Terri's husband isn't the enemy, guardian says

Orlando Sentinel ^ | February 25, 2005 | Mike Thomas

[EveningStar]

Wolfson's report is based on court files, depositions, medical records and interviews with everyone involved.

That said, I begin with the most explosive allegation:

Did Michael try to kill Terri?

Wolfson laughs. "No!"

-----

Wolfson's report states that in the four years after her collapse, Michael "had insistently held to the premise that Theresa could recover and the evidence is incontrovertible that he gave his heart and soul to her treatment and care . . . In late autumn of 1990, following months of therapy and testing and formal diagnoses of persistent vegetative state with no evidence of improvement, Michael took Theresa to California, where she received an experimental thalamic stimulator implant in her brain. Michael remained in California caring for Theresa during a period of several months."

Says Wolfson now: "Michael was adoring of her. One nursing home complained he was hostile and abusive of the staff in championing her care. She was immaculately kept. In 13 years, she never had one bedsore."

[MarMema]

She is far from brain dead. She is severely disabled.

There have been many before her. We are moving into a utilitarian society. Those who brought out the PVS diagnosis and began slapping it on severely disabled people right and left, some of whom were using wheelchairs ( and were still condemned by a court to deliberate dehydration because they also used a feeding tube), are now speaking of new things.

They are speaking of less disabled people, conscious and alert people, and how their quality of life is so low that they, too, should be "allowed to choose the right to die".

They are talking about depression as a legitimate reason to die.

They are talking about children in the ICU at Boston Childrens being taken to the OR and having their organs harvested while they are still alive, and then dying on the table. Children with chronic pulmonary diseases or children who are brain damaged.

They are talking about using people like Terri for medical experiments instead of animals.

These are all ominous signs which should be of great concern for all Americans. This is about a lot more than Terri.

[Hildy]

Nice story...but it has nothing to do with this case.

[Peach]

It will have to reach an extreme level to beat what I was called a few weeks ago on a Condi Rice thread :-)

[jdhljc169]

Some freepers have said that only Michael was told about Terri's comments that she never wanted to be kept alive with machines and tubes. Yet court testimony indicates her best friend, Joan, also heard Terri say that.

Do you have a link?



Joan, who is also Michael's brother's wife. They allowed Michael's side of the family's testimony, but no one else's.

[Peach]

Didn't Terri have a guardian ad litum (sp?) appointed who made the decisions about doctors?

[deport]

That's what they are talking about..... a 5PM meeting..... Hmmmmmmmm.... normally honor the Jewish faith by not meeting on Sat. their holy day....

[Peach]

I agree about the precedent; it's a chilling case on many, many levels.

[cyncooper]

She knows far more about this subject than you could ever hope to know

I'd call your little comment rude.

Pot meet kettle.

And btw, those of us who kept away from these threads because we heard they were like visting the pits of hell (and boy, was that on the mark with the oozing hate and vitriol from the evident "regulars) are entitled to drop in any time we please, so you can drop the listing of who has been a regular poster on this topic and who hasn't.

Some of us have decided to comment and we will.

[AlbionGirl]

Didn't Terri have a guardian ad litum (sp?) appointed who made the decisions about doctors?

Not sure, but I think the ad litem (sp?) is Judge Greer.

[Howlin]

We try. Thanks for noticing.

[RightWhale]

They are allowed in the case of saving a life.

[out_of_control]

It most certainly does. I'm amazed that you can't see it! This isn't just about medical issues, this is also about a husband who has abandoned his vow to his wife. WAKE UP!

[downtoliberalism]

Thank you.

I think that there are a lot of Monday morning quarterbacks here saying what they don't know until they have lived it. I want to know why even now why there is still no condemnation of the people that caused this to happen. Where is the uproar about what our medical profession did to this woman?

>

[penowa]

"...but all the PROOF is on his side."

No, all the hearsay is on his side. There is no PROOF. It is a he said, she can't say.

[cyncooper]

I think a whole LOT of you people who have been on the Terri threads are rude. And I am sure I'm not alone in that opinion.

You're not alone. I only first saw one of these things with my own eyes yesterday.

What a nest of vipers, claiming they are life-valuing Christians. One would never guess by their hateful words and attacks.

Disgusting.

[Hildy]

It was determined by a court of law. And that's as good as we'll ever get. You cannot use speculation for all decisions in the world. She had an eating disorder. She was a fat kid, who turned into an insecure woman. She was underweight when she died and many people testified to the fact of her bulimia. From experience with people I know, if she had bulimia, she was probably using other things like diuretics and/or laxatives. It is common. Her potassium imbalance led to her demise.

I also find it amusing that you insist on telling me I don't know how Terri died, when everyone on your side pretty much insists that Michael killed her, strangled her, beat her, whatever.

[tertiary01]

Gee, I can't wait until I am in Terri's condition and my loving, caring husband of five months, goes on TV and discusses my gynecological exam in detail!

He's sure swell!!!

[Torie]

A very well written and cogent post indeed.

[DJ MacWoW]

The "Joan" is Joan Schiavo and I certainly wouldn't say they're best friends. It's a VERY interesting article. In all the testimony, they were discussing the elderly who were already dying and on machines and not someone who was healthy. Heck, 2 days ago, one of Schiavos attorneys, Bushnell, told that press that Terri was a healthy woman. http://www.prisonpotpourri.com/SCHIAVO/Tampabay%20Schiavo's%20wishes%20recalled%20in%20records.html

[Drango]

see #155