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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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

[andysandmikesmom]

For those folk, who hate Michael Schiavo, looking through all the evidence that places blame on Michael Shiavo, will be thought of as clear and convincing evidence, but evidence to the contrary, evidence that shows that at one time Mic hael Shiavo did try to care for Terry, will be discounted.....and the opposite holds true as well...

No one person is all good or all bad...you have to look at all the evidence, not just the evidence that supports your particular pet theory....

Its true that Michael Shiavo did take up with another woman, ,and father children with her...we all know that...what none of us knows for sure, is what happened to Terri the whole time she was married to Michael...or what happened the whole time since the incident that left her disabled....

You dont know, and I dont know, nor does anyone else here on FR know what happened.....many of us are trying to look at ALL the evidence...not just the evidence, or the rumors, or the gossip, that supports our particular theory of what happened....but ALL the evidence....

For goodness sake, up until a few weeks ago, folks were running around screaming that it was against the Catholic religion to be cremated, even tho, that was an absolute lie...but you see, it was all the more 'evidence' against Michael....even if it was a lie, it was used...that is despicable...

I suspect that no matter what, those who are convinced that they know the truth of what happened to Terri, will never, ever change their minds, even if it could be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they were wrong...some folks are way to invested in their pet theory, to admit that they were wrong...

Me, I have no pet theory...I know what I thought should have been done, I know how I feel about this case, yet I can see other peoples point of view, and above all, I want the truth, not someones cockeyed idea of the truth...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

And slavery was abolished, the Nazis were defeated. Both acts would be considered legal, even by Democratic standards... (except Bush's war which they call illegal). Laws change with the times, I have to accept that, but I don't have to like it. Gun control laws, seatbelt laws, green space laws, etc... these have been added to the fabric of America, needlessly I believe. BUT, they are still there. There isn't much I can do to change it... except, I can work as a citizen to try to make change in my government. That is my right.

[tertiary01]

They still used heresay, and when Terri supposedly expressed the death wish, G tube nutritional feedings were not legally classified as life support. So the rules as she would have known it changed.

Anyway this is why I will never go to Florida.

[KDD]

One of the first cases in front of Greer was the Schindlers trying to get control of the money awarded to Terri by having Michael removed as guardian. It was written about extensivly in the St. Pete Times. Bad Blood between them over blood money. There are no saints in this story.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

They need money too? Please! When I think of MY parents... they wouldn't have given money a single thought. Especially if they were fighting legal battles against my spouse. They wouldn't want anything from him.

[Sidebar Moderator]

Pardon me are you a real moderator?

I like to pretend I am

[KDD]

Anyway this is why I will never go to Florida.

Promise?

We sure don't need anymore out of state snowbirds here even for a vacation. They stink up the place. We sure won't miss you.

[andysandmikesmom]

Regarding your post 374, regarding feeding tubes....when my dad was dying of cancer, he was not eating well at the end...my aunt caught a nurse trying to force feed my dad, physically trying to jam food down his throat...that dame could have killed him...my aunt called me up, telling me what happened, and I rushed to the hospital with my Alzheimers mother in tow...boy, did I chew that nurse out...she got all huffy, and said that my dad was not eating enough...Duh...we all knew that..he was days away from dying...then she contacted a doctor to try to force me to have a feeding tube put into my dad...I had to remind both the nurse and the doc , that putting in a feeding tube against my fathers wishes was called 'assault', and I would surely call the police on them if they came near my dad again...poor dad, having to go through that...weak as he was, trying physically to stop the nurse from feeding him, and then shouting out to the doctor to not come near him with a feeding tube...dad was sick, but not delirious...he knew what he wanted...he wanted to be with his family, pain free, and left to die as he chose...

All it took was a pushy nurse, and a pushy doc, on some sort of a misguided effort to try to prolong my dads pain for as long as they could and the did not even care that they were upsetting my dad in his last days...they were both shocked, that I, normally quite meek, could get so angry....thankfully, my dad died as he wished, and both the nurse and the doc had complaints filed against them...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

May God bless your dad. You are a good daughter. I hope the memories of him warm your heart.

[L.N. Smithee]

The Schindlers stated they would not stop the forced feeding of Terri even if they knew she would not have wished to have that inflicted upon her..

Presuming this is a fact -- and if you can prove it is, I urge you to cite a source -- it raises this question; if Terri really used the convenient language about not wanting "tubes" in her, then Michael was 'inflicting' treatment on Terri up until the time he decided to slap a "no resusciation" order on her, didn't he?

And consider this as well: the only reason why Terri died due to dehydration and starvation is because Michael's first attempt to facilitate her death was halted by the Schindlers.

What was that first attempt? He wanted Terri to die of a urinary infection. "Death With Dignity" my...

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks...you know, when dad realized I would not ever let anyone force him to do anything he did not want, he just smiled, and pulled me to him, and kissed me on the lips...and let out a big sigh of relief....shortly afterwards he went into a coma, where he lingered for a few days...

I will never, ever, forgive that doctor and that nurse for what they did...trying to substitute their judgement for my dad....Later I found out that the nurse was fired, tho not necessarily for what she did to my dad...apparently she had other incidents in the hospital, and my complaint along with other complaints against her, finally caused the hospital to fire her...

