Second, Third Nurse Accuse Michael Schiavo

Newsmax ^ | 3/23/05 | Carl Limbacher

[queenkathy]

Tuesday, March 22, 2005 11:52 p.m. EST

Second, Third Nurse Accuse Michael Schiavo

Two additional nurses have filed affidavits in the Terri Schiavo case that corroborate bombshell allegations by nurse Carla Sauer Iyer, who went public on Tuesday with claims that Michael Schiavo had deliberately withheld treatment from his disabled wife.

Heidi Law was a certified nursing assistant at the Palm Garden Convalescent Center in Largo, Fla., where she treated Mrs. Schiavo in 1997.

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In an affidavit filed with the court in August 2003, Ms. Law maintained:

"I know that Terri did not receive routine physical therapy or any other kind of therapy. I was personally aware of orders for rehabilitation that were not being carried out. Even though they were ordered, Michael would stop them."

Law continued:

"Michael ordered that Terri receive no rehabilitation or range of motion therapy. I and [another CNA] would give Terri range of motion anyway, but we knew we were endangering our jobs by doing so.

"We usually did this behind closed doors," Law said, because "we were so fearful of being caught ... we were always looking out for Michael, because we knew that, not only would Michael take his anger out on us, but he would take it out more on Terri. We spoke of this many times."

"At least three times during any shift where I took care of Terri, I made sure to give Terri a wet washcloth filled with ice chips, to keep her mouth moistened.

"On three or four occasions I personally fed Terri small mouthfuls of Jello, which she was able to swallow and enjoyed immensely. I did not do it more often only because I was so afraid of being caught by Michael."

Like nurse Iyer, Law suspected that Michael was mistreating Terri, noting in her sworn statement:

"Several times when Michael visited Terri during my shift, he went into her room alone and closed the door. This worried me because I didn’t trust Michael.

"When he left, Terri was very agitated, was extremely tense with tightened fists and sometimes had a cold sweat. She was much less responsive than usual and would just stare out the window, her eyes kind of glassy. ...

"We were convinced that he was abusing her, and probably saying cruel, terrible things to her because she would be so upset when he left."

"The Palm Gardens staff, myself included, were just amazed that a 'Do Not Resuscitate' order had been put on Terri’s chart, considering her age and her obvious cognitive awareness of her surroundings."

Carolyn Johnson, a certified nursing assistant who worked at the Sabal Palms nursing home in Largo, said Terri's mistreatment went back to at least 1993.

"During this assignment I took care of Terri Schiavo several times," Johnson said in her own August 2003 affidavit.

"I learned, as part of my training, that there was a family dispute and that the husband, as guardian, wanted no rehabilitation for Terri. This surprised me, as I did not think a guardian could go against a doctor's orders like that, but I was assured that a guardian could and that this guardian had gone against Terri's doctor's orders."

Johnson recalled: "No one was allowed to just go in and see Terri. Michael had a visitors list. We all knew that we would lose our jobs if we did not do exactly what Michael said to do."

Johnson continued:

"I remember seeing Michael Schiavo only once the entire time I worked at Sabal Palms, but we were all aware that Terri was not to be given any kind of rehabilitative help, per his instructions.

"Once, I wanted to put a cloth in Terri's hand to keep her hand from closing in on itself, but I was not permitted to do this," Johnson said, "as Michael Schiavo considered that to be a form of rehabilitation."

[Diogenesis]

Follow The Money – Follow The Action
 

	GREER DONOR	AMOUNT	POSITION	ACTION
Lawyers For Michael Schiavo	Hamden Baskin III    Felos & Felos            Deborah Bushnell     Gyneth S. Stanley    Steven Nilsson         Beth Wilson	$500  & $500 $250 $250 $150 and $250 $250 and $250 $250 and $100	Michael Schiavo’s Lawyer[s]	Greer denies many or all of Schindler’s in favor of Felos Greer Allows hearsay as evidence/disallows Schindler’s statements Felos former chairman of board of directors of Hospice of Florida Suncoast
	Daniel Grieco	$300	Employer of Michael Schiavo at time of Feb. 25, 1990 then attorneyOf record for Michael up until the malpractice award,	Incident when injuries occurred to Terri,Reappeared as attorney for selected pleadings
State/County Employees/Elected	Frank Nagatani	$50 and $50	DCF Attorney	Squashed testimony for DCF Investigator to appear on behalf of abuse allegations
	Bernie McCabe	In-Kind	State Attorney	Allowed underling to appear in campaign ad for Greer Will not call Grand Jury
	Everett Rice	$500 & In-Kind	Sheriff/State Rep	Didn’t conduct criminal investigation into what really happened to Terri or allegations of abuse after initial incident Allowed Deputy & use of county property to appear in campaign ad for Greer
	John Carassas	$100	Deputy Attorney General	Florida Deputy Attorney General, involvement with Rice in Sept. 2003 motion for Greer recusal dueTo improper discussion of case
	James Hellickson	$150 & In Kind	Assistant state attorney in office of Bernie McCabe, Pinellas/Pasco State Attorney	Appeared in Greer Campaign Ad
	Paula Shea	In Kind	Assistant Pinellas Public Defender	Appeared in Greer Campaign Ad
	Andrew Sasso	$100	Officer in Guardianship monitoring program and Guardian ad litem pool	Was supposed to: “evaluate information about the well-being and property of all persons adjudicated of having a legal incapacity so that the court can fulfill its legal obligation to protect and preserve the interests of the ward,” FL COURTS
Misc. People w connections	Richard La Belle	$100	Member of Board of Directors of Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities	Supposedly ACPD doing investigation into Schiavo case
	Battaglia, Ross, Disus and Wein	$250	Principal Kelli Crabb is past chairperson of Hospice Foundation of Florida Suncoast and member of Board of directors
	Gus Bilirakis	$40 cash	Former Hospice Board member and of American Hellonic Education Progressive Assoc. (AHEPA)	Felos past Governor
	Divito and Higham	$250 and $250	Law firm employed by St. Petersburg/Venice Dioceses	Terri’s Dioceses

