Michael Schiavo to Bush: Come down to visit Terri

WorldNetDaily ^ | 3/21/05 | Sarah Foster

[wagglebee]

Michael Schiavo, reportedly angered by the latest developments in Washington, has done an about-face in his longstanding position of not allowing visitors to meet his estranged wife, Terri, the brain-injured Florida woman whose right to live is at the heart of a cliff-hanging euthanasia battle.

According to the St. Petersburg Times, Schiavo invited both President Bush and his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, to visit Terri at the hospice where she is undergoing a court-ordered starvation death after her feeding tube was removed Friday.

"Come down, President Bush," Schiavo said in the Times interview Saturday. "Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won't do it.

She won't, because she can't, said Schiavo.

"Terri died 15 years ago," he said, referring to her collapse in 1990 that cut off oxygen to her brain, leaving her seriously brain injured and unable to talk.

A handful of physicians say she is in a persistent vegetative state -- that is, she may seem to be alert and awake, but the smiles and laughter she exhibits are simply reflex actions. Florida law permits removal of feeding tubes from patients who are PVS.

More than 40 physicians and therapists have weighed in on the side of Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, who maintain she is aware, though seriously impaired, and could improve with therapy.

Regarding his invitation to the president, Schiavo said he made a similar offer to Gov. Bush last week but has not had a reply.

Schiavo described U.S. House Majority Leader Bill Frist, who led the effort to extend Terri's life, as a "little slithering snake" pandering for votes.

"To make coments that Terri would want to live, how do they [members of Congress] know?" he asked.

"What color are her eyes?" he demanded. "What's her middle name? What's her favorite color? They don't have any clue who Terri is. They should all be ashamed of themselves."

Schiavo's invitations to the president and his brother represent an exception to his long-standing ban on visitors, which has kept Terri in near-total seclusion at the Woodside Hospice Facility in Pinellas Park, Fla. Only her parents and siblings are allowed ready access. All others, including her priest and the attorneys representing her parents, may visit only when accompanied by an immediate family member.

Nancy Valko, a critical care nurse in St. Louis activist on euthanasia and related pro-life issues, reacted with caution to Schiavo's invitation to the president and governor.

"Hopefully, Terri is not being sedated or is too debilitated now from the dehydration to be seen, but it doesn't look good if Michael is saying this," she commented. "Personally, I think the fear of having Terri seen by the authorities and/or public is what was behind the quick removal of feedings Friday. Otherwise, why has Michael refused to allow pictures or to allow Terri outside?"

Except when she is taken to a whirlpool bath, Terri never leaves her room -- not even to attend functions offered all other residents, such as sing-alongs and concerts. This past Christmas, when "Santa Claus" visited the hospice, her door was kept firmly shut to prevent the jolly gentleman from catching a glimpse of her, and she of him. Carolers, too, were barred.

Even Judge George Greer, who has presided over the contentious case since September 1999, has not met Terri, having been persuaded by Schiavo's attorney, "right-to-die" advocate George Felos, not to visit her at the nursing home where she then was living.

On January 10, 2000 - just days before the trial that sealed Terri's fate was scheduled to begin - attorney Pamela Campbell, who represented Terri's parents, formally asked Greer if he would visit the disabled woman so he could see for himself how alert she is.

At a hearing on the matter, Felos argued that since both parties had agreed Terri was in a persistent vegetative state, to observe the patient was futile and unnecessary.

The judge accepted Felos' arguments, rejecting the opportunity to see for himself the woman whose life was in his hands.

The ban on visitation, which Schiavo defends as a necessary protection of his wife's privacy, came after a short video was played to the court during the 2000 trial, showing Terri alert and interacting with her parents.

The video, played at the trial over the objections of Felos, later was released to the public and run on a local TV channel.

Upon seeing the tape on TV, three physicians contacted the Schindlers offering to help.

Robert Schindler took each doctor in turn to the nursing home to meet his daughter. They were there long enough to see she was not in a persistent vegetative state, Schindler said, and they signed separate affidavits to that effect.

They also asked to be allowed to intervene in the case, but Greer rejected their requests and granted a motion by Felos for a no-visitation policy. Aside from nurses and her attending physician, the three doctors were the last professionals to have any contact with Terri for more than two years.

Other physicians in 2001 stated they believe Terri Schiavo is not PVS, but have been limited to basing their opinion on observing videotapes.

This holds for the 33 physicians who recently signed affidavits stating she is minimally conscious "or better," as opposed to being PVS.

Terri's eyes are brown

In his interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Schiavo took particular umbrage at no one knowing what color his estranged wife's eyes are. They are brown.

But a neurologist personally selected by Schiavo and Felos to examine Terri prior to a medical hearing was unable to recall that particular fact on the witness stand.

In Oct. 2002, following a series of legal maneuvers by the Schindlers, the Second District Court of Appeal ordered a medical evidentiary hearing to determine whether Terri is, in fact, in a persistent vegetative state, and if she is, what treatments might help her.

Dr. Melvin Greer, chairman of the University of Florida's College of Medicine in Gainsville, was one of two physicians chosen by Felos to examine her.

After performing a few bedside procedures to test her vision and hearing and general reflexes, Dr. Greer diagnosed Terri to be in a persistent vegetative state, for which there was no treatment. To test what he actually remembered about her, attorney Pat Anderson, representing the Schindlers, asked Dr. Greer what color Terri's eyes are.

"I don't know," he declared simply.

"She has huge brown eyes," Anderson told Judge Greer in her closing remarks.

