Posted on 03/17/2005 7:33:14 AM PST by booksaver
TERRI SCHIAVO EXPENSES
Taxpayers, hospice pay for Schiavo medical care
Medicaid has been paying for Terri Schiavo's medications, and a hospice has provided free care.
BY PHIL LONG
plong@herald.com
Who's paying for Terri Schiavo's care?
Taxpayers -- and a St. Petersburg area hospice, which provides daily care for free.
Money that Schiavo's husband, Michael, received as part of a medical malpractice lawsuit in his wife's case in 1993 is almost gone, said Deborah Bushnell, one of Michael Schiavo's lawyers.
Of the $700,000 payment, only about $50,000 is left, Bushnell said. The rest went to pay for medical care for Schiavo, who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, and for legal fees in the battle over her fate, she said.
Medicaid, the state and federal program that pays medical costs for the poor and indigent, has been picking up the tab for Schiavo's medications for two years, Bushnell said, while the hospice provides care for free.
HOSPICE
Louise Cleary, spokeswoman for Woodside Hospice, the 72-bed center where Terri Schiavo has been in Pinellas Park, said she could not discuss Schiavo's case, but the average cost of care is about $80,000 a year.
''We are a not-for-profit hospice,'' Cleary said. Although most patients have private insurance or state or federal coverage for the medically indigent, some don't have coverage. ''We never turn a patient away who needs us. Never,'' Cleary said.
LEGAL COSTS
With the money in the fund nearly exhausted, Bushnell said neither she nor attorney George Felos have been paid in more than two years. Throughout the case, she said, she has been paid a total of $80,309 and Felos $358,434. A judge approves all legal costs, she said, adding that Michael Schiavo does not have control over the guardianship fund.
At the hospice, the bulk of Schiavo's expenses are in her daily care provided by the center. She does not require much medicine, Bushnell said. Schiavo is given occasional pain medication, Bushnell said.
Terri Ping!
So Michael Schiavo has spent at least $440,000 of Terry's therapy settlement on lawyers for the purpose of killing, not rehabilitating, her and the Miami Herald wants to portray her as a burden on society.
This story is a bunch of garbage. The Herald has been portraying Terry's case as a right-to-die case right along, despite the lack of a living will.
Proof that she is not sick. Yet she is housed in a place for the dying. Why?
She may not require "much medicine" but she does require feeding tubes, that's not something you can do at home. Or maybe it is. That's my guess.
You can do feeding tubes at home, but they require care. During my father's final illness, we learned to manage them quite easily. It only takes a little training. I'm not sure what other kind of care Terri requires.
So someone must be willing or able to provide this kind of loving care at home apparently.
I am unable to access the full article let me guess is there No mention of the fact Mikey used a portion of the money to pay the death squad. No mention that her parents want her out of hospice and home. No mention that she has been illegaly incarcerated in hospice for the last several years. No mention that Mikey is supporting a new sweetie and two children. No mention of the house and the mercedes. No mention that medicaid fraud is more of a problem than legitimate use of medicaid funds.
Child of God...
We pray those judicial sinners...
Do not cause the hour of thy death...
Amen !!!
.
I am unable to access the full article let me guess is there No mention of the fact Mikey used a portion of the money to pay the death squad. No mention that her parents want her out of hospice and home. No mention that she has been illegaly incarcerated in hospice for the last several years. No mention that Mikey is supporting a new sweetie and two children. No mention of the house and the mercedes. No mention that medicaid fraud is more of a problem than legitimate use of medicaid funds.
Because her husband demanded she be placed there, rather than in a proper facility. His creepy shyster is a director of the hospice, I kid you not.
My mother n law had a feeding tube at home. It is not a very big deal medically speaking.
Also, the full article is posted above.
I thought her parents wanted to take her home.
I don't really know. I'm searching for that information now.
High priced lawyers, defending serial philanderers who desired the deaths of their wives. Separated at birth?
Hospices are not for rehabilitation. They are for terminal patients, with no hope of living.
Here we go. The lawyers basically sucked up the
money....
Sorry, there have been many, many posts on other threads, complaining about the potential outlay of taxpayer money on Terri Schiavo's upkeep.
Why is this author writing on this subject? What is the author's purpose in bringing this up, particularly just as the fight to preserve Ms Schivo's life is at a critical juncture? Might it be a subtle attempt to make those people on the fence about this issue think that perhaps it's wasteful to spend money on Ms Schiavo, when her husband is trying to end her life?
