8mm
Terri on the road to recovery before the second stage began.
Posted on 03/08/2007 3:11:27 AM PST by markomalley
Bobby Schindler, brother of late Terri Schiavo, spoke to members of the Cornell community last night to promote awareness of issues facing disabled individuals.
After collapsing in her home on Feb. 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo suffered several minutes without oxygen to her brain, resulting in severe brain damage. Although she needed immediate care afterwards, a few weeks later, she only required a feeding tube to regulate her nutrition.
During 1991 and 1992, Schiavo showed signs of improvement due to rehabilitation programs and therapy, according to Schindler.
In 1993, Terri was awarded a medical trust fund of $1.5 million for life-long rehabilitation, of which her husband Michael was made guardian.
According to Schindler, after Michael deposited this money, Terri stopped receiving therapy.
Tensions arose in 1993 between Michael and Terri’s father Robert Schindler.
In 1998, Michael wrote the Schindler family a letter, explaining that he was petitioning the courts to remove his wife’s feeding tube.
Terri’s family opposed removal of the feeding tube. Michael, backed by his brother and sister-in-law, said Terri had made statements before she suffered brain damage that she would not want to live in such a condition.
“Our family was very naïve at what we were up against,” Schindler said. “The attitudes of our country [toward this issue] have been changed because of the influence of the media, judges, doctors and bioethics.”
Schindler said he was frustrated that the media portrayed his sister as bedridden and unable to be moved. In fact, Schindler said, had Terri been alive today, he could have brought her with him; she would have merely needed a wheelchair to be transported. Schindler emphasized that Schiavo was not connected to breathing stabilizers of any sort.
“My sister was not dying. She was physically as healthy as you and me,” Schindler said.
Although she could not respond rapidly, she did show signs of coherence, according to Schindler. He recounted a moment when he told his sister that he had the chance to shake hands with Bruce Springstein. Terri had purchased her brother his first C.D. by the artist. When he told her, she smiled.
Such responses were ignored by the court systems, according to Schindler. He said he believed then that videos demonstrating her ability to react to speech would convince the courts that she was not in a persistent vegetative state — one in which a person cannot respond to any external stimuli — but a judge said this did not prove his case.
On March 31, 2005, 14 days after the removal of her feeding tube, Terri died from dehydration.
“The courts have taken [on] a power of God,” Schindler said. Schindler said doctors took on a similar role and are still quick to overlook the benefits of long-term rehabilitation.
“If society knows the truth, then we can properly address the issue and give [the disabled] the right to live, a basic human right,” said Elisabeth Wilbert ’07, vice president of Cornell Coalition for Life.
CCFL invited Schindler to speak to demonstrate that the club supports pro-life organizations.
“It was a good opportunity for Cornell to get a personal view of something with such a national interest,” said Tristen Cramer ’09, president of CCFL. Schindler said his family would have preferred not to generate national interest; family members received a large number of e-mails that condemned the family for keeping Terri alive.
“I learned a lot more true information compared to what the media portrayed,” said Kourtney Reynolds ’09.
Schindler said he hopes to devalue false information given to the public by the media.
He also said that euthanasia occurred before his family’s struggle and continues to occur today.
“Are we going to care for [the disabled] or find ways to justify killing them?” Schindler asked.
But, but, but...I thought this was Terri's wish??? /sarc
ping!
A most worthy goal.
ping
FYI
America's robed mullahs and Hillarycare will make that decision for you, once you're herded into their facilities. Love means never having to say your sorry. Right Al?
Betrayal on all levels, even by her own church, except for a tiny handful, the pope and Congress (who perhaps could have done more), her unflagging supporters and her devoted family. The final slap in the face was the church-sanctioned marriage to the second wife after he "legally murdered" his first one.
"second stage"?
Agreed. There was a clear argument for denying the marriage based on the impediment of crimen.
And, yet, what choice do we have? We must continue to fight, even when it seems hopeless.
Wow, an article that actually states the truth about Terri.
Yes, it is quite a story. At first she was getting decent treatment up to the time he won a malpractice lawsuit. Things went downhill after that, his taking her for an experimental brain surgery, and then sequestering her away from any therapy or stimulus for years. It is all heavily documented in our past Terri Daily threads with links galore. Some others here are better equipt to tell the details than I.
It's like the final irony to discover in the autopsy report that the malpractice lawsuits were swindles. Fraud. Terri did not "collapse" from bulimia. We pointed that out here long before Doc Thogmartin got around to it. There is no known innocent explanation of Terri's extensive injuries. The autopsy report refuted Michael Schiavo's only alibi.
Wendy Murphy, the distinguished Massachusetts rights attorney and former prosecutor, vented her disgust that Michael was known to be a "fraud on the court" in 1993, yet got everything he wanted later from Greer. Ms. Murphy referred to Michael's fraudulently going back on his promises and trying to kill Terri as soon as he got the settlement money (which he would have inherited). Ms. Murphy was not even aware, when she said this, that the lawsuits themselves were based on a completely fraudulent claim about the non-existent bulimia.
So to now condemn the media seems more than a little disingenuous...at best.
So, the media are willing tools of the religious right? That will surprise the heck out of the media types.
As I recall, from following Terri's story for two years, for the most part, the media presented the liars' version of Terri's story.
Maybe the reporters were lazy. Maybe they had an agenda. They certainly tended to be biased.
You were at the vigils, weren't you, 8mmMauser? Our visitor here represents that you and the other vigilers had control over the media. This is truly a miracle. Perhaps, as an actual witness, you could tell us how you did it?
Didn't say that. But the media does look for news. And it was the Schiavo supporters who wanted the media coverage and did everything they could to keep up the coverage. Nothing wrong with using the media, but to later condemn it when you were the ones who created the conditions for it and wanted it seems as I said, a bit disingenuous.
How so? They covered the crowd outside the hospice continually which, as I recall, consisted of mainly the Terri supporters. News conferences were given often by the Schindlers and their attorney, and later on their "chief" planner, Randall Terry. Then of course, the media covered the Congressional voting on the action to force the federal courts into the fray. I saw every aspect of it covered on the news. So I'm not sure what "liars' version" you are referring to.
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