Posted on 05/07/2004 3:23:12 PM PDT by amdgmary
Parents of Terri Schindler-Schiavo Told to Pay to See Their Daughter
Clearwater, FL May 7, 2004: In yet another bizarre twist of the Terri Schindler-Schiavo case, the Schindler family was informed that they must now pay a fee for “security” each time that they want to visit their daughter.
On Wednesday, May 5, 2004, Deborah Bushnell of Dunedin, an attorney representing Michael Schiavo, faxed a letter to attorneys representing the parents of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.
In her communication, Ms. Bushnell recommended that Ms. Schiavo's parents could be permitted to visit their disabled daughter if they would agree to hire an off-duty police person to accompany them. This comes after attorney Patricia Anderson, who represents Ms. Schiavo's parents, filed a Writ of Quo Warranto, demanding that Mr. Schiavo demonstrate what authority he has to deny his wife visits from her immediate family. Should the Schindlers fail to pay, they would be denied visitation rights.
Ms. Schiavo currently has an off-duty police person, paid for by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, assigned to her on a 24 hour a day basis. Additionally, the Schindlers have reported that, during their visits, nursing staff frequently enter their daughter's room.
Ms. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have not been permitted to visit her since March 29, 2004 (39 days), when attorney George Felos of Dunedin issued a press release stating that suspicious marks were found on her arm. A toxicology study conducted on Ms. Schiavo concluded that no unauthorized chemicals were found in her system. Ms. Schiavo's parents, along with her siblings, had attempted to visit her the following day at Park Place Assisted Living and were turned away by nursing staff in compliance with "Mr. Schiavo's orders".
Statement of Attorney Patricia Anderson:
By recommending that the financially-strapped Schindlers may only visit Terri if they pay yet another off-duty police person to accompany them, is an effort to inhibit them from freely seeing their own daughter. A couple of years ago, Michael Schiavo contacted Terri's parents and offered to give the balance of Terri's money over to charity. He and his attorneys used this a talking point for the media - claiming that Michael had no financial interest in Terri's death. What they neglected to mention was that that particular offer was predicated upon the Schindler's agreeing to Terri's dehydration and starvation death.
This latest tactic from Ms. Bushnell is really no different. I will not be surprised if Ms. Bushnell uses this as another talking point with the media in an attempt to make her and her client appear less cruel.
No mother should have to pay an admission fee to see her child on Mother's Day. Perhaps Ms. Bushnell has forgotten how most people spend Mother's Day."
You would be making a good point, arguing that Terri may really want to die, but I tell you that the evidence (Terri's body) is completely opposite of what you have suggested. If Terri really did want to die, she has had the red carpet treatment from the physical realm to do so.
The first I'd heard of Terri was at the end of August last year, when she was hospitalized with an infection, so severe it was life-threatening. Why did Terri fight it off? Michael refused to allow her to get treatment for it at the hospital , and she was promptly sent back to hospice for "comfort care". Terri could have and should have died at that point, and many times since then. I believe that the reason she is not dying is two-fold:
1.)Terri has not died because she does NOT want to.
2.)Terri has not died because it is not really her time. When it is really her time, do you think man is powerful enough to overcome God's will? I think not! (How arrogant has man become to think that he is more powerful than God?)
So, I do NOT think that anyone who is rallying for Terri to be allowed to live is doing Terri any disservice at all!
You are wrong. If Terri Schiavo really wanted to die, with all the attempts that have been made to kill her(including the last attempt when she was denied nourishment and water for seven or eight days), she would have done so.
Through her fighting spirit, Terri has told us again and again she wants to live.
Forced to live?
Give me a friggin' break.
Feeding the weak and helpless is NOT 'forcing them to live'. I'd hate to be the little child of someone who had such a backwards way of looking at things.
They aren't forcing her to live. They are trying to force her to die. Most folks call that homicide.
I agree, she should not be starved to death. It is cruel and painful. A quick and comfortable means is the best if necessary. That's what I personally would want. A trip to the Northwoods during winter. You only feel a chill very briefly, then you go to sleep.
It can be difficult to accurately imagine how each of us might feel in a given situation. Today you say that you would want to die if you were in Terri's shoes, and if it were to actually happen, you might feel differently.
Don't you think the fact that Terri is still alive is a statement from her that she wants to live?
You have not adequately responded to that question.
For the rest of their lives, in spite of their liklyhood of becoming healed? Who makes that choice? If she had signed a living will, would we have this discussion now.
I don't egg; I ask hard questions of partisans of any stripe.
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