As I pointed out, the money potentially spent on Ms Schiavo will keep her alive, as opposed to money spent (taxpayer funds), now spent on mainstreaming severely disabled children, who are unable to participate in any meaningful way in a classroom.
Call me jaded, but I suspect the author's motives in writing on this subject, at this point in time.
Maybe the Schindler's want to move her to another facility. But they have repeated cited doctors' claims that she can be rehabilitated. See:http://www.lifenews.com/bio627.html
I can't speak to his motivations. I, for one, do not think that Medicaid is a waste when preserving lives. I don't accept the "quality of life" argument either. All life is precious as far as I'm concerned. Even severely disabled children's.
I wonder how they know when to administer it?
I had not read the full article as I was unable to access it. I used the term death squad to describe Mikey and Greer and others who seem so set on seeing Terri die. As for fraud it was just an aside to the question about who pays. Since the big concern seemed to be that Medicaid through its taxpayer funding was paying, I just thought I would bring up that there are more serious problems with Medicaid than legitimate patient care payments.
Where on earth did you come up with that number?
If he received $700,000 in 1993, it's not so hard to believe that 12 years later most of it has gone towards her medical bills.
He's a reporter. "Who pays" is a question on people's minds in this case. He's not making that up.
How about illegals? Are there lives as precious? Can anyone come here and have their lives paid for? The truth is everyday life and death decisions are made. This is not different.
Also, a good question. It's been reported that she laughs, cries, interacts with her parents. Maybe she also acts in ways that make them believe she's in pain. Just a guess, of course.
I added the fees of Michael's two lawyers.
Terri ping! If anyone would like to be added to or removed from my Terri ping list, please let me know by FReepmail!
You don't think that any of it has gone to Terri's bills from the past 12 years?
When the money is gone, Michael's phoney friends, the judge and the laywer, will no longer remember his name.
Well, you got it half right. All the money ismostly gone. But it sure didn't go for any rehab or care. That all ended when Mikey deposited the check in 1992. Here is an accounting of the funds(including pre-payment of her cremation with Greer's blessing from funds that were intended for her rehab):
| Summary of expenses paid from Terri’s 1.2 Million Dollar medical trust fund (jury awarded 1992) | ||||||||||
|
NOTE: In his November 1993 Petition Schiavo alleges the 1993 guardianship asset balance as $761,507.50
|
||||||||||
After 11 years of interference with carrying out his wifes request her husband has been forced into a lifestyle that he wouldn't have gone to had he been allowed to carry out her wishes.
This is Michael's $400,000 house, complete with an oval pool in the back yard. He and his "fiancee" have his and her Mercedes. All this on a nurses salary??? What a tough lifestyle to be "forced" into, wouldn't you say??
Well, that's just an impossible burden on our health system and on our budget. My point is life and death decisions are made for a variety of reasons. It's unreasonable to think that the US can keep everyone alive no matter the cost.
If Terri's funds would have been used properly and she lived at home where those who are disabled usually do live her financial independance would not be an issue.
Homecare is better and more economical then nursing homes.
I recently learned that in our State of Oregon most severly disabled careproviders in home recieve $1200.00 to $2000.00 dollars and healthcare needs are covered by the State.
So Michael only received $10,000? So what's his motivation in this? And please don't give me the "he wants to murder her because she'll one day wake up and tell the world he tried to kill her." That doesn't fly because for the first five years he tried everything, in front of everybody, to make her better. What's his motivation? It's not money....
Yes you can do g tube feedings at home no problem also many home health care medical needs can be done at home and much better than in a facility with umpteen people just "doing a job".
Don't get me wrong there are those who care about the needs of their patients in these facilities but you also have drones that are clueless also.
I know personally the having someone come in twice a week for 9hrs for my respite is hard as they have to be constantly breifed on daily care needs.
My son had to temp. stay in a facility when I was by emergency hospitalized for a week and the care, even though I supplied all his medical supplies, sucked. Imagine no one changing his g tube stoma site pad for days at a time when normally I do it twice a day to keep the site healthy. Could lost the site meaning major surgery to put in a new one due to infection. The list goes on how half ass the care was, it is a small town and people reported back to me first hand.
I changed my diet and pay more attention to my health so that will never be an issue so help me God.
Terri could be at home or in a group home for the disabled that is sooo much better.
Unbelievable! HINO got $2.25 million from the lawsuit! And this lawyer says it was only $700,000 and $500,000 went to her and that slime (felos). Where did the rest of Terri's funds go? Something really stinks bigtime! God Bless terri and her family and save them from this HINO and Partners in Torture and Death.How many others have been tortured and murdered there?
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