The Interview That Wasn't Michael Schiavo got the usual Larry King softballs.

The Weekly Standard ^ | 10/28/2003 | Wesley J. Smith

[aculeus]

Here are the questions King should have asked.

MICHAEL SCHIAVO, Terri Schiavo's husband, finally went on national television last night to tell the world his side of the story. Appearing on "Larry King Live," he strived mightily to play the loving husband. Until more than half way through the interview, when King got around to tentatively asking Schiavo whether or not it is true that he has a girlfriend. (King, who must have known the answer, somehow failed to mention that Schiavo has already sired two children with this woman, who he calls his fiancé.)

The loving husband answered, "I'm lucky. I have two great women to love." He then paused to take a swipe at Terri's mom, "My girlfriend has done more for Terri than her own mother." Asked what that might be, Schiavo answered, "She washed her clothes."

THAT EXCHANGE should have opened the door to some very interesting conversation. King could have asked Schiavo if he is raising children with another woman--a matter finally brought up by a caller near the end of the show--why he should continue to have any say over Terri's care, given that the sanctity of the marriage vows he took are no longer operable. King didn't, of course, which is precisely the reason why people in the center of heated public controversies like to go on his show.

There are a number of questions King should have asked Schiavo:

(1) Why did Schiavo tell a medical malpractice jury in 1992 that Terri would live a normal life span? After Terri's collapse, Schiavo sued for medical malpractice. Under civil law, the longer Terri was expected to live, the larger the verdict would probably be. This fact of legal life could explain why Michael presented evidence to the malpractice jury not only that Terri would likely live a normal life span but also that he intended to be a good and loyal husband and care for her for the rest of his life.

(2) Why did Schiavo have a rehabilitation expert testify in front of the malpractice jury to present a detailed plan of therapy for Terri? Schiavo and his lawyer claimed that Terri is incapable of improving physically, but during the 1992 trial, a rehabilitation plan and its anticipated undertaking provided one of the underpinnings for the jury's $1.3 million award. Of that money, Schiavo received $300,000, lawyers' fees were paid, and about $750,000 was put in trust to pay for Terri's rehabilitation.

(3) Given that the jury awarded $750,000 to be used in part for Terri's therapy, why hasn't Schiavo provided any rehabilitation for her since 1991? When asked by King about the issue of rehab, Schiavo described some early efforts to help Terri, such as an experimental surgery in 1990. But he never identified when this rehab took place.

Which is an important point. The only efforts ever undertaken to improve Terri's condition took place in 1990 and 1991. They had ceased by the time of the malpractice trial in 1992 because her insurance coverage had run out. Indeed, the pressing need to restart therapy was an urgent part of the malpractice case. It could have--and should have--paid to restart the rehabilitation that had been abandoned due to lack of funds.

Once Terri's $750,000 was in the bank, however, Schiavo would not approve a single cent of it to be spent on rehabilitation. Not only that, but once the money was in the bank, Schiavo ordered a "do not resuscitate" order placed on Terri's chart so that if she had a cardiac event, the doctors would not attempt to save her. And within a few months of the money being deposited, Schiavo also refused to permit curative treatments, such as antibiotics for infections. If Terri had died during the early or mid-1990s, as Schiavo's orders were designed, he would have inherited somewhere around $700,000.

The issue of Terri's money did come up several times during last night's interview. Schiavo assured King he isn't in it for the money because there is only about $50,000 left in Terri's estate.

(4) Is it true that Terri's money has paid for attorneys to make her dead, instead of therapists to make her better? The answer is, unquestionably, yes. According to court records, George Felos, the dutiful "right to die" attorney who sat at Schiavo's side on King's show, has been paid over $350,000 from Terri's trust fund. Another of Schiavo's attorneys, Debra Bushnell, has received about $90,000. These two lawyers alone have received more than half of Terri's entire trust.

According to court records, when Schiavo began his quest to pull Terri's feeding tube in 1998, she had more than $700,000 in the bank. This was primarily because Schiavo generally refused to authorize payments for any nursing home services on Terri's behalf beyond the basics of room and board. Thus, only about $50,000 was paid on her behalf in the five years following the jury verdict. Since 1998, about $650,000 (not taking into account any earnings from the fund) has gone out--not for therapy, but primarily for lawyers.

And yet on "Larry King" Schiavo went so far as to suggest that Bob Schindler, Terri's father, is fighting to save Terri's life because he wants her money.

