He knows that if the Guardianship laws are enforced, Terri would have a chance because Micheal would be out of the picture.
I'm just curious what answers he gives to those that say he could be free of her, and all responsibilities by letting the parents take her.
You bring up an interesting point about there may have been some foul play, but he obviously can't use that as a reason for not letting go of her, so what does he use as an excuse for pursing this....other than this is what Terri would want.
If I'm not mistaken, Michael says he cares so much about Terris wishes that he is just doing what she wanted. When he says that, his nose grows.
That is his excuse...that Terri once said she wouldn't want to live by artificial means. We have only Michael's word, supposedly corroberated by Michael's brother and his girlfriend(???) or someone close to him like that, and it was even admittedly an offhand remark she made about a tv program showing a woman hooked up to and being kept alive by machines. Which has nothing to do, really, with the situation now, with her needing only a feeding tube, and perhaps not even that if she were given therapy, and with him wanting to starve/dehydrate her to death. But I for one don't believe him even that much.
MEMO TO MICHAEL SCHIAVO
When you set out to do evil to another, there are 2 ways to fortify yourself psychologically.
Rule 1: First villainize, then victimize. Wicked people always deserve to suffer, so before you cause any suffering, make sure you convince yourself and others that your victims are grasping, slandering, deluded, fanatical. Never mind about consistency, throw all you can at them. Take the Schindlers: they are both greedy for Terri's award money, and in irrational denial about Terri's true condition. You have to trash them very thoroughly to be able to deny them the comfort of being at Terri's side when she dies of starvation per your demands. Redefine them until done. But don't forget to redefine Terri. You can't cremate her remains until you convince everyone she's already dead. Deny her therapy, deny her treatment, but if the bitch won't die, you have to re-educate people that she's a houseplant, a vegetable, not really Terri anymore, the real Terri would have wanted---what YOU want. Repeat until done: Terri is a vegetable; vegetables are bad; Terri's persistence is an illusion; illusions are bad.
While you're at it, redefine death as release---for her, of course, not for you! Never that!
Rule 2: Cloak yourself in virtue. You are the devoted, pure, unselfish keeper of the flame. You alone know what Terri really wanted, and you have a sacred mission to accomplish her desires. You became a nurse, out of pure devotion to her. Until shortly after the award money fell in your lap, you just couldn't bring yourself to believe she was hopeless, you loved her that much. But at last you accepted reality and embarked on your mission to end her apparent life. It turned out to be a bit more difficult than you expected, medical neglect and isolation and deprivation didn't suffice, but you mustn't let anything discourage you from what is Right. For you must also cloak death in virtue, call death right. Call starvation merciful. For Terri's sake. Invent an abstraction called "the real Terri" who on some abstract plane does exist, who has desires and dignities which only you can discern and serve. Keep talking until the whole world acknowledges that this invention is the real Terri, that death is desirable, that starvation is painless, that barring her family is dignified, that your total control of her is an expression of her right of privacy.
It can't be easy to take her award money, granted for your vow to spend it on her care, and spend it instead in the relentless pursuit of her cremation. (And on personal security for yourself, and guards to keep her parents and priest at bay.) It can't have been easy to break that vow, or your marriage vows, but redefine perjury as being in denial, adultery as going on with your life, neglect as guardianship, and you may surprise yourself with your facility for doing the evil you set out to do.
And when you have done it, don't leave any hoofprints. Reduce her to ashes and blow them ever so righteously in her parents' eyes.