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Posted on 04/03/2004 9:23:57 AM PST by cyn
CLEARWATER - There is no evidence a crime was committed against Terri Schiavo this week, police said Tuesday, but authorities will continue to investigate a complaint from her husband that someone repeatedly stuck a needle into the brain-damaged woman.
``The medical experts found nothing that gave them any pause,'' Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said. ``Our position right now is information gathering. We have a complaint, but at this point we have no evidence of a crime.''
Michael Schiavo ``considers it a criminal assault on her person,'' attorney George Felos said of multiple needle marks on Terri Schiavo's arms, reportedly found Monday by a nurse.
The discovery came after Bob and Mary Schindler spent 45 minutes visiting their daughter, Felos said.
Terri Schiavo was hospitalized Monday night while her blood was tested for unauthorized substances, Felos said. The toxicology tests found nothing abnormal, and the 40- year-old woman, in a comalike state since 1990, was returned to her room Tuesday at Park Place of Clearwater, an assisted-living facility.
Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers are locked in a 5 3/4- year dispute over Terri Schiavo's fate. Her husband contends her brain was destroyed when her heart failed in 1990 at age 26. He has convinced a series of judges that, prior to her illness, Terri Schiavo made statements indicating she would not want to be kept alive in such condition.
The Schindlers contend their daughter expressed no such wishes. They say she responds to them during visits and could improve with therapy. The St. Petersburg couple have blocked repeated attempts by their son-in-law to have Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed so she can die.
Michael Schiavo's complaint to police this week is the latest in a series of cruelties inflicted on the Schindlers, their new criminal defense attorney, George Tragos, said Tuesday.
``It's an excuse for him to cut off the family's access. Once again he has cut off the flow of information,'' said Tragos, a former federal and state prosecutor who volunteered to represent the Schindlers.
Not only wouldn't the Schindlers do anything to hurt their daughter, it would have been virtually impossible for them to draw blood or inject medicine without being caught, he said.
An off-duty police officer guards Terri Schiavo around the clock. ``Her door is open during the entire visit, and medical people are in and out during the entire visit,'' Tragos said.
Felos said Terri Schiavo was found in a disheveled state with her feeding tube wrapped around her back and an allergy alert wristband pulled up her arm ``tight, like a tourniquet.''
What appeared to be a purple needle cap was found in the folds of her hospital gown, Felos said.
Terri Schiavo's physician, Stanton Tripodis, identified what he termed ``needle puncture marks'' on both her arms, a scratch on her abdomen near where the feeding tube is inserted, and a second scratch over the needle marks on her right forearm, Felos said.
Gov. Jeb Bush, who intervened in the case in October and ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted after she went six days without nourishment, on Tuesday asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to keep him abreast of the Clearwater police investigation, spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.
Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 799-7413 / dsommer@tampatrib.com
Write a letter to the editor about this story -- http://tampatrib.com/opinion/lettertotheeditor.htm
Terri Schiavo Hospitalized With Apparent Puncture Wounds In Arm -- Apparent Foul Play -- posted 3/30Schiavo's marks still a mystery -- posted 3/31
Current story search:
St. Petersburg Times stories about Terri Schiavo -- http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/results.html?QryTxt=schiavo
What the Tampa Tribune has about Terri today -- http://reports.tbo.com/reports/schiavo/
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Is this your idea of peace & human kindness? |
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Something is rotten here. And this cannot be allowed to be swept under the rug as is happening here.
There are other stories in the news: the deaths of our people in Iraq, one of whom is from Florida, and the tragic hit-and-run accident in Tampa a few days ago.
But we need to push for an accounting of what has happened to Terri. Esp. now that parents, priests, friends are all barred from seeing her.
Prayerfully submitted. May God help us help Terri in whatever big and little ways we can. We rely on His strength, wisdom, and mercy. May this draw us all to a closer, more honest walk with Him, regardless of where we are starting out!
<< ``It's an excuse for him to cut off the family's access. Once again he has cut off the flow of information,'' said Tragos, a former federal and state prosecutor who volunteered to represent the Schindlers.>>
Heavenly Father, we return to give You thanks that a former federal and state prosecutor has stepped forward to help the Schindlers in their efforts to halt the march of death upon their beloved daughter. Grant him success, Merciful Father, for he is but one of a few to stand before an ungodly mighty force, yet such was Gideon. Stir the agencies who have oversight to look into complaints raised over Terri's treatment, or her lack of treatment. Bring forth that one person and that one Judge and that one effort and that one prayer ... unite them, that together they will be the key that unlocks the door to Terri's prison. May it be thus, O God, in the victorious Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen ...
That's a troubling statement, isn't it. That's what this is all about. Attention must remain focused on this most recent assault on Terri.
How to accomplish this? I believe we will each think of different ways we can do it -- eg, carefully-worded letters to the editor, emails, phone calls, as mentioned in previous threads.
Go, Mr. Tragos! This is the fighting spirit the Schindlers need! And he providing his services pro-bono. Thank G-d.
``It's an excuse for him to cut off the family's access. Once again he has cut off the flow of information,'' said Tragos, a former federal and state prosecutor who volunteered to represent the Schindlers.
On the previous thread someone mentioned that a highly credentialed attorney had seen Felos accusing Terri's parents of essentially assaulting her, and became so outraged he immediately volunteered to represent Terri's parents pro bono. Is George Tragos that attorney?
Does anyone know if Tragos is replacing Pat Anderson as lead attorney for the Schindlers, or will he be assisting her? Can we get anymore information about Tragos? I'm wondering if he was a state prosecutor in Florida. That would be a huge benefit to the Schindler legal team.
If there's a spotlight on this criminal investigation and Michael's allegations towards the Schindlers, it could force Michael to make the media rounds again. That would be a good thing. I know a lot of people whose first exposure to Terri's case was seeing MS and Felos on the Larry King show last year. Everyone of them I talked to had concluded that MS was a lowlife and probably a sociopath, and attorney Felos was a book huckster. Remember MS on TV with his shirt unbuttoned halfway down his chest and his huge gold chains? Remember his explicit and tasteless recounting of Terri's gynecological exams?
In my opinion, Michael Schiavo in the eye of the media is the most effective tool the Schindlers have for influencing public perceptions in Terri's favor. I hope this story puts him there again.
I've been thinking about that, too. In the early history of the case, the Schindlers made the argument that Terri was a Catholic, and that as a Catholic she would be against euthanasia for herself or anyone else. What I'm wondering is this. Now that the Pope has made this declaration specifically about dehydration/starvation, doesn't it deprive Terri of her constitutional right of freedom to practice her religion? Can the state of Florida order the dehydration/starvation of a patient with no advance healthcare directives when that order directly opposes the tenets of the patient's religion?
If this current episode was not an embarrassment to them, if there was any way to milk this against the Schindlers, you know doggone well they'd be doing it. Felos is a master at PR, manipulating public opinion in various ways.
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