Posted on 10/27/2003 8:29:28 PM PST by El Conservador
TAMPA, Fla. - The husband seeking to end the life of his severely brain-damaged wife said Monday that his in-laws have set out to block his actions because of money and the influence of conservative political causes.
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 (news - web sites) 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."
This stuff adds up into a view of the man and his purposes that is highly psychopathic and aggressively lethal as he can make it.
For all this, neither he nor the possible attempted murder of Terri has ever been investigated.
I hope there's a whole flight of Guardian Angels to protect Terri through whatever ordeals lie ahead. And if that is not to be, she will go to a place where she will be made whole and know the joy that was stolen from her.
In case you're still looking for an answer, the short version is that she did not have a heart attack, so the alleged potassium imbalance was never an issue. Where that yarn came from is unknown -- probably Michael. What did happen is not certain, but from marks on her neck, appears to have been attempted strangulation. There is also evidence from a bone scan that Terri had been badly beaten.
And we're the ones who argue from emotions and don't consider facts. Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ight......
I find it unlikely that anyone, espeically at so young an age, so specifically would say "don't feed me, let me starve to death", let's put it that way. Ventilators or some other bonafide extraordinary means is one thing, water and nutrition is another matter. Just because someone may see something in passing on television and say "oh, not for me" (which is how Michael Schiavo describes the "proof" of his wife's wishes) is not sufficient grounds for the state to allow a person starved to death.
are you not married?
Yes, I'm married.
He said,"Do you actually think I'd consider doing something so cruel?"
"Not really, but the doctors'll try to push you into it, saying it's painless..."
"Do you think I'm stupid? I can't believe you'd think I might do something like that."
He was completely insulted. I had to apologize.
Yeah, I've noticed their contradictions too. For example - "She needs to be put out of her misery because she is suffering. It is cruel to keep her alive like that." -- and then on the other hand they say, "She has no brain, starving her would be painless." blahblahblah. So which is it?
It looks to me like any suffering she is going through is thanks to her HINO who is keeping her cooped up in a little room with no rehab or stimulation whatsoever, keeping her loved ones from visiting her unless HE says it's ok, and who has starved her to death, and wants to starve her to death again.
That's true for my family. I have two married daughters that don't have written directives...yet. Last week when we were all together as a family we discussed Terri's plight and not one person agreed to be starved to death. I now know their wishes and for that I am grateful (still need some paper work though).
Many people say they wouldn't want to live like Terri but they overlook the fact that she has had all therapy and stimulation removed for years. I'm not sure if she ever would have improved but she never was given that chance. If Michael had done anything positive for Terri after he got the money, people might view him in a different light.
The trolls dare scold us to "let her go." They should be talking to her HINO husband.
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