There has been a lot posted in this thread suggesting that the husband is/was less than a loving one. Some pretty strong allegations have been made. I am not convinced they are true. I think it more likely to be rumor spread with the aid of the internet. Why? Because, there has not been a hint of this in any reputable news report that I have heard or read. If he were abusive and it were truly believed by her family that he was responsible for the condition in which she now lies, I believe they would be saying so publicly and often. That hasn't been the case.
To that end, I just read an interesting article on the life of Terri and he was described as doing things I find contrary to what he would do if he weren't a loving husband. None of this changes my opinion on whether or not she should be starved to death, but I felt both side of the husband should be displayed:
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Early the next morning, in February 1990, Terri collapsed in the hallway in her house. Michael heard her fall, found her there. She was 26 years old, weighed 110 pounds and was in heart failure because of a severe potassium imbalance. |
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Inside Woodside Hospice, Michael Schiavo likes to hold his wife's hand, according to his brother Scott. Today will be the seventh day Terri Schiavo has gone without the feeding tube that sustained her. Her husband sits vigil with her most of the day, his brothers Brian and Bill on hand to support him. Michael adjusts Terri's positions, moves her, makes sure there will be no bedsores. And he talks to her -- talks to her the way one talks to the headstone of a loved one at the cemetery. "You know how that is?" says Scott, who calls his brother's cell phone multiple times a day for updates. "How you do it because it makes you feel better, even though you know they can't hear anything you say?" |
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Terri's father claims that when the paramedics responded to the call for help, they then called in the police. He claims that the police were prepared to investigate a homicide.
The "reputable" news media has consistently refused to report the undisputable facts in this case. They refused to even report on it for years. I have been following this story for about three years.
All the "reputable" news media still reports that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state." She isn't. She never has been.
There are eyewitness reports (besides family) that Terri can communicate, that she can eat and drink, that Michael has, at times, been very brusque with Terri. The most famous of these is his repeated question when entering a care facility of, "Has the b**** died yet?" This is reported in legal depositions that the news media does not report.
I don't know whether or not he is/was abusive. But he certainly is responsible for this young woman being on the verge of death right now. He is responsible for here being forced to go through something that the whole world would be appalled at if we forced some of the terrorists to go through it.
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Nighthawk, can you provide references to those statements. I have seen interviews with Terri's family, yet I have never heard them make such allegations.
As far as calling the police, I don't think that means much. A 25 year old suffers a heart attack, it would be logical to assume something bad. My first thought would be drug abuse, cocaine for example. That doesn't mean, once the medical doctors ran tests, that they didn't find that nothing bad was done to her. An initial suspicion doesn't always mean guilt. For example, in the recent case in Florida where that little girl was taken from her home at night, the grandmother's lie detector results raised suspicion. In the end, it turns out she wasn't guilty. Could be the same here.
I would like to read direct quotes from news agencies before I accept that the man is guilty because I know many cases where rumors circulate the internet that are not true. For example, just the other day I got one about plug-in room deodorizers. After some research, I found there had been some basis in the original story, which had been altered considerably to the point that the current version is nothing more than false internet myth/rumor/legend.
I think the new media decided to cover it, once the decision became imminent because they knew it would draw viewers. That is how it works.
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But he certainly is responsible for this young woman being on the verge of death right now. He is responsible for here being forced to go through something that the whole world would be appalled at if we forced some of the terrorists to go through it. |
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
I guess we will never know, although I do feel he wants her dead for many reasons. I found very interesting to find out that Mr. Schiavo is very familiar with this type of "death" (through starvation) since he said on Larry King the following:
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KING: Did your mother's death have anything to do with how you SCHIAVO: Yes, she did. My mother died, and it was the first time I ever came in contact with hospice. And I'll tell you what -- what a wonderful organization those people are... CALLER: Yes. Does it bother you that the death is so slow? Maybe Dr. Kevorkian-style would be a faster, more peaceful way? SCHIAVO: Removing somebody's feeding is very painless. It is a very easy way to die. Probably the second better way to die, being the first being an aneurysm. And it doesn't bother me at all. I've seen it happen. I had to do it with my own parents. |
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CALLER: Hi Larry. I have a question for Michael. Since he's so passionate about it being Terri's wish, when she was 25 years old, that watching a TV program, to give peace to Terri's parents and brother, why doesn't he just take a lie detector test? FELOS: The ultimate lie detector has gone before 20 judges who found Mr. Schiavo to be a loving, caring husband. KING: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you could voluntarily take one, right? FELOS: Sure. KING: Would you take one? SCHIAVO: I'll refrain from that right now. |
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BURY: You did receive something of a malpractice settlement north of $1 million at one point, is that correct? SCHIAVO: Yes. FELOS: Well, no. BURY: And what happened to that? FELOS: Michael didn't receive those funds. Those were received in Terri's guardianship and it was a bank who was her guardian of the property that administered those funds. BURY: But the question remains: What happened to those funds? FELOS: Well, those funds have been used for Terri's medical care and guardianship expenses and costs and fees over many, many years. |
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I have heard most of these stories referenced either on talk radio or on blogs.
