Sean Hannity interviews Mr. Robert Schindler and William M. Hammesfahr, M.D. ---
Replies 13 and 35, combined, by FL_engineer --- [Reply 35 corrects an error in Reply 13] ---
From FoxNews Channel Oct 27,2003 Hannity and Colmes program:
(this was on the same time as L.K.Live... I also taped Greta and will report on that next.)
Sean Hannity: A 1990 heart attack left Terri Schiavo with severe brain damage; Since then, a ferrocious legal battle has raged over whether or not to keep Terri alive. On October 15th her feeding tube was removed, according to her husbands wishes. Last week after intervention by the Florida legislature, Governor Jeb Bush ordered that her feeding tube be re-inserted. Now time is running out for Terri's husband to challenge the constitutionality of the law that has been dubbed by many as "Terri's Law".
Sean: So what will happen next in this tragic case? Joining us now, is Terri's father, Robert Schindler, and also joining us, a neurosurgeon who has examined Terri, Dr. William Hammesfahr. Ahh, Thank you both for being with us... How is she doing first of all, Mr. Schindler, after the tube has been re-inserted?
Robert Schindler: Oh, She's really made a remarkable comeback, but she's very very tired naturally, being without food for seven days and hydration. But, ah, today, she was probably a little more responsive than yesterday, and she was very agitated today... She didn't want to bother with anybody or anything.
Sean: Doctor, you've examined her, and you've come to the conclusion that, number one, she CAN be rehabilitated, and ah, when's the last time you evaluated her? and what else did you find?
Dr.Hammesfahr: Well, I saw her last, about a year ago for the court... I want to just jump in her for a second and say I'm a neurologist, and not a neurosurgeon.
Sean: oh I'm sorry,
Dr.Hammesfahr: But I saw her last about a year ago, and ahh, as part of the court ordered evaluations.
Sean: Yea, but you basically said that that she could be rehabilitated.
Dr.Hammesfahr: Oh ABSOLUTELY. She is NOT in coma. She did NOT have a heart attack... She is not in coma presently. She absolutely CAN be rehabilitated. There is NO question about that!
Sean: Umm, you know Mr. Schin...
Dr.Hammesfahr: In fact...
Sean: yes, go ahead..
Dr.Hammesfahr: She follows commands right now... She follows commands right now, which means she is NOT in coma.
Sean: Well I can see that on the.. I am not, sir, a doctor, but when I see this video, it is heartwrenching to me, and the fact that this poor woman went six days without a feeding tube, is frightening to me...
Sean: You know, the last time we had you on Mr. Schindler, you were VERY harsh in your comments about the husband. and, and you believe, his fear is, is that if your daughter wakes up, she will have a tale to tell about him.
Dr.Hammesfahr[CORRECTED] Schindler: Well, that comes from the evidence, that ah, there is medical evidence that she had neck injury, and as the doctor said, she had no heart attack, and her ribs and parts of her body suffered fractures, and there's really no explanation for what her collapse was. None at all.
Alan Colmes: Doctor Hammesfahr, I read the medical report, There was a report that when she came into the E.R. she had a "rigid neck". Is that consistent with a neck injury?
Dr.Hammesfahr: ABSOLUTELY. Yes it is. They also did xrays at the emergency room, and the xrays showed that a straightening of the normal spinal curvature, which is very typical of a NEW neck injury.
Alan: We heard a lot about low potassium, but this neck injury ahh, stuff is very interesting. Would that kind of situation be consistent with the possibility of foul play?
Dr.Hammesfahr: Umm, I'd like to go back to potassium for a second? Because people have talked about the potassium, and also about the diet pills issue... or some other drugs...
Alan: Sure,
Dr.Hammesfahr: But the medical record clearly shows that there has NEVER been heart attack. Potassium causes damage by causing heart attacks, so we know that potassium is not an issue. And second...
Alan: But with that 'rigid neck'... Rigid Neck, is that consistent with what could be foul play?
Dr.Hammesfahr: I have seen a neck that rigid from trauma to the neck.
Alan: So you wouldn't venture to say foul play? but are you intimating that?
Dr.Hammesfahr: I think that that type of a neck shows a degree of injury, and I think that it needs to be looked at much more closely to find out the exact cause. Right now, we have a woman who had a collapse, with no known cause. No evidence of infection, or heart attack, respiratory failure, or ANYTHING, The only thing found in the emergency room is the damaged neck.
Alan: Mister Schindler, are you going to try to prove foul play at some point? and try to press some kind of a case here, against your son-in-law?
