Attorney Richard Pearse was appointed to be guardian ad litem [guardian for the litigation] – or GAL – by probate Judge Patrick Caddell and charged with investigating the case, and issued a 10-page report in Dec. 1998.
Pearse urged in no uncertain terms that the petition for removing the feeding tube be denied.
He also recommended that a guardian ad litem (not necessarily Pearse) be appointed to protect her interests.
And he made it clear that he did not believe Schiavo's sudden recollection of Terri's wishes.
"Regarding the pending petition filed by Mr. Schiavo to withdraw the gastric feeding tube which sustains the ward, he claims that the ward told him after their marriage that she would not want to be kept alive artificially," Pearse wrote. "Mr. Schiavo indicated strongly to [Pearse] that his petition to withdraw life support has nothing to do with the money held in the guardianship estate, which he would inherit upon the ward's death as her sole heir-in-law."
He continued: "The only direct evidence probative of the issue of the ward's intent is the hearsay testimony of the ward's feeding tube which would inevitably result in her death" However, his credibility is necessarily adversely affected by the obvious financial benefit to him in the event of her death while still married to him. Her death also permits him to get on with his life."
That Schiavo's attitude and actions changed as soon as the money from the malpractice suit was in the bank was not lost on Pearse.
"From that point forward, the ward's husband has isolated the ward from her parents, has on at least one occasion refused to consent for the ward to be treated for an infection, and, ultimately, four years later, has filed the instant petition for the withdrawal of life support on the basis of evidence apparently known only to him which could have been asserted at any time during the ward's illness," he said.
"Since there is no corroborative evidence of the ward's intentions, and since the only witness claiming to have such evidence is the one person who will realize a direct and substantial financial benefit from the ward's death, the undersigned guardian ad litem is of the opinion that the evidence of the ward's intentions developed by the investigation, does not meet the clear and convincing standard."
Charging Pearse was "biased" towards Schiavo, Felos promptly had Pearse removed as guardian ad litem. No one was appointed in his place.
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