(5) So how could Terri's father make any money off the case? Schiavo's story is that once Schindler became Terri's guardian, he would get her a divorce, and then he would stop her food and fluids. The alleged point of such a scheme being that as next of kin, the Schindlers would inherit their daughter's money.

This sounds like a mighty stretch, particularly given that Bob Schindler has spent every nickel he has--including his entire retirement fund--desperately trying to save his daughter's life. If Bob Schindler is a venal man, he has a funny way of showing it.

Schiavo told King that his falling out with his father-in-law occurred in February 1993, when Schindler demanded a share of the proceeds in Terri's trust fund. But Schindler and his wife Mary tell a different story. They claim that the argument was over their insistence that the long-suspended rehabilitation recommence, since there was finally money available to pay for it. They contend that the breach of relationship occurred because Schiavo refused. The behavior of both parties since seems much more consistent with this story than with Schiavo's version of events.

Too bad Larry King didn't ask.

Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and an attorney and consultant for the International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide. He is the author of Forced Exit: The Slippery Slope from Assisted Suicide to Legalized Murder."

© Copyright 2003, News Corporation, Weekly Standard, All Rights Reserved.

[Jackie-O]

Here are last nights LKL transcripts.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/27/lkl.00.html
I miss the broadcasts, but from reading the transcripts and seeing various reations from Terri's family, this guy is a selfish, coldblooded, controlling, liar.

[shhrubbery!]

I'm no Michael Baden fan, but one important difference here is that in the O.J. case, Baden was hired to find holes in the prosecution's case. And thanks to the sloppiness of the forensic work, he found plenty.

But can you find anything unfactual about Baden's testimony?

In Terri's case, Baden has absolutely no financial interest. No one from the Schindler family hired him or had anything to do with him.

Why would Baden volunteer his opinion of Schiavo's culpability and thereby risk being sued for slander, if he didn't think he stood on very firm ground?

[shhrubbery!]

I'm no Michael Baden fan, but one important difference here is that in the O.J. case, Baden was hired to find holes in the prosecution's case. And thanks to the sloppiness of the forensic work, he found plenty.

But can you find anything unfactual about Baden's testimony?

In Terri's case, Baden has absolutely no financial interest. No one from the Schindler family hired him or had anything to do with him.

Why would Baden volunteer his opinion of Schiavo's culpability and thereby risk being sued for slander, if he didn't think he stood on very firm ground?

[lugsoul]

Well, her own family says he stopped "rehab", not medical treatment, in 1193, not 01-00. The CA experimental treatment extended past the timeframe you state. Even physical therapy extended past the time frame you state.

[shhrubbery!]

Sorry about double post.

[lugsoul]

First, self-aggrandizement is Baden's game.

Second, I am sure you know that an "opinion" is not defamation.

Third, of course there are faults in Baden's O.J. testimony, if you believe O.J. did it. He testified under oath that, in his EXPERT opinion, there were at least two killers. He testified that the crime scene evidence didn't point to O.J. because it was unreliable. Do you believe that? Are you THAT invested in the Schiavo case that you'll believe THIS hack?

[lugsoul]

What is more interesting is that the only supposed "words" she is documented to have possibly stated in recent years are "no" and "unh-uh" in response to efforts to perform medical procedures.

[Quester]

I said treating physicians.

Well, you do realize that any treating physicians have been hand-picked by Michael Schiavo, don't you ?

[isrul]

The article at the beginning of this thread claims Schiavo has provided no rehab since 1991.

There is no treatment, I am aware of, for this woman's disability other than rehab.

So again I must ask you; What type of "treatment" are you referring to?

If the article is not factual will you please provide a link to more accurate information regarding either/or rehab and treatment?

[lugsoul]

yes, and I'm sure they are all corrupt and ignore their oath at michael's bidding. /s

[Quester]

What is more interesting is that the only supposed "words" she is documented to have possibly stated in recent years are "no" and "unh-uh" in response to efforts to perform medical procedures.

Is there any documentation that she said "no" and "unh-uh" to food and water ?

[lugsoul]

www.terrisfight.org

[Quester]

yes, and I'm sure they are all corrupt and ignore their oath at michael's bidding. /s

Certainly, if you can doubt the opinions of nine physicians because their testimonies were solicited for the court case, ... I can doubt the opinions of physicians that Michael Schiavo paid.

