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
Not only does Tragos sound like an extremely well qualified gladiator, the Greek angle is notable. Trying to remember the details here, but as I recall, when Greer heard the initial medical testimony in Terri's case from which he rendered his deadly decision that Terri had no hope of rehabilitation and approved MS's petition to starve/dehydrate Terri, there was an interesting Greek connection.
Each side was allowed to produce the expert opinion of two medical witnesses. Of course, each side's medical experts produced entirely opposed opinions. Greer ordered a fifth, "independent" medical evaluation, by the court's own approved expert. He asked Felos for a recommendation of an independent expert (!!!). Felos recommended, and Greer accepted, a medical expert who happened to be a member of the same Greek fraternity to which Felos belonged.
From the looks of Tragos' credentials, I'd say we have the answer as to why Felos is now backing off from his public statements that the Schindlers assaulted their own daughter with a hypodermic needle! If that's what brought Tragos onboard with Terri's team, Felos must now be agonizing over his own immense stupidity. Ah...God does work in mysterious ways. This is GREAT!
If God wanted someone to pass on, does anyone think Science could defy His wishes?
First, when you look at his profile page he obviously has immense pride in making his "bona fides" public, ie; the media and PR claims. So, why wouldn't he put on his profile page that he's an attorney, as he claimed on that thread?
Second, he made the comment that he knew from a member of Terri's family that the Schindlers were "horrified" by the sign-waving Terri supporters. Apparently he was unaware of terrisfight.org, the Schindlers own webite, where they proudly diplay pictures of the sign waving supporters. It seems he's also unaware that one of the Schindlers own official PR spokespersons is a frequent poster on Terri's threads here at FR. That individual has helped keep us all updated, and posts dates/times for events involving Terri so that any FReepers who are able can join in supporting the family at these events.
< insert eye rolling smiley face here >
I'm grateful for his perspective in this matter, for his acknowledgement that he is publicly accountable for his personal actions. Thank God for honest, decent, good people. My prayers are with him and others who need to be strong and vigilant in their personal lives from day to day [which, come to think of it, is all of us ;o)]
I have a good feeling about this. BTW---"tragos" - a word which means "goat"-in Greek - is the root of the word tragedy, which this case certainly is.
Local Fox affiliate Channel 13 sent a videographer to film us. We have VOTE NO ON GREER flyers now and other handouts. There are also Vote No on Greer t-shirts available on line. I need to order one and start campaigning against him... IT WAS A SUCCESSFUL EVENT all around. Many drivers showed their support for Terri and Terri's name recognition is spreading to every nook and cranny as of late.
Terri is more popular than JOHN KERRY it seems. Feel free to copy and paste today's rally report to other Terri threads. I'm not at home and it's always weird to use somebody else's p.c. Have a happy Sunday everyone. Please keep Terri in your prayers and take whatever measures you feel may help her get justice. Time is ALWAYS of the essence.
God Bless America. floriduh voter
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