michael favorably even immediately after the medical malpractice judgement. I assume he said nothing during the lawsuit that raised red flags at that time.

[tuckrdout]

I have no idea how to do that. Can you mail me the information?

[TaxRelief]

The doctor is an OB Gyn. The week before her "collapse" Terri told her mother that she did not feel her gynecologist was getting to the bottom of her irregular menstrual cycle problems.

[tuckrdout]

That Dr. Igel is a OB-GYN! Why should he have diagnosed an eating disorder?!

There is no link to an email. Only snail mail, I guess.

[Aliska]

Your #43. Where did you find that there was a problem with her menstrual cycle. If she was anoerexic, that can happen sometimes.

There is a good article here (worldmag.com): "Shortly after receiving the malpractice money, Mr. Schiavo moved Mrs. Schiavo from the Mediplex rehab facility to Sabal Palms nursing home. There, he added a "Do Not Resuscitate" order to his wife's medical record and in July directed caregivers to withhold from her antibiotics needed to treat a urinary tract infection. He knew, he later said in a deposition, that his wife would likely develop sepsis—poisoning of the bloodstream—and die. Nursing home employees refused to comply, saying such an act would be illegal."

More at link.

It is interesting to note that her feeding tube was removed before but ordered reinstated.

[Aliska]

Your #40. The warning I got was for Dr. Igel's website (may have been temporary and/or a fluke. Didn't have any trouble on the Lexis Nexis site. Want to think on it before I try to get the documents this way.

[TaxRelief]

Actually, it is a leap that a lot of the press took that she was anorexic because of her menstrual problems.

Terri was overweight in high school, but eventually lost the weight. At one point after she got married she started to put on weight again. Apparently she got some ribbing from people and dropped back to 120# before her "collapse" and her cycle went haywire.

Her Mom told me she was not anorexic. The period/new gynecologist thing came from Mom, too, according to other folks at the vigil.

[TaxRelief]

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/guardian.pdf

[Aliska]

Her Mom told me she was not anorexic. The period/new gynecologist thing came from Mom, too, according to other folks at the vigil.

Assuming she *could* have been anorexic, isn't it the responsibility of a *loving* husband to get her help for it? If he knew her so well, how is it that he didn't notice? Does a regular blood test reveal potassium imbalance or does it require a special, separate test? How could her ob/gyn know she had an eating disorder if no one apprised him of the fact? Too many questions. Too few answers.

Was the Princess Diana eating disorder in the headlines at this time? I can't remember when that came out.

[Aliska]

What's that? I don't have acrobat installed and don't feel like messing with it today. Can you paraphrase it for me, please?

[Politicalmom]

MS sued Terri's OB-GYN, saying he should have found the "potassium imbalance". I bet that doctor would be interested in seeing the bone scan.....

[TaxRelief]

5 yrs ago guardian ad-litem said terri's tube should not be removed because Michael as guardian had the personal conflict that he stood to gain financially from her death.

[honeygrl]

I was put in the hospital once for extreme low potassium once (my heartrate had gone down to 47bpm and my blood pressure was way up) and there were pretty obvious symptoms involved. The ER doctor knew immediately what was wrong and the correct blood test proved him right. My regular doctor OTOH had told me just days before that it was just "nerves" causing all the symptoms. The ER told me I was lucky I came in that night or my heart could've stopped. The reason my potassium level got so low though was because my regular doctor put me on a water pill for high blood pressure while I was nursing and never told me I needed to take a potassium supplement along with it. Even when the symptoms arised, he passed it off as "nervousness." And the process of replacing the potassium is the most painful thing I've ever been through. Every muscle in my body cramped and I couldn't move my hands. The idiot doctor who had done it to me in the first place refused to give me a muscle relaxer unless I would take a paxil with it because he was still saying I had nerve problems and refused to believe me when I told him paxil gives me a bad reaction. The next day he had the nerve to sit on my bed and tell me I had to just TRUST him to fix the problem. (fat chance) I think all the nurses there were ready to backhand that doctor. They made it obvious to me that they thought he was a moron. I did learn from that not to trust any doctor blindly. Always research for yourself when you have problems and question them if you disagree with them. If they don't like it, switch doctors.

[Aliska]

I'm so glad you are ok! I don't know why they don't warn more people on these meds. I've known of this happening to someone else.

[pc93]

Not sure as I did not fashion that one.

[pc93]

Looking for help. Can anyone host 2.1gb of movie data, sound, etc. of Terri etc? need decent bandwidth.

[honeygrl]

Thanks :) Yeah, the doctor who did it was seriously negligent and was very lucky that we were too broke after all those doctor bills to bother with a lawyer. It was a couple years ago and we still owe that hospital money.