[I still care]

"She has no awareness, no consciousness. She's in a contracted state. Her hands, her arms, her legs are contracted." - Michael Schiavo, on Larry King.

OK, let's let someone with expertise in this area handle this one, because I don't know. But one of the nurses testified that Michael wouldn't let her give range of motion exercises to ease contractures or put a cloth in her hand to keep her hands from closing. He wanted her to have no therapy at all, she said. (Michael claimed the nurses are just mad and lying in their affidavits cause he yelled at them.)

So who is telling the truth here. If she had gotten proper therapy, would she be totally contracted?

[Honestfreedom]

As much as I side with the Schindlers and against the culture of death, I would not take Michael Baden's words to the bank. He likes to stir the pot and was happy to tell all kinds of fairy tales for OJ Simpson's trial.

[MarMema]

If she had gotten proper therapy, would she be totally contracted?

If she had gotten therapy she would be much less contracted, I think.

[Concerned]

LUGSOUL ASKED MARMEMA: "...can you name a single treating physician of Terri who hasn't said she's gone?"

I AM RESPONDING: "Lugsoul, are you KIDDING??? I can't think of a single physician---of the PARENTS' CHOICE---that "LOVING" Hitleresque-husband Michael would ALLOW to get NEAR Terri, much less "TREAT" her!!!

I AM ADDING: "But there HAVE been a NUMBER of medical Doctors and Nurses who have examined the few medical records available, who have said Terri COULD be REHABBED and her condition improved."

[MarMema]

Thank you, concerned. That said she will still be very disabled, of course.

The issue is really, not can she improve, but do we kill the disabled if they cannot improve?

Since we are perhaps not disabled, we can't really make this choice in a very educated manner for ourselves. Perhaps we would be at a place where we could not walk or talk but could see our grandchild and smell the baby smell of this child. That might be enough to make life worthwhile for many of us. There is some balalaika music that I find to be so incredible that I would find much of life worthwhile if I could hear it.

That said, there are some facts about life with a serious disability available.

86% of spinal cord injured high-level quadriplegics rated their quality of life as average or better than average. Only 17% of their ER doctors, nurses, and technicians thought they would have an average or better quality of life if they acquired quadriplegic (KA Gerhart et al., Annals of Emergency Medicine, 1994, vol. 23, 807-812).

No differences were found between 190 physically disabled persons and 195 "able bodied" persons on ratings of life satisfaction, frustration with life or mood (P Cameron et al., Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1973, vol. 41, 207- 214).

The duration of disability was positively related with acceptance of disability in persons with spinal cord injury-related paralysis. Severity of disability was of no importance in accepting life with a disability (F Woodrich & JB Patterson, Journal of Rehabilitation, 1983, July-Sept., 26-30).

60% of paraplegics reported feelings more positively about themselves since becoming disabled (C Ray & J West, Paraplegia, 1984, vol. 22, 75-86).

Interviews and tests administered to 133 persons with severe mobility disabilities revealed no differences between them and the nondisabled norm on psychosocial measures. In another study, no significant difference was found between persons with severe disabilities (requiring wheelchair use and daily personal assistance) and persons with no disabilities on quality of life measures (R Stensman, Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 1985, vol. 17, 87-99).

In a study of life satisfaction of quadriplegics, fewer than a third of those who used ventilators expressed dissatisfaction with their lives. There is evidence that life satisfaction scores are higher in persons who have had more time to adjust to disability (JR Bach & MC Tilton, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1994, vol. 75, 626-632).

Spinal cord injured rehabilitation patients were similar to the general population on self-ratings of depression, yet hospital staff consistently overestimated the patients' level of depression (LA Cushman & MP Dijkers, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 1990, vol. 71, 191-196.

Three-quarters of persons with spinal cord injuries rated their quality of life as good or excellent. Amount of paralysis made no difference, but people who used ventilators rated their quality of life higher than those not needing ventilators (GG Whiteneck et al., Rocky Mountain Spinal Cord Injury System Report to the National Institute of Handicapped Research, 1985, 29-33.

Elderly paralyzed veterans rated their quality of life higher than similarly aged men without disabilities (MG Eisenberg & CC Saltz, Paraplegia, 1991, vol. 29, 514-520).

[lugsoul]

And anyone who's ever come within a mile of litigation knows that there is a difference between the opinions of doctors who actually have a doctor/patient relationship and doctors who read some records or maybe examine the patient once.

[Houmatt]

What the hell is that supposed to mean?