Posted on 03/27/2005 6:31:02 AM PST by gesully
When did Michael Schiavo first start trying to kill Terri? Mary Mostert March 23, 2005
Because I try to track down facts before I write about a subject, I have not written about Terri Schiavo and the battle over her condition. What actually happened to Terri back in 1990 that caused her to be the topic of world conversation today? Before we decide to permanently dispose of her, shouldn't we first find out how she got into this predicament?
Well, she collapsed, we are told by her husband Michael, in 1990 and was taken to the hospital . Some stories say she had a heart attack. Other stories, including a medical report by Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-reknowned neurologist, totally refute any heart attack. Hammesfahr reported:
"Ms Schiavo was in her usual state of good health until 2/25/90, when her husband reported that he was awakened from sleep approximately 6 Am by her falling. He reports that she was unresponsive. "Paramedics were called, and aggressive resuscitation was performed with 7 defibrillations en route.
"In the Emergency Room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained, but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack."
Some reports guess that she collapsed due to an effort to lose weight — although, she was not at the time overweight. Hammesfahr's report stated:
"The patient had a difficult hospital course with the development of poorly controlled seizures and prolonged coma state requiring, for a time, ventilator support. However, the staff noted improvement, and it was recommended by several physicians that she be discharged to an intensive rehabilitation center."
In 1992, Michael Schiavo sued for malpractice and won over a $1 million. He was personally awarded $300,000 for his "loss" and $700,000 for Terri's rehabilitation and care for the rest of her natural life. However, the therapy, after the award, was not approved by Michael Schiavo and she was confined to a nursing home after the settlement.
It was after the settlement that Michael first claimed that Terri had previously stated that she didn't want to be kept alive by artificial means — a statement he never mentioned during the malpractice trial. He has never produced any written proof that Terri said that.
Beginning almost immediately after receiving the malpractice funds, Michael Schiavo, as Terri's legal guardian, began to refuse approval for ANY therapy or rehabilitation efforts and she has been confined to bed.
Since 1995, Michael Schiavo has lived openly with a girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, with whom he has two children, while remaining legally married to Terri, as well as being her legal her guardian.
In 1998, Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to have Terri's feeding tube removed. In 2003, Michael Schiavo's attorneys reported that the trust fund was down to $50,000, with more than $430,000 going to "pay for court costs associated with her husband's legal battle to remove his wife's feeding tube." Meanwhile, Medicaid helps to pay Terri's $5,000-a-month nursing costs at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida. 13
During this time period, Terri's parents have attempted to gain guardianship over their daughter. During the legal battles that have ensued, in 2003 a deposition was taken from Dr. William Campbell Walker, a radiologist, concerning a bone scan the hospital did on Terri in 1991. That bone scan revealed what Dr. Walker reported at the time as "compression fracture in the 19 vertebral body of the spine."
For seven years as Terri has been consistently denied rehabilitation treatment that, according to several doctors, would have significantly improved her chances of recovery, Michael spent her money awarded for her therapy on lawyers trying to get her starved to death. Several doctors pointed out, including Dr. Hammesfahr, that Terri not only CAN swallow on her own, but frequently DOES swallow and pictures shown clearly indicate, as Hammesfahr and other testify, that she can and does respond to voice commands and particularly to her parents.
This would indicate that she is NOT in what the State of Florida defines as a "vegetative" state. It also makes me wonder, now that the feeding tube is removed, if any effort to help her swallow water or food is being made today, or whether under the court order spoon feeding also has been outlawed? Terri's parents, if they just came and got her and took her home, I guess would be arrested for kidnapping under Florida's legal system.
At this point, the legal system of Florida has, in the words of one legal observer, created the "framework for legal euthanasia." Of course, euthanasia is technically the practice of killing someone painlessly because they prefer death to life for whatever reason. I would not classify starvation as a "painless" way to die.
Dr. Hammesfahr stated in his report:
"In the spring of 2000, three physicians, including Dr. Jay Carpenter, who is a former Chief of Medicine at Morton Plant Hospital, filed affidavits after observing Ms. Schiavo. All three physicians stated that it is visually apparent that Ms Schiavo is able to swallow and, in fact, does swallow her own saliva.
"The patient continued with no physical therapy, communication or speech therapy, or routine medical screening evaluations and treatment such as dental care, mammography, gynecological exams or pap smears during this time."
Under these conditions and questions, it would appear to me that Terri SHOULD have a totally different guardian, such as her parents, until some questions are answered about the spinal and other injuries that appeared on her bone scan a decade ago. Why is it that a man who clearly wants his wife dead, cannot explain how she actually got into the state she is in, or produce ANY proof, other than his unsubstantiated words, that she would want to die, is being unquestioningly defended by the Florida courts?
Increasingly, it appears to me, that Terri would have gotten better care had her husband never won that malpractice suit and been given $1 million to spend — much of it on lawyers to legally kill off his wife.
It all makes me wonder just when Michael Schiavo made his first effort to kill Terri? Was it before or after she ended up in the hospital with an unexplained problem that put her in a coma?