Shindler: Well, what we're TRYING to do... we have... there's two issues... One is to get Terri therapy, because we believe she can recover. And the second thing, is we want to have an investigation... we're asking the local police, the attorney, ahhh, and NO ONE will touch it! There's a cap on it. Someone is blocking everything.
Sean: Mister Schindler, we're going to continue to follow this story. I'm very very grateful for the Florida legislature and Jeb Bush. I think they did the right thing. And we'll monitor this, and have you back on again.
Shindler: So are we.
Sean: Thank you sir, doctor, good to see you again.
Greta van Susteren interviews Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schindler's attorney, Pat Anderson ---
Reply 22, by FL_engineer ---
From Greta's "On the Record" - Schiavo segment - Monday, 27 oct 2003
(this was taped in the hour immediatly after the L.K.Live interview)
Greta: The husband of a severely brain-damaged woman has until Wednesday to challenge Florida Governor Jeb Bush's order to reinsert his wife's feeding tube. Last Tuesday, Bush issued the order six days after Michael Schiavo won court approval to disconnect his wife Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
Tonight, in an interview, Michael Schiavo said: "This is Terri's wish and I'm going to follow that wish if its the last thing I can do for her".
Joining us from Tampa is Pat Anderson, the attorney for the parents of Terri Schiavo. Welcome Pat.
Pat Anderson: Good evening, You know, Michael Schiavo ALSO said, NOBODY ever talks about death, and I think he's got it quite right. He knows that these are not Terri's wishes. She was just 26 years old!
Greta: Alright, well I want to talk a little bit about, her last day before she ended up in the hospital, and the unfortunate things that unfolded since then. But, umm, when was the FIRST time he ever said that Terri would not want to be on life support?
Anderson: The first time that anybody in the family ever HEARD about that was in January of 2000. He SPRUNG that on the family. And he brought his brother, and one of his sisters-in-law down, to back him up on that, but NOBODY had EVER heard that before! Certainly not...
Greta: Well let me tell you what I'm a little bit confused about... I've got a deposition from two different occasions, maybe you can explain it to me. The first one I will pull up, its from November 19, 1993, in which Michael said: "He was talking about removing the feeding tube," meaning the doctor, "and I said I couldn't do that to Terri." Now that means his intention was NOT to remove the... at least in 1993.
Greta: That same day, in the same deposition, he said this: "I put a - after speaking with my doctor, I gave an order not to treat a bladder infection Terri had." The attorney then asked a question, "So when you made that decision not to treat Terri's bladder infection, you in effect, were making a decision to allow her to pass on?" Michael Schiavo: "I was making a decision on what Terri would want"
Greta: So in that same day, we have two conflicting things he was saying in 1993. How do I know what to believe?
Anderson: Its HARD to know what to believe with him, because he says what the occasion demands, or whats in his financial interest. He told a medical malpractice jury just exactly one year before that deposition fragment that you put up, that he would ALWAYS take care of Terri, for the REST of his life. And yet there he was within a matter of months, directing that antibiotics be withheld. Its HARD to know.
Greta: Alright, lets go back... give me a quick rundown... the day she ah, tell me what happened her last day before she ended up in the hospital.
Anderson: Terri ahh, got her hair done that day, and spent more money than he thought she should have... They had a GREAT BIG fight before he went off to work. Ahh, she was so upset about the fight, that she called her best friend from work, a girl that she had discussed, perhaps both of them getting a divorce, and taking an apartment together... She called this girl, Jackie Rhodes, told her about the big fight... She was sufficiently upset that Jackie Rhodes asked her: "Should I come over? Should I come over and spend the night with you so you'll be safe?"
Anderson: And Terri said, "No, I'll either be asleep, or pretend to be asleep when he gets home from work."... and the next thing Jackie heard, was she was in the emergency room.
Greta: Alright, um, is there ANY indications she had ANY head injuries from from any records there are... any physical injuries at all?
Anderson: There is a NOTATION that her neck was "rigid", and "stiff", and that her body was stiff, when she posit...[interrupted]
Greta: What does that mean? in the 40 seconds we have left, I'm sorry to do this time thing to you.
Anderson: Well, Dr. Hammesfahr, a neurologist who testified at a big evidenciary hearing last year, said HE had only seen ONE other neck THAT rigid, and that was in an attempted STRANGULATION victim. There's LOTS of questions about this case. LOTS of unanswered questions.
Greta: And, we're going to continue to follow this. I'm sorry to give you so little time but these fires have consumed all of our time tonight. Pat THANK YOU!
Please note that, according to Atty. Anderson, Dr. Hammesfahr testified that "he had only seen one other neck that rigid, and that was in an attempted strangulation victim." Atty. Anderson did not state that Dr. Hammesfahr testified that his opinion was that Terri had been strangled.