Posted on 02/04/2004 6:31:41 AM PST by cyn
This could also be "Have a Heart for FL most vulnerable citizens", but my concern for Terri is such that I want to keep it focused on her until she is out of danger -- ie, in the care of her family and out from under the death sentence, which is closing in tighter if her guardian has his way.
I was privileged to meet the Schindler family when I was in the area Oct. 18 and 19. They are regular people who love their daughter very much, and want to care for her. Her husband is unwilling or unable to do so, though in the 1991 medical malpractice suit he needed the money to care for her for the rest of her life. Not until years later did he recall that she ‘would not want to live this way’.
To people in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area:
I ask you to open your hearts to Terri and the Schindler family. Consider these and so many more questions: Why doesn’t her husband, who has a fiance and two young children just walk away, as 10/27/03 Larry King urged him to do in his Larry King 10/27/03 interview?
Why were you told through the years that Terri is in a coma or unresponsive or in PVS, when she so clearly was not? A photograph of Terri looking up at Michael and him looking back at her as if she is indeed 'there' was taken WAY back in 11/90, and used again in 1/25/00 article, clearly shows she was not!
Why is the degree of brain damage she does have after all these years (without even basic ordinary care or rehabilitation!) so offensive to the senses that folks believe her life cannot possibly be worth living, she should be allowed the dignity to just go & die?
I took care of people like Terri at a nursing home in Tampa years ago -- we worked with whatever level of response they were able to give, but supplied all their needs beyond that. Not to do so is inhumane; it is against nature and against God to seek ‘mercy killing’ for them! And do you know, or remember that Terri was responding to locally offered therapy offered in the early 90’s? (link later)
In the early ‘90’s Terri was taken out into the community to the mall, to those art museums, to the pond with Michael to speak out on her behalf. There was even a Terri Schiavo day in '92 or '93 (will try to find links, I got this info thru newspaper search)!
Terri has not changed, Terri is no less worth supporting today than she was then!
I ask anyone having any idea, or any power to do good for Terri to do it. May God bless our efforts on her behalf as the loaves and the fishes were blessed and multiplied. May all things be provided beyond all we can ask or imagine for Terri.
.
This photo of Terri was taken in '91on an outing to the mall.
In the words of the article above, Michael
". . . hired an aide to take her to salons for a beauty make-over. He took her to the mall to buy new clothes, the museum to look at art. He even made tapes of her family and friends, hoping to find a stimulus that would lift her from the her current state."
Just because Michael has lost interest and his earlier passion for taking care of Terri (as he told the court in his '91 malpractice suit) does not mean that her life is any less valuable now than it was then.
He has gotten on with his own new life, with a new girlfriend/fiancee and two small children. Now he should let Terri get on with hers!
From Terri Big Eyes video available at www.terrisfight.org
Terri starts out apparently asleep. A doctor wakes her to start his tests.Doctor: Terri. Open your eyes up...
Terri: (Startled at hearing her name. She starts moving her mouth and fluttering her eyes, like a person who is just waking up)
Doctor: Open your eyes, Terri open your eyes
Terri: (slowly at first, Terri struggles to open her eyes, then turns toward the doctor, and opens her eyes a normal amount)
Doctor: There you go, good.
Terri: (then, either to show off(?) or wanting to perform well, she leans further forward toward the doctor, looks straight at him and opens her eyes as WIDE AS SHE CAN. Note the WRINKLES ACROSS HER FOREHEAD [!!!] caused by her also RAISING HER EYEBROWS as high as possible )
Doctor: [now obviously impressed] GOOD!! GOOD JOB! GOOD JOB YOUNG LADY! Good Job.
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It doesn't get any clearer than that. As if that video of Terri responding to her mother did not show that Terri is not PVS (it convinced a physician I know).
phenn added this note on 1/27/2004:
In that Terri, "Big Eyes" video, there are some things you don't see in the clip that are very telling. When the clip opens and Terri has her eyes closed, that is just after Dr. H. was moving her eyelids with his hands, checking her eyes and reflexes and so forth. For Terri, that is probably a bit of a workout. So, he gets her to close her eyes tight, asks her to open them. You see the little fluttering - probably indicating that she's working it. Then (and this is what Schiavo's doctors call 'simply reflex') she opens her eyes, turns her head to the doctor and raises her eyebrows dramatically. Then - she turns her head in the other direction. That is where her mum was standing. It is as if to say "Everyone happy? I got it!"This is nothing like reflex. This is cognitive function, clear response to stimulation and compliance. Compliance is something that requires thought.
Reflex would be the doctor pressing down on the back of Terri's tongue and her gagging as a physical reaction. Reflex does not explain the very animated response to the doctor's request and the very apparent understanding of the request, compliance and success in completion. That involves a WHOLE lot more than simple reflex."
Let's not forget Terri and lets keep up the letters and e-mails.
#73: Distressing Development in Terri's Case ^
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