Mary Mostert is a nationally-respected political writer. She was one of the first female political commentators to be published in a major metropolitan newspaper in the 1960s. After working in President Lyndon Johnson's failed War on Poverty programs in New York state, she became a Republican. She ran, unsuccessfully, for the New York State Senate and became campaign manager for a number of candidates. She once served as the secretary of "Positive Action NOW!"--a South African women's group that sought to reduce the hostility among South Africa's various racial, religious, and political groups.
In recent years, Mary has researched, written, and edited articles for national talk show host Michael Reagan's Information Interchange on the Internet, and for The REAGAN MONITOR, a monthly newsletter that provides in-depth information on key issues. Her book, COMING HOME - Families Can Stop the Unraveling of America," was published in 1996 by Gold Leaf Press. Mary maintains a political media site, Banner of Liberty. She can be contacted at mary@bannerofliberty.com . Click here for more information.
If you want to put it that way....fine. Like I said both sides have ginned up there side a bit dont you think? I am relying on the same sources you are and I have found a bit of BS on both sides, that is all I am saying. If you want to make more of it, so be it. I have been called and accused of worse regarding this case. Go for it.
Thanks for the link.
I bookmarked it for later read.
Do you have those eyes opened? ;-)
What has he done to make him like Peterson? Oh, the accusation that he tried to murder her? Spare me the documentation or lack therof I have read it all.
Sure do and you? Look so far this thread has been very dignified lets keep it that way. I am not accusing you of being otherwise, you have been very kind, I just hope this does not disinigrate into name calling like the other threads. :-)
his philandering, having children out of wedlock, lack of therapy. these are not hearsay -like insulin etc
does this sound like a devoted husband.
also if he deserved to sue doctors for not diagnosing her alleged bulimia- isn't he at least partially at fault?
So what? I may not approve, but that does not make him a murderer. Insulin? That is nothing but rumor and innuendo. Lack of therapy? From what I have read in the record, not only did he aggresively persue therapy, but according to her care givers, he was annoyingly so. As far as the bulimia, she and she alone is responsible for it. If he is to blame for anything it is the fact that once her parents went public, he should have fought harder in the PR war.
No need for paranoia. Did you not see my winking face symbol at the end of my remark?
Lighten up, it's Easter.
i did not call him a murderer. but his actions make him quite suspect in determining what TS would have wanted.
i mentioned insulin to distinguish objective fact from hearsay
Believe me Sea, I am not being paranoid, but anyway yes, I did back at ya. Say, your name, is that referring to Bobby Darin? Just askin.
I don't see any grey....Michael et al wants her dead, her family wants her to live.
I choose life.
Oddly enough so do I. Life, I am afraid is always gray in most situations and I see this as one of those times. They dont want her dead, If this was a case that she would someday jump up and say hello, This would not be happening. But, sadly this is not going to happen.
Simpler than that: Michael, Felos, and King George all know that if Michael loses guardianship, a new guardian would be required to audit records that show a clear and unmistakble conspiracy to murder a concious and aware woman.
Prior to the "malpractice" trial, Michael wanted to appear for the jury to be a devoted husband. As soon as he won the malpractice judgement, Michael ceased to be a devoted husband.
Do you have any evidence that the benificent behaviors you are attributing to Michael in fact continued after 1993?
What are you talking about? You and others here are the ones taking accusations and other vile things as face value. There is no, zero evidence that this man has done anything wrong. I have read enough regarding this case to stand by my claim.
Her parents love her just as she is. Just as I would still love my children if, God forbid, they became brain damaged. Her parents have NEVER said they expect her to be perfect.
I would never starve a loved one to death....including a dog or cat.
Felos was a board member of that hospice shortly before Terri entered it, before he 'stepped down'. Usually people own part of something they become a board member of. It would be safe to say, and someone could check this out, if he does own part of the hospice, then what part of that $5,000 does he get? Multiply that for every bed they fill in that hospice. I'd be willing to bet that we got a good old conflict of interest going on here.
Why do you suppose Michael refuses to have Terri examined using any of the recognized current methods of diagnosis?
A PVS diagnosis by a doctor who is predisposed to give one is worthless. There are protocols by which a doctor who is predisposed to find a patient cognitive may be able to prove absolutely that the patient is cognitive if they are, but would be unable to tender such proof if the patient was in fact PVS [i.e. the test would filter the subject's actions from the doctor's wishful thinking]. Why has Greer insisted on a "majority rules" method of diagnosis rather than using some honest protocol to ascertain whether the findings of the non-PVS doctors were truthful?
If five cops conduct a drug raid, and two of them find drugs and three don't, does the fact that more cops didn't find drugs than did mean there were no drugs present?
You're flat wrong. There's sworn affidavits by attending nurses -- that's direct eyewitness testimony; there's circumstantial evidence, i.e., the testimony that he was angry with Terri, the appearance of bruises, coupled with the fact that he had the opportunity the night the accident occurred.
You may not be convinced by that evidence, but you're wrong not to acknowledge that it IS evidence.
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