Was Terri Schiavo Beaten in 1990? (Nat Hentoff)

Village Voice ^ | November 14th, 2003 5:30 PM | Nat Hentoff

[nickcarraway]

Will There Be an Investigation in Time?

There is a new dimension in the fierce battle over whether Terri Schiavo's life is worth saving. A federally funded investigation has begun into certain medical judgments made by her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, including decisions in recent months. But more important is whether the inquiry will discover what actually caused Terri Schiavo's alleged cardiac arrest in 1990, which is said to be the reason her brain was deprived of oxygen, resulting in her condition for the past 13 years.

The degree to which this investigation is widely reported by the media may help determine whether Terri Schiavo lives or dies. Her husband is in court again to demand that her feeding tube be removed once more.

If the courts continue to support the husband, she may die before the investigation is completed. But even in that case, the results may lead to a change of state laws that could save other lives.

Conducting the investigation is the Advocacy Center for Persons With Disabilities (ACPD). Its website says it is "Florida's protection and advocacy program for persons with disabilities." As reported by Jeff Johnson on cnsnews.com (October 29), the agency has, according to its website, "the authority to investigate incidents of abuse and neglect when reported if there is probable cause to believe the incidents occurred."

As Jeff Johnson writes, "How quickly ACPD makes a determination will depend on how difficult it is for the agency to gain access to Mrs. Schiavo's medical records and to the people it needs to interview on both sides of the legal battle."

I have learned that ACPD has sent Michael Schiavo's lawyer a request that he authorize the release of Terri Schiavo's medical records. There was initial resistance, but the records have been turned over.

What gives this investigation the potential for a dramatic reassessment of previous court decisions on the legitimacy of Michael Schiavo's guardianship is in the lead of Jeff Johnson's story: "The Schindler family [Terri Schiavo's parents, who are fighting for her life] has found a new ally in the battle—one it did not seek out—in the person of a famed New York forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden." Former chief medical examiner for the city of New York and co-director of the Medicolegal Investigation Unit of the New York State Police, Dr. Baden is often quoted in news reports and interviewed on television.

In one such interview on Fox News Channel's On the Record With Greta Van Susteren, I heard Baden agree with a panel of lawyers that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, and will not recover. But on a subsequent October 24 appearance on that program, Dr. Baden had a different perspective on the origins of the Terri Schiavo case.

Baden had now seen a 1991 bone-scan report that cast considerable doubt on a claim in Michael Schiavo's successful medical malpractice suit, that Terri's brain injury was caused by a potassium imbalance that led to a heart attack depriving her brain of oxygen.

Dr. Baden, who has written three books on forensic pathology, told Van Susteren: "It's extremely rare for a 20-year-old to have a cardiac arrest from low potassium who has no other diseases . . . which she doesn't have. . . . The reason that she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five or eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain. That can happen because the heart stops for five or eight minutes, but she had a healthy heart from what we can see." (Emphasis added).

Dr. Baden then addressed the 1991 bone-scan report on Terri Schiavo, which was completed on March 5 of that year by Dr. W. Campbell Walker in order to "evaluate for trauma" that may have been caused by a suspected "closed head injury." In the report, Walker wrote:

"This patient has a history of trauma. The presumption is that the other multiple areas of trauma also relate to previous trauma." (Emphasis added).

Here we get to what focused Dr. Baden's attention. On cnsnews.com, Jeff Johnson reported, "Walker listed apparent injuries to the ribs, thoracic vertebrae, both sacroiliac joints, both ankles and both knees."

In his interview with Greta Van Susteren, Dr. Baden noted "that the bone scan describes her having a head injury . . . and head injury can lead to the 'vegetative state' that Mrs. Schiavo is in now."

But, Baden continued, the bone scan "does show evidence that there are other injuries, other bone fractures that are in a healing stage [in 1991]."

Those injuries could have happened, Baden continued, from "some kind of trauma. The trauma could be from an auto accident, the trauma could be from a fall, or the trauma could be from some kind of beating that she obtained from somebody somewhere. It's something that should have been investigated in 1991 . . . and maybe [it was] by police at that time." (Emphasis added).

Why not see if there was a police report on those traumas to Terri in 1990? The Advocacy Center for Persons With Disabilities should look into this during its investigation of possible incidents of abuse and neglect of Terri. Moreover, Pamela Hennessy, spokesperson for Terri's parents and her brother, told cnsnews.com, "This is what the family and their doctors have been saying for a number of years."

I asked Hennessy to clarify that statement. "From the beginning," she told me, "they had serious doubts as to the reason for Terri's collapse. Then, when they first heard about the bone-scan report in November of last year, they tried to file a report with the police on a possible battery on Terri. But the police wouldn't help them."

The family believes that after Terri and her husband had a violent argument earlier on the evening she collapsed, Terri might have been strangled later that night. Says Pat Anderson, the lawyer for Terri's parents:

"Governor Jeb Bush should order the state-wide prosecutor of Florida to convene a jury to investigate all of this." And the Advocacy Center for Persons With Disability has that 1991 bone-scan report. Will the courts wait for the investigations—or hurry to send her into eternity? Should Michael Schiavo have the guardianship power to terminate her?

[nickcarraway]

Here is Hentoff's previous article on Terri Schiavo(a must read):

A Woman's Life Versus an Inept Press (Nat Hentoff on Terri Schiavo)

[nickcarraway]

Here is the article he is referring to:

Doctor Says Schiavo Likely Victim of 'Some Kind of Trauma'

By Jeff Johnson

CNSNews.com Congressional Bureau Chief

October 28, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - One of the most important battles in the fight over the life or death of Terri Schindler Schiavo has been the professional opinions of dueling medical experts. But the Schindler family has found a new ally in that battle - one it did not seek out - in the person of a famed New York forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden.

Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, and his doctors won a $1.2 million medical malpractice lawsuit based on the claim that Terri's brain injury was caused by a three-stage progression of a potassium imbalance that caused a heart attack, depriving Terri's brain of oxygen. The Schindler family has long believed otherwise.

"It's extremely rare for a 20-year-old to have a cardiac arrest from low potassium who has no other diseases," Baden said Friday on Fox News Channel's On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, restating that such an occurrence would be "extremely unusual unless she had certain kind of diseases, which she doesn't have.

"She was in her 20s. The reason that she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five minutes or eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain," Baden explained. "That can happen because the heart stops for five or eight minutes, but she had a healthy heart from what we can see."

Baden has a different theory about what caused Terri's brain injury, based on a 1991 bone-scan report that only became available to the Schindlers in 1998.

"That bone scan describes her as having a head injury. That's why she's there. That's why she's getting a bone scan," Baden explained, "and a head injury can cause, lead to the 'vegetative state' that Ms. Schiavo is [allegedly] in now."

Dr. W. Campbell Walker completed the March 7, 1991, bone scan, which was requested to "evaluate for trauma" as the result of a suspected "closed head injury."

"This patient has a history of trauma," Walker wrote. "The presumption is that the other multiple areas of abnormal activity also relate to previous trauma."

[PhiKapMom]

This is some startling information that needs checked out ASAP. This would really shed a different light on the situation and explain her husband's actions even more.

He should have absolutely NO say in the matter if there is even a hint this could be true.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[spokeshave]

Bump for truth

[knuthom]

Was the 1991 bone scan done before or after the malpractice trial?

[WillRain]

bump for later reference

[nickcarraway]

Before

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

I understand the hospital did file a report but authorities chose not to investigate.

Someone has connections.

[knuthom]

Hmm.....was the medical defense given that part of the medical report before the trial? If yes, then the lawyers did a lousy job. If no, is there a legal remedy now?

[PhilDragoo]

Michael Schmucko beat her and caused the nerve damage.

Now he wants to keep it covered up by killing her--to get the money.

Terry McAuliffe is eying him as a potential v.p. on a Hitlery ticket: Hitlery-Mengele.

[RLK]

I have learned that ACPD has sent Michael Schiavo's lawyer a request that he authorize the release of Terri Schiavo's medical records. There was initial resistance, but the records have been turned over.

----------------------

What's left of the records and what is wanted to be seen have been turned over.

[Aliska]

The bone scan was made March 5, 1991. The malpractice award was in 1992.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

they tried to file a report with the police on a possible battery on Terri. But the police wouldn't help them.

Doesn't it seem odd that this case is stopped at every turn? Why would the police not help? Why didn't the parents' dumb lawyer do something?

Have they gotten rid of their dumb lawyer yet?

The bone scan was from 1991 - 12 years ago!!!

What is wrong with the parents that they would simply let something like that go? I've seen the parents and they are so passive, it's frightening. What they needed was a lawyer to get them through all this - but the lawyer doesn't know what she's doing, either.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

What info do you have on the malpractice suit? This is the first I'm hearing about it. Who was it against?

[MHGinTN]

"Governor Jeb Bush should order the state-wide prosecutor of Florida ..." And one must ask, "Why does the Governor still hold off doing this?" There are people who want Terri dead. The governor's personality isn't going to restrain such ghouls, so why has he not taken more definitive action to get law enforcement involved in protecting Terri (his law enforcement people, as chief law enforcement officer in Flordia). There is a growing smell to this case that isn't rising fromn the ghouls Felos, Greer, and Michaerl Schaivo, I'm sorry to say. Perhaps something rotten even beyond the Flordia court system.

[JennysCool]

Viva Hentoff!

[Future Useless Eater]

the trauma could be from some kind of beating that she obtained from somebody

Good article. Great to hear the ACPD may be doing something soon!

• Terri was getting ready to divorce Michael.
• The broken bones suggest a beating, AND her neck showed signs of STRANGULATION.
• Michael would not call 911 right away.
• He is the only one who can tell us what happened to her that night, yet he has 'modified' his story significantly many times.
• This same man, now with a new common-law wife and new children has enormous conflicts of interest and should not be her guardian.
• He conveniently remembered she wanted to die EIGHT years after the 'accident' (and shortly after hiring a well known right-to-die attorney)
• He stands to gain a great deal of money (trust funds, life insurance, book deals, movie rights) if only Terri would hurry up and die.
• Terri CAN swallow, and can communicate(a little), and can get better.
• A group of judges across several levels of 'the courts' in middle Florida are colluding with Michael and Felos to kill Terri.

  ---

  
        "Where there's life, there's hope."
        -Terri Schiavo ( arguing with her best friend Diane Meyer ) angrily PROMOTING LIFE FOR the comatose
  -Kate Adamson ( former vegetative patient nearly starved to death ) "Its VERY painful... Its SHEER torture!"
  -Michael Schiavo (teaching Terri she can NEVER DIVORCE him) minutes before her 'collapse'
  -Michael's 1993 girlfriend ("he can be the most INCREDIBLY MEAN person!")
  -link to latest TV coverage/interviews           Contact FoxNews
  
  

[sonsofliberty2000]

What I never understood and should be looked at, is why does he try so hard and, he has to be, spend so much money on trying to kill her? What is he hiding?

Patriot Paradox

[nickcarraway]

The malpractice suit was against Terri's doctor or doctors.