Rats! I just send this email to nightline. Too late.
Please, please don't treat Michael Schiavo like he's some kind of hero. This is the guy who wants his severely disabled wife to be starved to death, for God's sake.
Please ask why he's in such an all-fired hurry to have Terri killed and cremated and her ashes shipped to Pennsylvania. For God's sake, this monster would deprive Terri's parents of attending a Catholic funeral for her. This is beyond cruel.
Please ask why he won't divorce Terri and marry the woman he lives with and with whom he has two children. And please don't accept that B.S. about how he is only doing what Terri would have wanted. Terri would NOT want to be starved to death over a period of one to two weeks! Terri would not want to break her parents' hearts. Terri would not want to be deprived of swallow tests and rehab therapy and all of the latest technology to improve her quality of life.
Ask him why he hasn't repaired her wheelchair. Ask him why he won't let Terri go outside and smell the fresh air. Ask him why he won't allow media to visit Terri. Ask him what he's hiding.
Please ask Michael Schiavo about his attorney George Felos who is hoping to write a book about Terri. If Terri lives, Felos' book dreams are down the tubes. Only if she dies will he be able to make more money off Terri's suffering. Please ask about that.
Please don't let Michael Schiavo get away with sitting there and fielding softballs. Please! He has been treated like a hero by the media.
The media portrays Terri as a basket-case brain-dead vegetable. Well, does a vegetable giggle and smile when it's mother tomato enters the room? Does a tomato feel pain? If Terri doesn't feel pain, why are they going to prescribe morphine during the starvation process? Please ask him that. He lied last time I saw him on TV, saying that starvation is a PAINLESS death. That is a damn lie. Please don't let him get away with it. Please do some research!!
Why is Terri in a hospice for dying people. She is not dying; she is not even sick. It is against the law to dump a healthy person in hospice. A hospice bound person is one who is terminally ill and not expected to live past six months. Terri is imprisoned in hospice, surrounded by death and dying. Michael Schiavo has ordered that she receive no stimulation, no outings, no flowers, no music, no TV - and as I said, he won't even have her wheelchair fixed.
Ask about her dental care. How he neglected her teeth all those years until one day she had to have five teeth pulled, and he wouldn't even have provided that care if he wasn't forced into it. Ask him about Terri's teeth, please.
And ask him why he told the court during the first trial when he was awarded all of that money that he promised to care for Terri for the rest of her life - a life expectancy of 50 years. But when the money rolled in, all of a sudden he remember something she said many years ago about not wanting to live on machines or something. Terri's friend remembers a different story. She remembers Terri commenting on the Karen Ann Quinlan case and Terri saying "Where there's life, there's hope." But of course Judge Greer sided with Michael Schiavo, as he always has.
Why are Judge Greer, Michael Schiavo and George Felos hell-bent on getting rid of Terri? They don't want an investigation. They don't want to hear from doctors who want to help Terri improve her quality of life. They won't even let Terri's parents try to give her food and water orally after the feeding tube is withdrawn. Why? What on earth are they afraid of. Looks like they're in cahoots with each other to cover over some wrongdoing. Perhaps Terri was abused in some horrific manner and if an autopsy were performed or if an investigation were conducted, this THING would be found out and the three of them would be exposed.
About half the judgment money for Terri has gone to George Felos and right-to-die zealot book peddler. That money was supposed to have been used for Terri's care. If that isn't exploitation, I don't know what is!
Michael Schiavo thinks Terri is his property. Judge Greer refers to Terri as a GIRL, not a woman. Felos thinks of Terri as his meal ticket. Where are the feminists?!!
Terri Schindler Schiavo is a severely disabled vulnerable woman. She is not hurting anyone. She doesn't lash out at people. Actually, she is the perfect person. She hasn't a mean bone in her body. She just lies there and allows all of us who love her and care about her to rant and rave and try to get someone to HELP! Let her live.
I understand that they have erected a fence around that hospice where Terri is supposed to die starting this Friday. The fence is to keep us OUT and to keep Terri in prison. Is this America? Terri's freedom has been robbed.
Please ask Michael Schiavo why Terri has not been allowed to go outside and sit in the sun. Please.
Saundra Duffy-Hawkins
Fresno, CA
Well that is a MARVELOUS letter Saundra!! You go girl. You are gifted in writing!!!!!!!
TERRI SUPPORTERS, please FLOOD NIGHTLINE E-MAIL...even if the show is taped, let's be the first in line telling ABC the unvarnished truth about Michael.
SAUNDRA, your words CHAMPION THE TRUTH ABOUT TERRI...a clarion call to JUSTICE.
You make it plain NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW OR ABOVE THE TRUTH.
Ted Koppel take note. WE WILL NOT FORGET what is said and done this week.
Cool letter, you are a genius!
SD-
You GO Girl!!!!!!!!!
Bravo!
Excellent Letter to Nightline!
You should send this letter to the other media shows that have treated Michael like a poor misunderstood man, instead of the evil person he really is.