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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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

[Dont Mention the War]

Regarding your post #322...you have hit on something very important here...when you said that eventually interest in this case will wane, and that years from now Greer will still be sitting on the bench...I think you are correct...there is still lots of interest in the Shiavo case on FR, but I think, in the general public, very few people are interested...I am not really sure how many people were actually interested in the case when it was going on...There are still many on FR, who are seething, and who are seeing cases of folks being murdered everywhere...but I am just not sure, that outside of FR, that many people are concerned at all over the Shiavo case...most people feel its over, and lets move on...that just how people are, in general...

You are absolutely correct. This is a fringe issue for a very few who also happen to be exceedingly vocal, and enjoy hanging out in an echo chamber where they can mutually convince each other that the entire nation is rising up in anger at these oh-so-horrible events. The reality is that the rest of the country has moved on and the long-term political consquences of this will be nonexistent.

[KDD]

The Schindlers motives were selfish and self serving.

If Michael had given Bob half his personal settlement that Bob felt he was owed, there would have never been a conflict IMO. And if Michael had just ordered the tube removed on his own authority as he could have done, instead of taking his in-laws concerns to court, this would have been another one of the many cases that go this way without fanfare every day in the U.S.

[Central Scrutiniser]

So, you have ESP? You know all about what he did?

About how he went to nursing school to better take care of his wife? Or how her parents thought he was great, until they didn't get a cut of the insurance money?

Go on Leno, your esp skills would be fun to watch. Oh, and 89 complaints and none of them found any mistreatment, it must be a conspiracy right?

A rocket scientist would accept 89 findings that went one way.

[Sidebar Moderator]

Knock off the personal attacks now!

Thank you

[Gimme]

The trial court in this case held a trial on the dispute. Both sides were given opportunities to present their views and the evidence supporting those views. Afterwards, the trial court determined that, even applying the "clear and convincing evidence" standard -- the highest burden of proof used in civil cases -- the evidence showed that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures.

---

The Evidence that Judge Death Greer accepted as fact.
Funny how your MIKEY just happened to forget to mention that to the insurance company. Promised he would continue therapy. Wonder how long it took to stuff her in a nursing home? Few months maybe? Since when are parents who love their daughter the enemy? I dont believe for a minute there was not abuse. You see how Your Mikey treated her parents with contempt, the woman he professed to love?
Instead of giving custody over to the parents, who raised her, and loved her, Greer allows the adulterous husband to make the determination. Terri died to MS the day of the "accident" but not to her parents. The honorable thing to have done was to take the $300K for his inconvience, given the money to a trust to be used for Terri, allowed Terri to live out her life around those who loved her. Greer didnt accept that testimony of her best friend that refuted MS on death. Who really wants to live like that but then again, accidents happen and until you are faced with it, you don't know, truly. I saw a life there that smiled and laughed. Did MS really have Terri's welfare in mind or his own?

[Dont Mention the War]

i think michael's motives are pretty damn clear for anyone who has a brain.

Well, at least Terri didn't notice then...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION. I used her as the example. But, I have another example, too. I DO know intimately about my great-aunt, because her case was spoken about frequently in the family with great detail. You'll understand my reluctance to venture any further into that specific topic or share any details, given your ignorant behavior.

[Dolphy]

You misread what I wrote...probably because I tried to avoid a large recital of the facts. I think Greer's clear and convincing evidence bar was so low that an ant couldn't have crawled under it. And I further think that anyone who sees his ruling as a victory for the rights of self determination so far misses the mark it makes my head spin.

[KDD]

http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/WolfsonReport.pdf

[KDD]

I disagree...the appeals court looked at Greers Ruling's AND the evidence that lead him to conclude as he did.

The Schindlers did appeal, and the Second District determined that while a surrogate decision-maker should err on the side of life, the trial judge had sufficiently clear and convincing evidence to determine that Terri would not wish to continue the life-prolonging measures she needs to live. The appellate court explained:


[T]he Schindlers argue that the testimony, which was conflicting, was insufficient to support the trial court's decision by clear and convincing evidence. We have reviewed that testimony and conclude that the trial court had sufficient evidence to make this decision. The clear and convincing standard of proof, while very high, permits a decision in the face of inconsistent or conflicting evidence. See In re Guardianship of Browning, 543 So. 2d at 273.

In Browning, we stated:


In making this difficult decision, a surrogate decisionmaker should err on the side of life… In cases of doubt, we must assume that a patient would choose to defend life in exercising his or her right of privacy.
In re Guardianship of Browning, 543 So.2d at 273. We reconfirm today that a court's default position must favor life.

The testimony in this case establishes that Theresa was very young and very healthy when this tragedy struck. Like many young people without children, she had not prepared a will, much less a living will. She had been raised in the Catholic faith, but did not regularly attend mass or have a religious advisor who could assist the court in weighing her religious attitudes about life-support methods. Her statements to her friends and family about the dying process were few and they were oral. Nevertheless, those statements, along with other evidence about Theresa, gave the trial court a sufficient basis to make this decision for her.

In the final analysis, the difficult question that faced the trial court was whether Theresa Marie Schindler Schiavo, not after a few weeks in a coma, but after ten years in a persistent vegetative state that has robbed her of most of her cerebrum and all but the most instinctive of neurological functions, with no hope of a medical cure but with sufficient money and strength of body to live indefinitely, would choose to continue the constant nursing care and the supporting tubes in hopes that a miracle would somehow recreate her missing brain tissue, or whether she would wish to permit a natural death process to take its course and for her family members and loved ones to be free to continue their lives. After due consideration, we conclude that the trial judge had clear and convincing evidence to answer this question as he did.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Yes, follow the law by all means. Terri died within the law. But, there are people that will turn down a feeding tube. That should be within their rights. I REFUSE to live in a country where EVERYTHING is LEGISLATED to PROTECT me. I am NOT a Democrat.

[restornu]

Pardon me are you a real moderator?

What does the sidebar mean drinks on the side?:)

I might be confusing you with the lead monitor....

have a good morning!

Thank you

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ROTFL! What about the money that the Schindlers wanted from Michael?

[KDD]

Selfish in that they stated that they did not care what Terri's wishes were, they only cared what they wanted.. Evil because of the lies and slander they allowed to permeate this case. They loved Michael untill the settlement money became an issue.