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?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.