Questions swirl around husband of brain-damaged Florida woman

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - (KRT) - Michael Schiavo is in hiding, concerned over threats to his life, his attorney said Thursday. Yet the attorney for the parents of Schiavo's wife, Terri, the brain-damaged woman at the center of a contentious end-of-life case, says Michael Schiavo was seen shopping at an upscale Tampa mall in recent days.

As an advocacy agency continued its state investigation of Terri Schiavo's case Thursday and her parents resumed their vigil outside the hospice near St. Petersburg where she was receiving nutrition through a feeding tube, questions multiplied about Michael Schiavo's role and motivations.

Terri Schiavo "looks great," her father, Bob Schindler, said Thursday, even as legal scholars and medical ethicists criticized Gov. Jeb Bush's intervention this week to reinsert her feeding tube and predicted that a new law signed by Bush allowing that action would be struck down in the courts.

The growing national fascination with a case wrapped in a quality-of-life drama that many families know all too well increased the pressure on Michael Schiavo to tell his story. He issued a three-page statement through his attorneys to explain his position earlier this week. The statement tries to humanize a man who has been portrayed in testimony and affidavits as a tall, menacing bully who grew weary of his wife's continued presence in a persistent vegetative state as he built a life and a new family with a longtime girlfriend.

"I never wanted Terri to die," Michael Schiavo wrote. "I still don't. After … years of desperately searching for a cure for Terri, the death of my own mother helped me realize that I was fooling myself."

"It's been very difficult for him to understand and accept that he has got to publicize his situation," attorney Deborah Bushnell said. "He doesn't want this to be public; he wants it to be private."

Yet with more public attention focused on the case than in the preceding 10 years, Michael Schiavo - as his wife's legal guardian - publicly banned his wife's family from visiting her Wednesday at a Clearwater hospital and initially refused to disclose where he planned to transport her. She later was returned to Woodside Hospice, where she has lived since April 2000 and where Michael Schiavo's other attorney, George Felos, is a former board chairman. On Thursday, Michael Schiavo once again allowed the Schindler family to visit Terri.

Though her family has no access to Terri's medical records, Pat Anderson, attorney for her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, speculated that she was too weak for the move. "She needs to be in an intensive-care unit," Anderson said.

Thus, for the second time this week, Felos was left to explain to reporters Thursday the reasons his client continues to seek the removal of his wife's feeding tube.

"That's basically what happened between Terri and Michael, and he's just determined to keep his promise," Felos said. "I think he's unable to live the rest of his life if he walked away knowing he let Terri down and was unable to keep his promise to her."

Bob Schindler Jr., 38, Terri Schiavo's brother and a teacher at a Tampa Catholic school, said his family believes the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities will turn up evidence of abuse and neglect in its investigation of Michael Schiavo's guardianship.

But Schindler charges an effort to cover up "attempted murder" is the reason behind Michael Schiavo's determination to let Terri die and cremate her body since there no longer is any money for Michael Schiavo to inherit from his wife's medical fund, which was depleted largely by Michael Schiavo's legal costs.

"The money has now deteriorated," Schindler said outside the hospice on Thursday. "That's why Michael is trying to kill her. If she wakes up and gets rehabilitated, she can tell us what happened that night (in 1990) - that's one theory why he wants her dead and cremated. Why does he want her cremated? If you start connecting the dots, it paints an ugly picture."

Michael Schiavo's attorneys say the Schindler family's accusations are fabrications born of desperation as their legal fight has foundered over the years.

Schindler said a bone scan taken a year after his sister's mysterious collapse 13 years ago recently surfaced; it shows a history of trauma, including broken bones. Schindler lived in the same St. Petersburg apartment complex as his sister and brother-in-law in 1990. He says Michael Schiavo knew CPR but did not perform it the night Terri collapsed and was deprived of oxygen for 10 minutes. Schindler said his family and their doctors suspect Terri Schiavo was beaten and suffered brain damage.

Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, says the bone scan only shows the normal changes of a sedentary person in a nursing home.

Felos vowed again Thursday to challenge the governor's new law all the way to the Florida Supreme Court.

Arthur Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the world's leading bioethicists who spoke this week at the annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons in Chicago, says he thinks the law will tumble.

"I think the action by the governor and the state legislature is immoral and unconstitutional," he said. "When did the Florida Legislature decide it couldn't trust its courts? The principle here is: Let a spouse make the decisions for their loved ones because they know them best."

Caplan pointed out that courts have consistently ruled in favor of Michael Schiavo even though his wife's parents and siblings have alleged he abused her.

"Look at the evidence," he said. "They keep coming back and saying, no, he's not in it for life insurance; he's not in it because he doesn't care for her. It's just that (the biological family members) want to be the decision-maker."

Caplan said the case also has implications for couples without a marriage license.

"If you're not married, if you're gay, or a common-law wife or husband who've been together for a long time, if this law holds up, then your mom is going to make the decisions, not your partner. You have no legal rights. They're out the window."

