To: mommy23
Thanks for providing that link, mommy23. For anyone interested, here's a copy of that transcript:
ANNOUNCER: Next: a husband's life-or-death decision, his wife 12 years on life support and little hope for recovery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL SCHIAVO, HUSBAND OF TERRI SCHIAVO: She wouldn't want to survive like this. And that's she doing is just, she's surviving. There's nothing there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: His emotional tug-of-war -- when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: Tonight: a heartbreaking story, one that has brought tears and agony to one family for more than a decade. It has split a family, pitting a husband against his wife's parents. The quandary is unimaginable. Should a woman attached to life support live or die? You'll meet her husband in just a moment.
But first, CNN's Mark Potter has Terri's story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For more than a decade, 38-year-old Terri Schiavo has been in a coma-like state after suffering cardiac failure and massive brain damage.
MARY SCHINDLER, MOTHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: Hi, baby. It's mommy. Hi. What's the matter?
POTTER: Terri breathes on her own, but must be nourished through a feeding tube. At issue is whether to remove the tube and end her life. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, is also her legal guardian and says, after years of failed treatment, it is time for her to die with dignity.
MICHAEL SCHIAVO, HUSBAND OF TERRI SCHIAVO: She wouldn't want to live like this. She wouldn't want to survive like this. And that's she doing is just, she's surviving. There's nothing there.
POTTER: Schiavo claims his wife told him and others she would never want to live on life support. But her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, argue she would have never said that. They are fighting vigorously to prevent their daughter from being killed.
BOB SCHINDLER, FATHER OF TERRI SCHIAVO: It's inhumane. How in the world can you starve someone to death that is cognizant? She's a person. I mean, it would be like starving you to death.
POTTER: Last year, Terri's husband won a court ruling to have her feeding tube removed. Her parents appealed. And three days later, the tube was put back in. Recently, the case was recently reheard. Two doctors selected by the husband and one by the court testified Terri is in a persistent vegetative state and beyond help.
DR. PETER BAMBAKIDIS, NEUROLOGIST: Unfortunately, I know of no single treatment or combination of treatments that could result in any meaningful improvement in her current situation.
POTTER: The parents, however, insist Terri is aware of her surroundings and have produced a videotape attempting to prove her responsiveness.
B. SCHINDLER: You remember that? You used to laugh at that? You used to get mommy all upset when you did that to her.
POTTER: Two doctors selected by the family testified Terri is not brain-dead and can be treated.
DR. WILLIAM MAXFIELD, RADIOLOGIST: There was a pianist that played some of her favorite songs. And she did react to these, and, in my opinion, almost as if she was trying to sing.
POTTER: But doctors and the attorney representing the husband say those responses are purely involuntary.
GEORGE FELOS, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL SCHIAVO: Vegetative patients can respond to the environment. So can plants. If you put a plant by that window, it will grow towards the light. It doesn't mean it's not a vegetable.
POTTER: In closing arguments, the parent's attorney said Terri still wants to survive.
PATRICIA ANDERSON, ATTORNEY FOR SCHINDLERS: She has shown us her spirit. She's trying to answer that question that, "Yes, I'm in here."
Now, Judge, would she try this hard if she wanted to die?
POTTER (on camera): The fight between the parents and the husband has grown increasingly bitter, with each side accusing the other of being more concerned about money from malpractice suits than Terri's actual welfare. Judge George Greer says he will rule on Terri's fate November 22.
Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHUNG: So what would you do if you were in this situation?
Joining me now from Tampa are Michael Schiavo and his attorney, George Felos.
Michael, why are you fighting so hard to have your wife's feeding tube removed?
SCHIAVO: Because this is what Terri wanted.
CHUNG: How do you know she would want that?
SCHIAVO: She made those comments to me. She made comments to my brother. She made comments to my sister-in-law.
CHUNG: In what context?
SCHIAVO: With my brother, it was regarding my grandmother's death. She was put on a ventilator against her wishes. And Terri made the comment to my brother that she would never want that.
CHUNG: Why, then, Michael didn't she sign a living will?
SCHIAVO: I can't answer that. We were 25 years old at that time.
