DCF: Terri Schiavo Not Abused, Exploited

ABC/AP ^ | 4.16.05

[ambrose]

DCF: Terri Schiavo Not Abused, Exploited

State Agency: Terri Schiavo Was Not Abused or Exploited by Either Side of Her Family

By VICKIE CHACHERE

The Associated Press

Apr. 16, 2005 - State investigators found no evidence that Terri Schiavo had been abused or exploited by either side of her family, according to documents released by Florida's Department of Children and Families.

The agency investigated 89 complaints dating back to 2001, when Schiavo's feeding tube was removed for the first time and the legal battle surrounding her right-to-die case intensified.

The calls alleged that the brain-damaged woman was being mistreated by her husband and her parents for financial gain. One complaint alleged that Schiavo's parents were selling videos of her through a Web site; another said Schiavo's husband wasn't spending money intended for her rehabilitation.

But investigators said they found no evidence that either her husband or parents were exploiting her, and often noted in their records that they found Schiavo well cared for on their visits to her Pinellas Park hospice.

The agency released the records Friday under court order.

Schiavo, 41, died last month after her feeding tube was removed for the third time, ending a bitter court battle between her husband, Michael Schiavo, and parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, over whether she would have wanted to live in a vegetative state.

The repeated allegations of abuse were based partly on bone scans showing Terri Schiavo suffered fractures and statements she made to family and friends that she was unhappy in her marriage.

Schiavo's husband has denied harming his wife. His lawyer said the fractures resulted from osteoporosis caused by the woman's years of immobility and complications of her medication.

Robert Schindler declined to comment there on the release of the DCF documents. An attorney for Michael Schiavo did not immediately return calls.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Copyright © 2005 ABC News Internet Ventures

[joesbucks]

Every video and every sound bite I heard I hoped it would be positive in her favor. It would be an unbelieveable stretch to come to that conclusion. I listened to Drudge the night he played the tape that "proved she was responsive". It was sad. And she wasn't responding. My heart sank at that recording.

just as you infer I may be seeing my desired outcome, could it be the same with you?

[Saundra Duffy]

It's amazing how some people, though they got their way, and Terri died, can't stop pouring salt in the wounds of Terri's supporters. Amazing. Me thinks they protest a little too much.

[EternalVigilance]

Every person who was fence sitting until after seeing the videos agreed that there was no intended response. Many of these same people were hoping that Terri was resposive or even more.

Patently ridiculous.

Larry King's setup pro-Michael Schiavo guest, a former 'PVS' patient, even switched to the Schindler side because they made the mistake of letting her see the video of Terri ten minutes before the show started. She flipped on the spot.

"She's in there". I quote.

I thought King was going to have another heart attack...

[joesbucks]

EV, I believe that you too are doing the disservice. I understand your passion and your faith. But as much as I appreicate your passion, I believe your going down the wrong path.

[rdcorso]

I asked about twenty people what they thought about this matter and they all thought Michael was a scumbag.Politics had nothing to do with it.

[cyncooper]

I was in front of the hospice for over a week, and I missed seeing those protestors.

Did you get to see the "Juggler for Jesus" in person?!

[EternalVigilance]

Me thinks they protest a little too much.

Me too.

[joesbucks]

I'm sorry you feel that way.

I see the salt of your movement as not preserving by rather being corrosive.

[Howlin]

Because I read, hear, and comprehend the English language word.

[MHGinTN]

Don't think so. You see, I've lived through similar cases with first my Brother then my Father. I first came to the Terri Schiavo issue believing that if she was so brain dead as to be a vegetable, she should be allowed to go and be with God ... that was six years ago. after digging deeply into the case, I'm thoroughly convinced that Terri was in what Hammesfahr (what a maroon he turned out to be, though one brilliant doctor) called minimal conscious state. Terri was akin to a crib-bound infant deserving care and protection, not being put down as the inconvenience to an abusive husband. And yes, her husband was a monster abuser, using forced neglect to abuse her for more than a decade rather than spend the monies set aside for her therapy to ease her comforts. I spent decades dealing with nurses and I hold their tesitmony (though Greer discarded any that didn't fit what he intended for Terri) in very high regard, higher than Cranford you can be sure!

[KDD]

I drove by there and caught the unicyclist and the juggler.

It looked kind of like a Renaissance festival that was only attended by about 25-30 people, none of them local.

[EternalVigilance]

EV, I believe that you too are doing the disservice. I understand your passion and your faith. But as much as I appreicate your passion, I believe your going down the wrong path.

In what way?

I'm reminding people of the most fundamental right in our Bill of Rights...the right that makes all the other rights possible: the right to live...the right to not be killed by your own government...the right to be protected from murder.

That can't be the 'the wrong path'. Not possible.

[cyncooper]

So dignified...

And one night on one of the cables the host and guest were in front of the hospice and had to YELL over the drumbeat and noise. Appalling lack of courtesy for others in the hospice.

I'm not one bit surprised that things we all witnessed with our own eyes are being denied by certain elements.

[nunya bidness]

I've read the threads. What I was asking was if there was something other than anecdotal evidence to support the claim.

[huck von finn]

What about the right to liberty?

[EternalVigilance]

It looked kind of like a Renaissance festival that was only attended by about 25-30 people, none of them local.

Another lie.

The only time there were that many people there was in the wee hours of the morning...say 3 am.

Otherwise there were always at least a hundred people there. As the day wore on, it always built to at least 300 or more. I know, I counted heads myself a number of times.

Which brings up another point: If ten thousand had cared enough to come, it is my firm belief that the outcome would have been different. In the end, this was a political decision...and I believe that if enough people would have acted, Jeb Bush would have acted.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

It's only been fifteen days... and the rewriting of history and the Schiavo case has already begun.

I'm not looking forward to the dueling movies and book deals between Schiavo and the Schindlers.

[BigSkyFreeper]

I've read the threads. What I was asking was if there was something other than anecdotal evidence to support the claim.

There's plenty of evidence to support the claim.

[EternalVigilance]

What about the right to liberty?

In the American understanding of liberty, that freedom was never the freedom to do evil, ever.

Not until modern liberals started twisting the meaning of words, anyway.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Jeb Bush did act, you're just steamed because he didn't violate any laws.