Also Michael was very revengeful and took it out on Terri.
He wouldn’t allow her to have therapy to talk (she could say a few words), he wouldn’t allow her to have therapy to swallow better (she COULD swallow soft foods), he turned her family’s pictures around in her room, wouldn’t allow her to go outside for some fresh air, wouldn’t allow sunlight in her room, wouldn’t allow her see the cute little dogs that are brought around to cheer patients, wouldn’t allow her teeth to be brushed, etc.
He was a sadist who euthanized Terri’s two cats, and worse, admitted on the Larry King show that he had his parents starved to death when they were sick with cancer, etc., and abused Terri before the collapse, and continued to abuse her.
Yes. Her use of the word "stop!" shows up on her med charts and she could say a few other words. The nurses reported on that. But in Michael's long regime of denying her therapy or even stimulation, Terri stopped verbalizing. I gather that she did make expressive sounds, but no longer tried words. Pat Anderson (the attorney) speaks movingly of her husband's effort, years later, to correct that and get Terri verbalizing again. He taught her to the equivalent of "yes" and "no," at least with some success. He took it especially hard when Terri was put to death not long afterward. They both did. I, for one, wish Pat Anderson were still speaking about the case. She is an encyclopedia about Terri's story and the law.
She failed three swallowing tests, in 1991, 1992 and 1993.