A few years later, I had moved my mom into live with me in another state...I received a letter from my aunt, with a newsclipping from the local paper, where my dad had died...that doctor that tried to force him to have a feeding tube inserted, was indicted on Medicare fraud....

I just felt my sweet daddy, was up in Heaven, laughing at this nurse and doc, getting their just rewards...

[Gimme]

"All that aside, I still wish that Terri could have gone home with her parents, and gotten cared for by them and by her siblings... "

I do to, I wish that had happened.

[restornu]

It is one thing to have her point of view but to be downright ornery about it!

That is what so distrubing to me is the cold hearted kiss my grits!

Dammit all...... she needed to die, to leave this planet now and that is all there is too it.....If you dumb ignorant fools don't like take a hike!

When I read post such as that......I go away with a bad taste because I encounter the face of.......

[Pan_Yans Wife]

What a wonderful story. I'm sorry your dad was in a coma, that must have been hard. But you were fortunate to be there with him in the end... he was there at your beginning. You cared for him well, you should be proud of that.

Filing those complaints was the right thing to do. Often we feel that our actions don't change anything. But you never know... they did get their just rewards in the end.

Again, I commend you as a daughter. I know that one day my father will be my responsibility alone. No one else will care for him except me. That worries me in the late hours of the night. I hope I can do a good job for him.

He won't want ANY extraordinary measures, and he lives in Florida. I'll have to read up on the laws, I'm sure. But, my duty is to follow his wishes.

[L.N. Smithee]

as far as the money goes, the schindlers wanted a repayment of money they had previously loaned michael. there is nothing wrong with that especially with limited funds.

Exactly! And even if all these muted allegations that the Schindlers are greedy scumbags had any weight, the natural progression of such a viewpoint is that they wanted to keep Terri alive out of spite! In fact, Michael, in one of his joint interviews with Gomez Addams George Felos by his side, actually said the Schindlers were just trying to "make [his] life a living hell."

[andysandmikesmom]

Its a tremendous burden, but also a tremendous privilege to care for ones parents, in their senior years....its hard work, often heartbreaking, and often extremely time consuming...but the way I look at it, my parents took all the time in the world to care for me and my brother when we were growing up...so it was never an imposition to care for them when they needed it.....

My dad was easier to care for than was my mom...dad had cancer for just a few months, before he died...mom, on the other hand, had Alzheimers for years...dad cared for her in the early stages...but then he got sick, which I know he never expected...so when he died, I inherited her...I took care of her for years at home with me and my family...she was a pistol, never a dull moment, what with the Alzheimers....

It was hard, ,but I would never have had it any other way...it was an experience that I will treasure forever...

[presently no screen name]

You say,you haven't told me anything I didn't already no.
So if you were feeling smugly superior you can drop it.

What a nice comment to say. telling me I am smugly superior and then tell me to drop it.

Missy, don't tell me to drop anything - the only thing that needs to drop is your attitude. I agree with you, no one can tell you anything.

Again, have no fear - no one will be ripping anyones tube or inserting one. No laws will be made to that effect. I would be right along with the next person opposing such laws. You are covered with your wishes in writing as long as your piece of paper remains in the hands of someone you trust. If and when I stop my procrastination, I'll get one.

As we all know, this was an unusual case. This was brought to the forefront by husband who no longer wanted his wife alive - that is, after he fought for money to help her. His refused to divorce her or relinquish guardianship instead hid under heresay for his own reasons.

Patients are taken off of some kind of support daily for one reason or another or never put on any support. Their wishes or the families - either way it is heart wrenching for the survivors. More so, when the decision needs to be made quick - after a terrible accident - life support or not? They will die w/o it - what to do - will they recoup if I give them life support or will they live in a vegetated state. Not easy at all. The government does not interfer and should not interfer with such decisions and NO ONE wants laws to make it allowable.

But Terri's case is not the norm for all the obvious reasons and then with the comment from her guardian, 'when is the bitch going to die'. Her death was not heart wretching at all to MS, it was his desire, not hers, IMO.

[restornu]

These folks who are so quick to have a stranger end their life an at the same time want to call it mercy!

I know for a fact the dead are very near to us....it has been reported that they and many other ancester could be in the room with us and we not know it!

They know what each of us are thinking and be it the Schindlers or Schiavo Terri knows the truth of what really happen to her......God knows each and every one of our motives, our hearts and minds.....

So let all these folks who are so anxious to push Terri into the next world as they pat each on the back like a good deed well done.......had Terri died natually there would be no question but she was forced to die by starving and dehydration as some gladly champion the act!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The privilege... yes. I can see that. I tear up just thinking about it. I am an adult and I STILL need my parents. I suspect that doesn't ever go away. And when they pass on, your life is forever changed. Never a chance to go back in time for just one more moment with them.

I trust your parents are at peace, and together again. That is as it should be.

When my grandmother passed at ninety-one, her friends sent my mother a card. They were fellow dominoes players with Grandma. And inside the card they wrote, "She won!". That's the way they viewed death, they were elderly, looking at their future and recognizing that time was precious. But, they also believed that in death, we can reach our greatest reward with the Lord. That kind of puts things in perspective, for me at least.