Posted on 03/26/2005 1:00:05 PM PST by BellStar
Because I try to track down facts before I write about a subject, I have not written about Terri Shiavo and the battle over her condition. What actually happened to Terri back in 1990 that caused her to be the topic of world conversation today? Before we decide to permanently dispose of her, shouldn’t we first find out how she got into this predicament?
Well, she collapsed, we are told by her husband Michael, in 1990 and was taken to the hospital . Some stories say she had a heart attack. Other stories, including a medical report by Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-reknowned neurologist, totally refute any heart attack. Hammesfahr reported:
“Ms Schiavo was in her usual state of good health until 2/25/90, when her husband reported that he was awakened from sleep approximately 6 Am by her falling. He reports that she was unresponsive. "Paramedics were called, and aggressive resuscitation was performed with 7 defibrillations en route. “In the Emergency Room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained, but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack.”
Some reports guess that she collapsed due to an effort to lose weight – although, she was not at the time overweight. Hammesfahr’s report stated:
“The patient had a difficult hospital course with the development of poorly controlled seizures and prolonged coma state requiring, for a time, ventilator support. However, the staff noted improvement, and it was recommended by several physicians that she be discharged to an intensive rehabilitation center.” In 1992, Michael Shiavo sued for malpractice and won over a $1 million. He was personally awarded $300,000 for his “loss” and $700,000 for Terri’s rehabilitation and care for the rest of her natural life. However, the therapy, after the award, was not approved by Michael Shiavo and she was confined to a nursing home after the settlement.
It was after the settlement that Michael first claimed that Terri had previously stated that she didn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means — a statement he never mentioned during the malpractice trial. He has never produced any written proof that Terri said that.
Beginning almost immediately after receiving the malpractice funds, Michael Shiavo, as Terri’s legal guardian, began to refuse approval for ANY therapy or rehabilitation efforts and she has been confined to bed.
Since 1995, Michael Schiavo has lived openly with a girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, with whom he has two children, while remaining legally married to Terri, as well as being her legal her guardian.
In 1998, Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to have Terri’s feeding tube removed. In 2003, Michael Schiavo’s attorneys reported that the trust fund was down to $50,000, with more than $430,000 going to “pay for court costs associated with her husband’s legal battle to remove his wife’s feeding tube.” Meanwhile, Medicaid helps to pay Terri’s $5,000-a-month nursing costs at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida. 13
During this time period, Terri’s parents have attempted to gain guardianship over their daughter. During the legal battles that have ensued, in 2003 a a deposition was taken from Dr. William Campbell Walker, a radiologist, concerning a bone scan the hospital did on Terri in 1991. That bone scan revealed what Dr. Walker reported at the time as “compression fracture in the 19 vertebral body of the spine.”
For seven years as Terri has been consistently denied rehabilitation treatment that, according to several doctors, would have significantly improved her chances of recovery, Michael spent her money awarded for her therapy on lawyers trying to get her starved to death. Several doctors pointed out, including Dr. Hammesfahr, that Terri not only CAN swallow on her own, but frequently DOES swallow and pictures shown clearly indicate, as Hammesfahr and other testify, that she can and does respond to voice commands and particularly to her parents.
This would indicate that she is NOT in what the State of Florida defines as a “vegetative” state. It also makes me wonder, now that the feeding tube is removed, if any effort to help her swallow water or food is being made today, or whether under the court order spoon feeding also has been outlawed? Terri's parents, if they just came and got her and took her home, I guess would be arrested for kidnapping under Florida's legal system.
At this point, the legal system of Florida has, in the words of one legal observer, created the “framework for legal euthanasia.” Of course, euthanasia is technically the practice of killing someone painlessly because they prefer death to life for whatever reason. I would not classify starvation as a “painless” way to die.
Dr. Hammesfahr stated in his report:
“In the spring of 2000, three physicians, including Dr. Jay Carpenter, who is a former Chief of Medicine at Morton Plant Hospital, filed affidavits after observing Ms. Schiavo. All three physicians stated that it is visually apparent that Ms Schiavo is able to swallow and, in fact, does swallow her own saliva. “The patient continued with no physical therapy, communication or speech therapy, or routine medical screening evaluations and treatment such as dental care, mammography, gynecological exams or pap smears during this time."
Under these conditions and questions, it would appear to me that Terri SHOULD have a totally different guardian, such as her parents, until some questions are answered about the spinal and other injuries that appeared on her bone scan a decade ago. Why is it that a man who clearly wants his wife dead, cannot explain how she actually got into the state she is in, or produce ANY proof, other than his unsubstantiated words, that she would want to die, is being unquestioningly defended by the Florida courts?
Increasingly, it appears to me, that Terri would have gotten better care had her husband never won that malpractice suit and been given $1 million to spend – much of it on lawyers to legally kill off his wife.