 

 

 

 

[DollarCoins]

But you believe HINO coming forward SEVEN years after Terri's "accident" and suddenly remembering she said she wanted to die?

I absolutely DO NOT believe Michael coming forward seven years later!! When did I state that. Please do not put words in my mouth. I was simply seeking the facts. I have a lot more information on the nurses statements and my judgement has been swayed.

[DollarCoins]

Thank you for your patience

[lilmsdangrus]

I checked out your page too, after reading Dollar's post-- not only do I like the kayak pics, I hope you won't mind if I copy all the quotes you have! (I know you did all the work acquiring them, so if you say no, I will surely understand!)

[Fudd Fan]

"If Terri dies (God help her AND US!!), would not her parents be able to file a wrongful death suit against Judge Greer and Michael Schiavo and use all the evidence they have regarding Michael's failure to "act in the best interest" of Terri?"

My uneducated-guess would be they could. Could the lawyers here opine?

[Ohioan from Florida]

From where you stand, I suppose we Christians had better stop fighting against the injustice of abuse, neglect, attempted murder, and murder, because we are thwarting God's will to bring each of us to Him, right?!

Scott Peterson should be hailed as a hero for making Laci go to her Maker prematurely, right?

The same thing is happening here, only in slower motion.

[DollarCoins]

Hey I'm all up for a mock debate but this looks more like support for Micheal's view on an open forum by a newbie to me.

There are many who do take Michaels side, and although you and I do not share their opinion and would like to strangle Michael, surely there is nothing wrong with hearing their arguements on an open forum and then proving them wrong with the facts and realities. Do you agree?

[Fudd Fan]

thanks for that info. I'm ((shuddering)) again.

[lilmsdangrus]

Exactly. As Sean Hannity told them point blank last nite when he interviewed them. That made me believe them, and also feel sorry for the wrath heaped on them for coming forward. (I did read their claims quite awhile ago, and wondered why it had never been brought forth before)

[Fudd Fan]

"she was well on her way to recovery until that monster of a husband started his slow murder of her, if that's the case"

BING-O

[Ohioan from Florida]

He did not admit them, nor did he allow the women to be examined or cross-examined under oath.

[knittnmom]

The more one learns about this Michael Schiavo character, the more likely he appears to be a possible abusive spouse.

I agree, and wonder how long after Terri's death we will begin to hear about Jodi's "potassium deficiency".

[tflabo]

" The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves them that follow righteousness".
Proverbs 15:9

"The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the righteous." Proverbs 15:29


More of God's word, less of mans.

[FBD]

Hey, feel free to take all the quotes! I don't own them! :)

Regards

[Ohioan from Florida]

It's all about power. TEJ is uncovering a lot of garbage about Greer and the way he handles business. Thank God for their true investigative journalism!
http://www.theempirejournal.com/0317054%20Greer_Schiavo_articles.htm

[Fudd Fan]

DollarCoins has been very polite consistently on this thread

[Xenalyte]

C'mon over here and tell us why Heidi Law and Carolyn Johnson are lying.

[spiralsue]

You said you didn't believe the nurses because they didn't come forward until now. I INFERRED from your reasoning that you believe the HINO despite his coming forward after a lengthy period of time. I thought that sounded inconsistent. If I inferred incorrectly, then I'm wrong. I did not put words in your mouth. If I could put something in someone's mouth via a keyboard and the internet, I would be nourishing Terri Schiavo with Ensure, water, whatever I could. We post, you decide.

[wisconsinconservative]

"If Terri dies (God help her AND US!!), would not her parents be able to file a wrongful death suit against Judge Greer and Michael Schiavo and use all the evidence they have regarding Michael's failure to "act in the best interest" of Terri?"

Not a lawyer either but I don't think they can go after Greer. I think Michael is fair game tho.

[unspun]

Thanks for the links to the affidavits. Very informative. I still pose the question as to why, TEN YEARS later, did the nurses decide to come forth with this information. It seems ludicrous

I seem to have heard that at least one of them was constrained to silence by the Florida court.