FELOS: Connie, I think, statistically, only about 15 percent of adult Americans have living wills. And, obviously, the vast majority of those are older Americans. I think it would be very rare for a young person like Terri, 25, to reflect her wishes in writing.
CHUNG: Michael, did you or your wife have wills?
SCHIAVO: No. We did not.
CHUNG: I see. So, you thought it would be most unusual for her to sign a living will at her age, certainly.
SCHIAVO: To me, you make comments. And it has been shown in statistics like my attorney said that people don't -- the vast majority of people don't have living wills. They make comments through special things that happen or people that die or they see something on TV.
FELOS: Connie, at 25 years old, most 25-year-olds don't think about death.
CHUNG: No, I hear you, Michael. I understand. I understand. You really did answer that question for me. I appreciate it.
Michael Schiavo, do you have any doubts? Do you think about it sometimes and say to yourself, "Maybe I'm not doing the right thing?"
SCHIAVO: No, I don't have any doubts.
CHUNG: Why are....
SCHIAVO: You know, Connie, I worked very hard with Terri to bring her back. Legions of doctors have seen Terri. And when doctor after doctor after doctor tells you that there's no hope, your wife will be in this state for the rest of her life...
CHUNG: Well, Michael, her parents point to a couple of reasons why you would feel this way. And one is that you have a girlfriend and you have a baby girl with her. Obviously, you appear to want to move on with your life. And the other reason is that you would come into some money.
SCHIAVO: Well, Connie, the money really doesn't have any factor here, because I have offered to donate that money three or four times publicly to a charity. The Schindlers refused that offer.
CHUNG: Why don't you just leave your wife on life support, allow that money to pay for her hospital costs, and go on your way?
SCHIAVO: Well, No. 1, I'm not going to run away. The question can be posed, would you run away?
CHUNG: No, I'm sorry. I said "go on your way."
SCHIAVO: Go on my way? Because I'm telling you, I'm not going to leave Terri in this situation. I'm not going to run away from it. No. 2, back in the 2000 trial, Mr. Schindler was on the stand and testified.
CHUNG: That's your father-in-law.
SCHIAVO: Yes. He was put into a hypothetical situation. And he was asked, if he had guardianship of Terri and Terri became ill and received gangrene in one of arms, would he have it removed? And he said yes. Then he moved on to getting gangrene in her leg. And he said he would have that removed. By the time we were done, Terri had no limbs and she was on a ventilator.
I wouldn't want to leave Terri with a person that would do something like that to somebody else, just because it's what he wants. CHUNG: But, Michael...
SCHIAVO: And he has already testified that it doesn't matter what Terri wanted. It's what he wants.
CHUNG: Michael, but you will admit that, now you have a girlfriend and that you have a child by that woman, that you apparently do want to start a different life and a new life away from this wife that you have.
SCHIAVO: Well, I got on with a portion of my life. But I still will stick by my wife and make sure that her wishes are carried out.
FELOS: Connie, I want to add that there are many, many situations where there are very long-term marriages, especially elderly spouse, and one has Alzheimer's. And they don't recognize their spouse. They have to be institutionalized.
Should those people just die alone or should they be able to form new relationships and have some companionship? I mean, I think that happens many times. But they don't abandon their spouse. They make sure that they have proper care and that the spouse's wishes are carried out. And that's what Michael is trying to do, is carry out Terri's wishes in this case.
CHUNG: Michael Schiavo, what about the responses that her parents think that she's giving to them?
SCHIAVO: Terri has made those same responses for 13 years, Connie. She makes them to me. She makes them to the people in the nursing home. There's notes by the nurses there that Terri makes those noises when nobody is in the room.
That's part of being in a persistent vegetative state. Persistent-vegetative-state patients will sometimes laugh. They groan. They moan. They will have tears. They have sleep-wake cycles. But the higher level of consciousness is gone.
CHUNG: But aren't there other examples of people who have come out of a vegetative state? Granted, a miracle and highly unlikely and not considered to be likely, according to the doctors who have examined your wife, but it has happened.
SCHIAVO: There has been some instances, but they have been -- probably the longest, I believe I was told, was...
FELOS: Fifteen months.
SCHIAVO: Fifteen months.
CHUNG: All right, Michael Schiavo and George Felos, thank you both for being with us.
