By Liz Townsend
In a dramatic turn of events, after enduring 60 hours of court-ordered starvation and dehydration, a Florida woman with severe brain damage received food and fluids when new evidence emerged contradicting her husband's claims that she would have wanted to die, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
Michael Schiavo's attempts to remove his wife's feeding tube are strongly opposed by Terri's parents, who are now "financially strapped" after years spent fighting court battles to keep their daughter alive, the St. Petersburg Times reported. But Terri Schindler-Schiavo's feedings may again be discontinued if her husband's petition to a court of appeals is successful.
Terri Schindler-Schiavo, now 37, has been in a condition of diminished consciousness after a heart attack 11 years ago. She collapsed at her home on February 25, 1990, and her brain was deprived of oxygen for five minutes, according to the Times.
Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, insist that their daughter, now living at Hospice House Woodside in Pinellas Park, "reacts to them with smiles, laughter, and moans during visits," according to the Tampa Tribune. However, doctors say she is in a "vegetative state" and that any movements she makes are merely "reflex."
The Schindlers refuse to give up on their hopes that Terri's condition will one day improve. "It's my daughter's life," Bob Schindler told the Times. "I will fight for her until I die. Any parent would."
The court battles began in May 1998 when Terri Schindler-Schiavo's husband Michael requested that her feeding tube be removed, the Times reported. On February 11, 2000, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer granted Schiavo's request, ruling that the tube would be removed 30 days after the Schindlers had exhausted all appeals.
Judge Greer's decision was based largely on Michael Schiavo's assertion that, before her heart attack, Terri told him she would not want to live on artificial life support, the Miami Herald reported. "She said, 'No tubes for me,' that kind of thing," Mr. Schiavo's attorney George Felos told the Miami Herald.
The Schindlers insist that Michael Schiavo, who has been engaged to another woman for several years, is also motivated by a million-dollar malpractice settlement awarded to Terri Schindler-Schiavo in 1993, according to the Herald. Pat Anderson, the Schindlers' attorney, stated bluntly to the Associated Press, "Mr. Schiavo has engaged in a course of conduct so he can kill his wife and inherit her estate."
The settlement came from a malpractice suit filed by Michael Schiavo against Terri's doctors, who failed to detect the low potassium levels that caused her heart attack. Over $700,000 is left, since the rest has been used to pay Mrs. Schindler-Schiavo's medical costs.
"[The Schindlers] have encouraged Schiavo to divorce Terri and move on with his life," the Herald reported. "They say he refuses because he no longer would inherit her estate."
Michael Schiavo has repeatedly denied the Schindlers' charges. "The money has never been a concern of his," Felos told the Herald.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Greer's decision in January 2001. Both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused the Schindlers' requests to intervene in the case.
"I just can't understand why these judges are in such a hurry to starve my daughter to death," said Bob Schindler, according to the Times. "I just don't understand. I just think it's cruel. Essentially, they treat coldblooded murderers with more kindness."
Terri Schindler-Schiavo received what was supposed to be her last feeding at 8 a.m. on April 24. For the next two days she was not given the vitamin-enhanced beverage that provided her with life-sustaining nutrition and hydration.
News reports parroted euthanasia advocates' rhetoric that death by starvation and dehydration is just like going to sleep. "People don't suffer," Dr. Vince Perron, associate medical director at Life-Path Hospice in Tampa, told the Times. "It's a peaceful, comfortable way to die." But the Schindlers see Terri's death by starvation as inhumane and cruel.
"The Schindlers say their daughter would starve to death," USA Today reported, "but Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said she would suffer a chemical imbalance and just 'fade away.'"
In a surprising development, however, new evidence surfaced that called into question Michael Schiavo's reported claims that his wife clearly rejected life support. His former girlfriend, Cyndi Shook, came forward and said that Schiavo told her that his wife never spoke about her wishes, according to the Times.
Shook told the Times that she asked him what his wife would have wanted and he replied, "How ...should I know? She was 25 years old and we did not talk about it."
Armed with Shook's statements, the Schindlers asked first Judge Greer and then Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Frank Quesada to resume the feedings until Shook could testify. Greer rejected the request.
However, Judge Quesada granted a temporary injunction and ordered the hospice to feed Schindler-Schiavo. "I don't think there is anything that's more final or irreparable than death," Quesada said, according to the Times. She was fed for the first time in 60 hours at around 8:30 p.m. April 26.
Michael Schiavo filed an emergency petition with the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals on April 30 asking the feedings to again be stopped. "My wife Theresa is entitled to die with dignity," he said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. "This heinous act is an affront to her and is a violation of her most sacred rights of liberty."
The Schindlers pledged to continue fighting for their daughter. "I wouldn't wish this experience on anybody," Bob Schindler told the Times. "It's been horrible. . . . What we're ultimately trying to do is keep Terri alive."