As to Terri Schiavo's legal rights, they remain in the hands of her guardian, Michael Schiavo.

(Martinez reported from Florida; Kampert reported from Chicago; Chicago Tribune correspondent Peter Gorner contributed to this report.)

Thus, for the second time this week, Felos was left to explain to reporters Thursday the reasons his client continues to seek the removal of his wife's feeding tube.

That's a pretty skimpy argument for taking someone else's life.

This article forgot to mention that Michael Schiavo also blocked a priest from administering Holy Communion and Extreme Unction to her.

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AS yet another act of love.

I would bet a hundred dollars that it was Felos who made up the "promise" story and then told Schiavo to use it. That way Schiavo wouldn't look like a monster and nobody would be able to prove it's a lie.

Terri's supposed wish to die was never mentioned in earlier court proceedings. It would, indeed, be a highly unusual statement from a healthy young 26-year-old woman. Schiavo brought it up only later, when he stopped pretending to get therapy for her and started filing suit to kill her.

Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, says the bone scan only shows the normal changes of a sedentary person in a nursing home.

I am not a doctor, but I can't see that being in a nursing home even for ten years would result enough of a change in bone density that it could be interpreted as an break by someone analyzing the Xray.

>> AS yet another act of love.

Michael Schiavo is to love what Islam is to peace :-)

He would say something like, -5- "Hallelujah! You've made my day!" He would call me, as I was the nurse supervisor on the floor, and ask for every little detail about her temperature, blood pressure, etc., and would call back frequently asking if she was dead yet. He would blurt out "I'm going to be rich!" and would talk about all the things he would buy when Terri died, which included a new car, a new boat, and going to Europe, among other things.

I see two possibilities here: this guy is a complete and utter idiot, or, this woman is lying...

Definition of a bioethicist: One who earns his living rationalizing the murder of the weak, the hurt, the helpless, the old and the infirm.

A brilliant observation.

Wow, I hadn't seen that! Everyone should read it. Assuming there is no question of its authenticity, 20 million talk radio listeners should hear it.

I'd bet that Michael hides because he is LIVID that he NEARLY killed her and was interrupted legally. I believe that he'd give himself away of he spent too much time in the public eye. He has no shame. He couldn't. Look at how he is living - with another woman, one child and another on the way by her, introduces her as his finance etc..

I think Michael is hiding because he knows that the news that Terri's admission to the hospice is ILLEGAL and a CRIME IN PROGRESS making him vulnerable ot CITIZEN'S ARREST is starting to spread. I know that the illegal hospice admittance is a relatively minor crime but once investegators get a GENUINE CHARGE against him of any kind then they have probable cause for looking at all the other stuff as well.

31 posted on 10/23/2003 9:32:21 PM PDT by Coral Snake ((deathculture(HospiceOf TheFlorida$uncoast == Andersonville + Aushwitz); ))

Whoa, you nailed it:

"Definition of a bioethicist: One who earns his living rationalizing the murder of the weak, the hurt, the helpless, the old and the infirm."

Websters needs an update.

Michael Schiavo, why what's that they say? in hiding, his undying love has driven him into seclusion.

Not to mention that just about any normal guy would like to jack his jaw.

> this guy is a complete and utter idiot, or, this woman is lying...

My reading is that Schiavo is hot-tempered, vindictive and not very bright. (I don't think he had the guile or smarts to dream up this legalized murder scheme.) Felos is intelligent, cunning, focused on his "right-to-die" crusade, and mad as a hatter.

I hadn't heard of this nurse or read this affadavit before, but she's plainly a careful, trained observer and her words have the ring of truth.

Felos used this analogy as a window into his client's motivation: A couple is sitting around watching TV and sees a program about a horrible illness or an accident. They turn to each other and ask that they each not be kept alive artificially. "That's basically what happened between Terri and Michael, and he's just determined to keep his promise," Felos said. "I think he's unable to live the rest of his life if he walked away knowing he let Terri down and was unable to keep his

Why the hell (scuse my french) is Felos using an "analogy." Why isn't he telling exactly what was alleged to have happened?

Why the #%@*&!! is Felos using an "analogy." Why isn't he telling exactly what was alleged to have happened?

When you get a bioethicist as bioethical as Peter Singer, you'd have to expand the definition. He thinks it's fine to kill perfectly healthy babies and toddlers up to age two.

Obviously the man has no experience as a parent. It's when they are about 2 1/2 to 3 that you really want to strangle them, and then when they are teenagers and just impossible :-)

When you get a bioethicist as bioethical as Peter Singer, you'd have to expand the definition. He thinks it's fine to kill perfectly healthy babies and toddlers up to age two.

Obviously the man has no experience as a parent. It's when they are about 2 1/2 to 3 that you really want to strangle them, and then when they are teenagers and just impossible :-)

> Why isn't he telling exactly what was alleged to have happened?

Because nothing happened.

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