To: Ohioan from Florida
My question if i get lucky:
In a malpractice lawsuit, you received over $300,000 for loss of consortium. Terri was awarded $750,000 from this suit and an additional $250,000 from a separate malpractice lawsuit. The money was awarded to Terri for her care and rehabilitation and to be placed in a Medical Trust Fund. From the date you received the award money in 1993,Terri has been denied any rehabilitation treatment. You have confined Terri to a nursing home (currently, a Hospice facility) where she is 'maintained !!!
Why did you say in your court testimony that you needed malpractice funds to rehabilitate & take care of Terri all your life but just a few years ago suddenly remember that she would want to die?
556 posted on
10/27/2003 3:45:33 PM PST by
ZAKJAN
To: Ohioan from Florida
Thank you for posting the dialogue. I think it was EXCELLENT! Connie Chung nailed those two a couple of times. The truth is slowly but surely getting out! Yahoo . . . for life!
563 posted on
10/27/2003 4:01:36 PM PST by
Saundra Duffy
(For victory & freedom!!!)
To: Ohioan from Florida; ZAKJAN
I think, statistically, only about 15 percent of adult Americans have living wills. A gastronomy tube is NOT life support!!! Nearly 1 million "living" people in the US have gastronomy tubes, including Superman!
In drafting a living will, who would say to their spouse, "Honey, if I am ever in what doctor's describe as a vegetative state, I would prefer to die this way:
Hastening Death by Starvation and Dehydration
by Faye Girsh, Executive Director
Hemlock Society USA
The option of dying by starvation or Patient Refusal of Nutrition and Hydration (PRNH), as it is referred to, appears to be a compromise which allows terminally ill people to end their lives and still have ministrations from hospice and from a doctor. A hospice nurse was kind enough to send me eight articles from nursing and medical journals reviewing this process in an attempt to convince me that this was a painless and gentle death which would obviate the necessity of a more drastic end.
Hemlock Society is in the business of maximizing the options for a good death; for many people this means of ending their lives is acceptable while getting direct help from a doctor, using a plastic bag, or ending their lives by other more direct means is not. Having read this material I would endorse this as a legitimate alternative to which our members should give careful consideration, particularly when other means are not acceptable or available. I do have these caveats:
The length of time it took for patients to die in these studies varies considerably depending on the fragility and weight of the patient, the state of his/her heart , etc., from several days to several weeks. Most of the reports of dying patients are within one or two weeks from dehydration.
After the first day a state called detonemia develops in which there are apparently severe hunger pangs (unless feeding is restored)
Not taking fluids appears to actually reduce a person's discomfort, bloating, nausea, lung secretions, urinary frequency and pain, and is a good idea at the end of life in any case.
This method may be difficult for family members -- and some medical personnel -- who may find it difficult not to provide food and fluids. A family may need help caring for the dying person.
Excellent oral hygiene must be maintained with ice chips to moisten the mouth, careful cleaning of the mouth, and lubricants. Skin becomes dry and inelastic so a soft mattress is helpful. Dizziness and weakness also occur.
Many of the patients described, including the mother of Dr. David Eddy, whose account in the Journal of the American Medical Association has become a classic, had asked for a hastened death and had been refused by the doctors and nurses on the grounds that it would constitute an assisted suicide and thus be morally, ethically and legally wrong. This method is seen as a preferable alternative to a lethal dose of medication from a physician.
Medical care is essential; most patients required morphine for pain and many received anti-anxiety agents. It would be essential to have medical and nursing support before embarking on this route.
PRNH is a choice; it is relatively gentle and painless in most reported cases. It is certain, and loved ones can be there. Hospice workers and doctors will regard this as acceptable and treat the patient with compassion. It is not offensive to most religious groups. But it is not swift; the patient must be close to death, and medical and nursing help should be available. It may not be an option for everyone.
Since the manner of dying must be the patient's choice, this method does not obviate the search for ways which are acceptable to every person -- including direct help from a doctor -- certainly a shorter, more direct, and less torturous route.
593 posted on
10/27/2003 5:13:22 PM PST by
NYer
("Close your ears to the whisperings of hell and bravely oppose its onslaughts." ---St Clare Assisi)
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