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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.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

[Miss Behave]

Thank you. And I could give a RAT'S REAREX that ANYONE thinks that makes me "a wack job," "a religious zealot," or INsane (as opposed to the [official] "Coalition of The Sane".)

But I get pushed past the point of PISSED that by association/extension/direct relation of my Roman Catholic religious beliefs, my John Paul The Great is hence mocked.

[ContraryMary]

I have no guilt. Can't say the same about you based upon your rantings. And it certainly seems like I've hit upon some sore points. The fact that Terri went to Mass the day before her collapse -- according to the Schindlers' attorney -- does not a fervent Catholic make.

[presently no screen name]

I don't know what you mean - you don't think I'm for real?

[Earthdweller]

Crackpot lier..hmmm good one.

Have you won any other resent arguments by name calling?

Bahahahaha!!!!!

[A CA Guy]

This has to be washed clean. You had judges make major rulings on this that ended in a death sentence.

There is NO WAY a derogatory finding could possible come from this. It would have destroyed the courts if it did.

Can you say, "SET UP"? Or, "PRE-APPROVED OUTCOME"?

[ContraryMary]

this is not a private matter. the mere fact that this has been a public court case for 15 years makes it our business.

Yes, it is a private matter between family members -- regardless of how many years it has been within the court system.

i can understand that you find terri's condition disgusting or even frightening.

I said no such thing. I said I think the fact that the Schindlers -- her parents -- have paraded her in front of millions is disgusting. They used her as a pawn and stripped her of what little human dignity she had remaining. This 15-year battle was never about Terri; from day one it was about the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo.

[morinmist]

Lots of the malicious rumors and speculations were debunked.
Time to move on.

[Earthdweller]

I know what you mean. I actually had an MD ask me if I wanted to have all possible treatments given to my Grandmother while she was in the hospital and when I said yes he said but do you really think it's worth it?

She was only 65 years old and didn't have that many health problems!

I think this attitude to "let people go" is getting much too relaxed.

[Lead Moderator]

Knock it off.

[andysandmikesmom]

Yes, I do agree, that Terris case was unique, in that so many people were involved, that it was broadcast on TV nite and day, that the volumes of information in this case made it a very heavy task in research...and I am not sure that we have all the answers....everyone will read the info that they chose to read, and form their own opinions based on many different things, such as their own personal experience, their religion, their understanding of the information, etc. etc. etc...

But I still maintain you are wrong, in asserting that we should be looking only at Terris case in particular...yes, we should be looking at her case, but the discussion is free and open to other aspects of the case, issues that will involve all of us, one day or another...so on this point we will just have to disagree, and leave it at that...

You know, my mom also had an advanced directive, and a living will, and I knew full well her wishes...she had Alzheimers, and lived with me and my family for years until she died, at home in her own bed...during the course of her illness, she decided to go against one of her advanced directives...now she was as muddled as could be, and no longer knew who I even was(she thought I was some nurse hired from out of town)...yet I honored her wish to change her mind, even in her muddled state...and her primary doctor knew the contents of her advanced directive, and had no problem at all, disobeying that particular advanced directive on her say so, and my say so...

She said one thing when she was lucid, and then a completely different thing when she was in the midst of dementia...did I flagrantly disregard what she said while demented?...did her doctor disregard what she said while demented?...the answer to both questions, is no...in spite of what she had put in writing while lucid, she changed her mind later...and both myself and the doctor granted her wishes for herself, wishes she made while clearly in dementia....so you see, you can find ancedotal stories to support your claims that once a living will is made with advance directives, there is no changing that, and I can find just as many anecdotal stories to prove just the opposite...

Perhaps its just a matter of what we are or are not willing to see, and read and experience...

I am just looking for the truth in the whole Terri Shiavo case, not wild rumors, or speculation, or guess work, or outright lies, regardless of what side those are coming from...and from some folks, judging from their reactions to my looking for the truth, that is not what I should be focusing on...namecalling, rhetoric, swearing, accusations, etc. etc. etc, are not I am interested in...

Do I really deserve being called names, because I search for the truth?...that has happened on some of the earlier threads about Terri Shiavo...its disgusting behavior, to me a sign of a lazy mind...

Thanks for your reply...and you did not hurt my feelings concerning my story of my terminally ill father...I just did not agree with your assessment of what had happened to him, as not having any relevance...

[Earthdweller]

More like DCF CYA.

They didn't step in until the 12th hour.

That reminds me..if there was no validity to any of the allegations why where they trying to take Terri into custody anyway?

Strange isn't it?

Must be that these are the old allegations that have been "debunked" and maybe it is premature for some to get excited.

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for your condolences...dad died many years ago, but it often seems as if it was yesterday...when you love someone who is so ill, and probably going to die soon, decisions are often very hard, yet one must remain strong, and make the best decisions that they can...because you have to live with those decisions for the rest of your life...I know that what I did for my dad, was absolutely what he wished, what he prayed for...and I was glad to be able to give him what he wished for...

[presently no screen name]

Exactly. So what? If she goes to church, doesn't go- stopped, never went - what's it to you? Her spiritually is/was her own business, Why do you feel the need to comment on it, and then, in a negative fashion.

I told you what her attorney said - and she said it only to let the host know what she did the day before. Meet her parents at 4:30 pm as she usually did and instead of going out to eat afterwords - again like they usually did - they went to a family friends house and a visiting chef prepared a meal for them and the story continued. It wasn't about if she went to church or didn't - it was merely to explain what she did preceding the 'event'.

But you feel the need to add your "OWN" thoughts - "That doesn't make her a fervent catholic" - negative, negative, negative.

Fervent Catholic? Are you the gatekeeper of who is and who isn't a fervent catholic?

[cyncooper]

I've won many arguments. What was your post supposed to mean and why was it directed to me?

Can you calmly and rationally explain yourself?

[Earthdweller]

Simply put..read the FR rules.

Personal attacks are not allowed.:)~

[presently no screen name]

I'm glad you brought it up just for my own review, for my own personal knowledge. Nothing to do w/this case.

thanks again.

[cyncooper]

That is why I am asking you why YOU attacked me.

Explain yourself.

[sirthomasthemore]

"My point is you're probably a troll."

I see. My opinion to the subject issue is that:

1.. Schiavo was an adulterer, evinced by two children he sired;

2 As such, imo, he breached his marriage vows and waived any right he had to a jurisdictional claim to guardianship by marriage;

3. and as a consequence, he should have had the grace, compassion, and moral compass to turn any right to guardianship to the parents when he decided to affiance another woman while his legal wife still lived;

4. having not done so, I have formed a belief that he lacked lacked grace, compassion and/or a moral compass, which implicated his duty as guardian;

5. absent his voluntary relinquishment of guardianship, not only do I question his motives, but I question the legal standard by which Greer egregiously failed to make a determination of fact that Sciavo was conflicted. In my view, such a failure made Greer's ultimate decision clearly erroneous.

Now, that's my position as to this issue. If your's is different, I would be more than willing to entertain your counter-argument.

To denigrate the source as a "troll", is no refutation of the position espoused.

[L.N. Smithee]

No one said that's what it's going to do to them, but they aren't going to want to relate or necessarily even vote with what they consider the radical fringe of the Republican party.

If they are coming to an understanding that abortion is -- in the overwhelming majority of cases, even partial-birth abortion -- the slaughter of a living human for convenience's sake, they don't have a choice of which party they will support if they want to restrict or end the practice.

If said persons have the depth of an inflatable wading pool, they will realize that the Schiavo situation is not a common one and one that is preventable for each of them and their families; they just have to make perfectly clear what their wishes are in such tragic circumstances.