It all makes me wonder just when Michael Schiavo made his first effort to kill Terri? Was it before or after she ended up in the hospital with an unexplained problem that put her in a coma?
Nobel Nominee. NOT!
Cripes, where have you been? A REPUBLICAN judge in FL says all this is irrelevant. He is god. He rules all of FL and all the life and death within his domain. He even caused the Govenor of the state to shiver in his shoes. Laws passed by the representatives elected by the people of FL mean nothing in the face of this evil dictator's agenda.
Now stop posting controversial stuff and get in line. We are all going merrily into the new world order. /throw up off
yes.,........I agree with you for the most part.....only one haunting thing entertains me every once in awhile..and that is, "God help us if Terri really did tell him that she would want to die"........in that case, we are violating her wishes, but that is not for discussion on this thread, but some would have to think about it......otherwise, I would err on the side of life if it is within the law
The course of action now is to prevent Michael Schiavo and Judge Greer from profiting personally from this tragedy. That would require civil action, not criminal. Hopefully neither of these people will benefit from this.
I didn't claim to be a 'liberal turned conservative' and start slamming the people fighting for life. I'm not quite sure why you are trying to chastise me.
Excellent Point!
San Francisco Mayor Newsome apparently thought he had been elected EMPEROR OF CALIFORNIA, because with his imperial decree he invalidated California law and legalized gay marriage. It was the court system that finally slapped him down.
But now the religious right wants Jeb Bush do what Newsome did.
I'm a libertarian/conservative, and I'm afraid the religious right have given the liberal/socialists the issue they've been waiting for.
The government has no business sticking its nose into family end-of-live decisions.
-- Dennis Mosher
I think if you concentrate on that bone scan, you'll have your case. Two doctors said she'd been worked over.
Another thought would be why her brain didn't show any damage until several days AFTER she initially admitted to the hospital, meaning she sustained damage while IN the hospital.
Another something to chew on is hino's actions in the hours before her "collapse" and his actions in the moments from his call to Bobby and the later arrival of 911. He didn't call 911 and he changed his story several times on how and when he found her.
"It was after the settlement that Michael first claimed that Terri had previously stated that she didn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means — a statement he never mentioned during the malpractice trial...
Beginning almost immediately after receiving the malpractice funds, Michael Shiavo, as Terri’s legal guardian, began to refuse approval for ANY therapy or rehabilitation efforts..."
This speaks volumes.
Michael may not be able to stop an autopsy...Flordia Statute 406.11:
406.11 Examinations, investigations, and autopsies.--
(1) In any of the following circumstances involving the death of a human being, the medical examiner of the district in which the death occurred or the body was found shall determine the cause of death and shall, for that purpose, make or have performed such examinations, investigations, and autopsies as he or she shall deem necessary or as shall be requested by the state attorney:
(a) When any person dies in the state:
1. Of criminal violence.
2. By accident.
3. By suicide.
4. Suddenly, when in apparent good health.
5. Unattended by a practicing physician or other recognized practitioner.
6. In any prison or penal institution.
7. In police custody.
8. In any suspicious or unusual circumstance.
9. By criminal abortion.
10. By poison.
11. By disease constituting a threat to public health.
12. By disease, injury, or toxic agent resulting from employment.
(b) When a dead body is brought into the state without proper medical certification.
(c) When a body is to be cremated, dissected, or buried at sea.
(2)(a) The district medical examiner shall have the authority in any case coming under subsection (1) to perform, or have performed, whatever autopsies or laboratory examinations he or she deems necessary and in the public interest to determine the identification of or cause or manner of death of the deceased or to obtain evidence necessary for forensic examination.
(b) The Medical Examiners Commission shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 120, providing for the notification of the next of kin that an investigation by the medical examiner's office is being conducted. A medical examiner may not retain or furnish any body part of the deceased for research or any other purpose which is not in conjunction with a determination of the identification of or cause or manner of death of the deceased or the presence of disease or which is not otherwise authorized by this chapter, part X of chapter 732, or chapter 873, without notification of and approval by the next of kin.
(3) The Medical Examiners Commission may adopt rules incorporating by reference parameters or guidelines of practice or standards of conduct relating to examinations, investigations, or autopsies performed by medical examiners.
I hope we remember what life was like, as old-timers. In what promises to be a bleak future post Terri, we must be the conscience and soul. We can tell the frightened useless eaters that a time used to exist when we all cared. Than we will tell them how we let old horses mean more to us than old people. And remember we will all get a chance to tell it to God one fine day.
Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a winner!
That is bs and you know it. Dr Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel price
That he lied about a Nobel nomination? nobelprize.org.
A so-called "expert" who lies about his credentials is the definition of a quack to me.
Hear, hear!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.