Terri responding to her mother in video clip available on terrisfight.org
Posted on 01/05/2005 12:26:07 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Wednesday, January 5, 2005
LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR
Surprised lawyer finds
Terri Schiavo alert
1st visit contradicts claims of 'persistent vegetative state'
Despite the widely believed claims of her husband, Terri Schiavo is purposefully interactive, curious and expressive with her parents, according to a surprised lawyer who visited for the first time the brain-damaged Florida woman embroiled in a euthanasia dispute.
Terri responding to her mother in video clip available on terrisfight.org |
After a 45-minute visit Christmas Eve, attorney Barbara Weller concluded Schiavo was so alert that she "should have been gathered around the Christmas dinner table enjoying the holiday with her family."
Weller, along with attorney David Gibbs, took over the lead counsel role in September for Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who are in a protracted legal battle with her husband, Michael Schiavo, to keep their daughter alive.
Gibbs also was present during the Dec. 24 visit.
Not knowing what to expect, Weller said in a narrative posted on the family website she "prepared for the possibility that the Schindlers love their daughter and sister so much that they might imagine behaviors by Terri that aren't actually evident to others."
But she was "very surprised" to find that, "From the moment we entered the room, my impression was that Terri was very purposeful and interactive and she seemed very curious about the presence of obvious strangers in her room."
Noting that Terri was not in bed but dressed and groomed and sitting in a chair without any tubes attached, Weller wrote:
The thing that surprised me the most about Terri as I took my turn to greet her by the side of her chair was how beautiful she is. I would have expected to see someone with a sallow and gray complexion and a sick looking countenance. Instead, I saw a very pretty woman with a peaches and cream complexion and a lovely smile, which she even politely extended to me as I introduced myself to her. I was amazed that someone who had not been outside for so many years and who received such minimal health care could look so beautiful. She appeared to have an inner light radiating from her face. I was truly taken aback by her beauty, particularly under the adverse circumstances in which she has found herself for so many years.
As WorldNetDaily has reported, Terri collapsed in 1990 in the couple's St. Petersburg apartment. For reasons never satisfactorily explained, oxygen to her brain was cut off for several minutes, leaving her unable to talk and dependent on a feeding tube for food and hydration at the age of 26.
In a 2000 trial, Michael Schiavo persuaded Florida probate Judge George Greer that Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state," which in the absence of a written directive, allowed Michael Schiavo to request removal of her feeding tube.
In November, however, Greer ruled the tube cannot be removed until the Schindlers have exhausted all avenues in their quest for a new trial to determine whether or not their daughter would want to be starved to death.
Michael Schiavo insists he simply is carrying out his wife's wishes, but Terri's parents contend Terri is alert, has a strong will to live and could be significantly rehabilitated with aggressive therapy. More than a dozen physicians, therapists and speech pathologists have stepped forward to state agreement with the Schindlers.
The parents also assert Michael Schiavo's interests are conflicted since he has lived with another woman for at least nine years with whom he has had two children.
Weller said that during the visit Dec. 24, "Terri's parents, sister and niece went immediately to greet Terri when we entered the room and stood in turn directly beside her head, stroking her face, kissing her and talking quietly with her.
"When she heard their voices, and particularly her mother's voice, Terri instantly turned her head towards them and smiled," Weller continued. "Terri established eye contact with her family, particularly with her mother, who spent the most time with her during our visit."
Weller said the "whole experience was rather moving."
"Terri definitely has a personality," she said. "Her whole demeanor definitely changes when her mother speaks with her. She lights up and appears to be delighted at the interaction. She has an entirely different reaction to her father who jokes with her and has several standing jokes that he uses when he enters and exits her presence."
Weller said she "never imagined Terri would be so active, curious, and purposeful."
"She watched people intently, obviously was attempting to communicate with each one in various ways and with various facial expressions and sounds," she said. "She was definitely not in a coma, not even close. This visit certainly shed more light for me on why the Schindlers are fighting so hard to protect her, to get her medical care and rehabilitative assistance, and to spend all they have to protect her life."
Court documents and other information are posted on the Schindler family website.
Links to all "Terri briefs" regarding the governor's defense of Terri's Law are on the Florida Supreme Court website, public information.
You make such a good point, and I find it truly disturbing to know that there are so many who don't care about truth anymore.
Yes, he is!
I think they should be charged and convicted! How I wish they would be!
Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know here or by FReepmail.
Sure makes sense to me to go on offense!
This is a fine article. When the chips are down, Terri continues to amaze and astound. She's her own best witness.
OUR PROSECUTORS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, JUDGES, THE ACLU and programs that are supposed to protect Terri make a mockery of the US Constitution.
All I can say is HOW DARE THEY? Judge Greer hasn't seen Terri in years and he says there is clear and convincing evidence that she wants her feeding tube pulled. IF JUDGE GREER WASN'T LEGALLY BLIND, MAYBE HE WOULD SEE A LOT OF THINGS. He's just a puppet anyway.
Happy New Year Terri.
Dr. Michael Baden opined that from looking at Terri's bone scan which was uncovered by an alert volunteer, that she was strangled. You know, a person can be strangled from behind and then there's no marks in the front. Or, she was hit really hard from behind and didn't know what hit her. Terri's bone scan is available on line. It even comes up on an image search.
Since the Judges are outta control and who really knows why they are beholding to the hubby's attorneys, Terri needs U.S. Federal relief.
The State of Florida except for Jeb Bush is covering for someone else. Getting rid of Terri is their job protection plan.
I don't think Terri should pay with her life for bureaucrats lawyers and judges' diabolical ties to what has occurred thus far.
True, sad to say.
Amen.
Then, number three bozo: Judge David Demers who terminated a real guardian ad litem Jay Wolfson who recommended swallowing tests. (well that just could not happen!).
I have nothing against people in their sixties or seventies, or any age. BUT, THESE JUDGES ARE ALL OLD GUYS AND THEY ARE SET IN THEIR WAYS AND THEY'VE MADE SOME VERY BAD DECISIONS. What's under the surface or the table so to speak? This just isn't right... Not at all. So, we come to free republic and try to expose the truth.
Terri's life depends on it. There's no reason for this. No reason at all.
Thanks, NYer!
"Greer is incompetent."
I followed this case intently early last year and I gathered that Greer may or may not be incompetent, but he sure is a corrupt judge.
Free Terri. Free her NOW!
I've seen Greer at a townhall meeting. He was asked a question and his response was "I dunno.". Believe it. He's incompetent and corrupt, just what every American wants in a judge.
Thanks for the great fight you've put up for Terri over the years. I read you here last year.
God bless you and may you have a happy and health New Year.
It also seems to me the way you say...this lawyer knows the claims of both sides, and they are so different, so opposite, that she was waiting to see for herself which side's claims were closest to Terri's actual physical condition. I feel that she believes in the {legal} case of the Schiavos, but had not yet seen evidence of Terri's {physical} state of being, and was very impressed.
I think he is both corrupt and incompetent. I have followed Terri's case intently since I joined Free Republic. She's my reason for going from lurking to posting!
You said it much better than I. Thank you!
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