Posted on 03/23/2005 7:27:11 AM PST by 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.
Story Continues Below
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."
Such a beautiful, vivacious woman.
Terri's family has had a guardianship suit filed against Michael since Nov. 2002 which Greer conveniently ignores. He lets Michael get away without attending court-ordered depositions, when a court recorder shows up and everything is ready to go, but no Michael. Greer doesn't even file contempt charges against Michael. He allows him to get around many, many guardianship laws.
They have a strong case against Michael but Greer not only won't go forward with it, he almost can't from a selfish point-of-view because he would be exposed for having allowed Michael to get away with this crap all these years.
So Greer is not only protecting Michael, he is protecting himself.
FWIW, they have asked that Terri's brother and/or sister be the new guardians in place of Michael.
what do the nurses have to gain? Media attention isn't always a good thing. And their affadavits were under oath, subject to perjury. Match that against what Michael has to gain with Terri out of the picture. No contest IMO.
It what we lawyers do every day. When the case becomes at issue with a court, we, as part of the discovery process interview potential witnesses such as employees of the nursing home.
So how did the Omniscient Judge Greer rule on these affidavits?
I can not believe the horror of this situation. How have all our laws and officers of the law become so perverted that you will be arrested for trying to stop the murder of a helpless, innocent by one of the cruelest methods possible. I am still praying hard for Terri, but am beginning to despair for her and also for the country that I love, if it allows this atrocity to take place.
Michael had to wait 7 years b/c he had to win the 1.1 million dollar lawsuit first. Then he decided to kill her.
I made the statement about not believing the nurses prior to seeing the affidavits. Now I am simply wondering why it took TEN YEARS, to come forward with these startling claims. My point is, that the nurses ought to feel terrible for waiting so long, perhaps something more useful could have came from making these statements early on.
A police report was filed after she found Terri's glucose level so low it would not register on a monitor, and an insulin bottle was found in Terri's trash can. There were unexplained bruises in Terri's groin and under her breasts that she felt may have been insulin injection sites. The police asked if she had actually seen Michael inject Terri with the insulin. She said "No", end of investigation. Just like it never happened. So goes all of the cover-ups in this case.
Jeeze that is horrible. What the heck is with these judges?
Thanks for the info fellow attorney
The nurse Carla Sauer Iyer did approach the police and hospital authorities at that time and was summarily dismissed. In my humble opinion the others were then severely intimidated in coming forward.
That conflict has been known for a long time. It does not matter in Florida, I guess.
This is too weird but she and I had the EXACT SAME WEDDING DRESS. Glad we didn't have the same so-called husband.
The Bible says to "Choose ye life". Good enough for me.
No Christian is afraid of death, but Terri is being murdered, and maybe against her will. Like Dubya said, if we must ERR, we should ERR on the side of LIFE.
“I'll 'Kopechne' anyone you want. Call me at MurderbyGreer@aol.com.
Pay enough and I'll kill them slow. I'll starve them to death. No CSI here.
I'll deny their parents giving them a drop of water.
Yup. Any of us will do FOR YOU what I did to that man's 'bitch'.
Just takes a stroke of my pen with me in my slick black robe."
The picture that gets me is the 2nd row, 2nd pic. That was taken AFTER the accident. She looks wonderful there.
This is not about the nurses, but does anyone have information regarding the Circuit Judge Wilson who had a dissenting opinion from the 11th Circuit? Will his dissention have any weight with the Supremes?
Felos WAS ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE HOSPICE...until it became "found out" quite some time AFTER Terri was "housed" there.
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