So, I will start with Thomas Sowell, a national commentator:
https://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomass...s20050324.shtml
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Many seem certain that Terri Schiavo is vegetative, does not understand what is going on around her and cannot respond. But Carla Sauer Iyer, a nurse who attended Mrs. Schiavo for more than a year, has contradicted all of this. Moreover, she has painted a very different picture of Michael Schiavo than the one he presents to the courts and to the media. But you are not likely to find her eyewitness account of events in the mainstream media. According to this nurse, Michael Schiavo complained that his wife wasn't dying fast enough -- only the word he used was not wife or woman but a word that cannot be repeated in a family newspaper. The nurse's sworn statement, under penalty of perjury, is that she reported to the police that she had found Terri in both medical and emotional distress after a closed door visit by her husband -- and that she also found a vial of insulin, as well as needle marks on Terri, after Michael Schiavo's visit. The same mainstream media that will scour the country to find individuals to quote in support of killing Terri Schiavo will not lift a finger to investigate the chilling charges this nurse filed with the police years ago. It might disturb the picture they are trying to paint. |
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As Newsday reported in 2003, he won $300,000 for himself for loss of consortium and $700,000 for his wife -- based on the presumption that Michael would care for Terri for the rest of her life. It was not until 1998 that Michael Schiavo acted on the basis of his wife's stated wish not to live on life support. Here's another slogan: A husband has a right to determine a wife's fate. It doesn't matter if he has a conflict -- in this case, two children sired by a woman he calls his fiance -- he still has a supreme right over Terri's fate. Another reported fact: Michael Schiavo won't approve an MRI, although Terri is said to have had one years ago. |
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Well, this makes it hit home completely for me:
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Michael adjusts Terri's positions, moves her, makes sure there will be no bedsores. |
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Well here is another columnist weighing in on the controversy.
https://www.townhall.com/columnists/davidli...l20050325.shtml
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The courts have apparently determined that both conditions have been satisfied: Terri is in a PVS, and she expressed her intention not to be kept alive artificially if she ever arrived in that condition. But based on informed opinions we've learned about in the last few days alone, isn't it obvious that there is significant doubt as to both conditions? Nurses who personally treated Terri are coming out of the woodwork to state that Terri was responsive, communicative, capable of swallowing and far from a PVS. Distinguished physicians are opining that Terri is not only not in a PVS, but could likely be rehabilitated. Her parents, who surely would not do anything intentionally to cause or perpetuate Terri's suffering, believe she has been responsive and wants to continue living. Is this not enough to raise extraordinary doubts as to Terri's alleged PVS? What about Terri's alleged expression of intent that she not be artificially sustained? Shouldn't it deeply disturb us that the courts are relying primarily on the testimony of an estranged, discredited husband riddled with personal conflicts of interest to divine Terri's intent, especially when Michael reportedly didn't share that communication for some seven years after Terri's "incident"? Shouldn't it haunt us that a number of Terri's nurses have stated that Michael forbad rehabilitative and other treatment to Terri at a time when she seemed susceptible to improvement and that he made shocking statements about Terri? What possible motive, other than masochism, would they have to lie? |
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NEW COURT REJECTION AS SCHIAVO'S LIFE WANES
A federal appeals court panel refused to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube Friday, hours after the severely brain-damaged woman's father said she was weakening and down "to her last hours."
Ref. https://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1%2C1249%2C...21439%2C00.html