"If you remember nothing else about her, you remember that."

When questioned by Anderson, Dr. Greer admitted he had not read a certain, major article in a British medical journal reporting a 43 percent error rate in PVS diagnoses over a five-year period.

[SerpentDove]

"I can't believe how people I normally respect have completely lost their minds about this case."

I agree with you. It is shocking how many FReepers, names you would recognize, are vicious and vile in their pro-death stance. It's creepy.

[Edgerunner]

I'll bet this POS they call Terri's "husband" believes it's perfectly OK to live and sleep with another woman (no doubt of the same fine character) WHILE MARRIED TO TERRI...This whole thing stinks...I believe the law is arcane and doesn't account for husbands like Mike or Scott Peterson...It assumes the spouse loves the afflicted one...This doesn't seem to be the case with this one. Need to change law to allow for BLOOD RELETIVES to have a say in the final disposition.

[supercat]

Exactly. Michael Schiavo is probably one of the most clever criminal minds to come down the road in a long time.

Nonsense. He's made many mistakes which he's only gotten away with because corrupt officials were helping him. And even there he hasn't totally gotten away with them.

Felos and Greer are somewhat clever. Michael can't even handle a softball interview without messing up.

[Salamander]

I've personally had what's known as the "sleeper hold" used on me.
Within seconds, you start to black out.
Within minutes, your brain starves for oxygen.
It's not even a "violent" tactic....you just press the arteries on either side of the neck.
It can be done with just one arm if the arm is used to make a v-shaped "vise grip" on the victim's neck. [that's what I got]
You have no chance to struggle or squirm, it affects you -that- fast.

I was lucky.
I think Terri wasn't.
I also think he thought he'd held her "long enough" since she went into cardiac arrest.

Done "properly" it leaves no evidence of external or internal damage.

There's a line in a Jethro Tull song;

"They know how to hurt and leave no mark".

Indeed.

[Salamander]

The Devil always helps his own.

[John Valentine]

Federal Marshalls do have a use.

And while they are at it, they can seize the assets that are supposed to be going to Terri's care and therapy but are currently under the control of Michael Schiavo.

[pnz1]

Well, Terri got a supoena and Michael, Judge Greer, etc. chose to ignore it. There was his chance for President Bush to see her and he refused it.

[festus]

I'd like to see GW lay him out cold using nothing other than a roundhouse.

[Scribbz]

Bush should meet Michael and mop the floor with him.

What a slimey toad!

[Salamander]

Initially, he was brilliant, if murder was his intent;

---

In the carotid sleeper hold, symmetrical force is applied by the forearm and upper arm to the sides of the neck such that there is compression of only the carotid arteries and jugular veins and not the trachea. The arm is placed about the neck with the antecubital fossa or crook of the arm centered at the midline of the neck. The free hand grips the wrist of the other arm and pulls it backward, creating a pincher effect. This produces transient cerebral ischemia. The carotid sleeper hold impedes blood flow of the carotid arteries by pressure exerted on both sides of the neck by pincher effect of the arm and forearm. If properly applied, the compression of the carotid arteries will cause loss of consciousness in approximately 10-15 s. On relaxation of the hold, cerebral blood flow will be restored and consciousness will return in approximately 10-20 s, without any serious side effects. Maintenance of the pressure is essentially manual strangulation, and if continued long enough will, of course, cause death.

(...)

In theory, the carotid sleeper hold will cause rapid unconsciousness without injury to the individual. Unfortunately, in violently struggling individuals, a carotid sleeper hold can easily and unintentionally be converted into a choke hold as the individual twists and turns to break the hold.

A properly applied carotid sleeper can also cause death. One would not expect any trauma to the structures of the neck, however. The compression of the carotid arteries, with resultant decreased cerebral blood flow, can theoretically precipitate a stroke in an individual with atherosclerotic disease of the carotid and/or cerebral vasculature. The pressure may cause dislodgement of atherosclerotic material with a stroke due to an embolus. Blood flow to the brain is from both the carotid and the vertebral arteries. If the vertebral arteries have impaired blood flow due to atherosclerosis then occlusion of the carotid arteries may compromise an already compromised circulation with resultant thrombosis and/or stroke.

Compression of the neck by a carotid sleeper hold may also cause stimulation of the carotid sinus with bradycardia. Application of the hold to an individual who is agitated and struggling may increase the struggling, with increased release of catecholamines. The catecholamines working with the carotid sinus stimulation may produce a cardiac arrest. In addition, if the individual has intrinsic heart disease, he may be even more sensitive to bradycardia and the arrhythmogenic activity of the catecholamines

---

But if that's what happened, then things didn't go "perfectly" and he's been "cleaning up the mess" for 15 years.

[Republican Wildcat]

Perhaps Michael could introduce the President to his mistress as well.

[OldPossum]

Darn, you beat me to it. I think, too, the proper response would be for the President to deck him. If he gets up, have Jeb punch his lights out. When they finally allow him to get up, they might want to tell him exactly what human scum he is.

[Scribbz]

I'll pray that she dies before any more ridiculous government intrusions.

I would rather her get another chance.
The death squad can come get after her then.

[walden]

Why are people taking this case so seriously? Well, I believe that I have read that there are some 35,000 people in this country in the same condition, or worse, than Schiavo. That's a lot of killing yet to do. Where does it end?

The culture of death has been marching down this road for over 30 years now. Despite all of the assurances that the limited abortion rights encompassed in Roe would be the end of that discussion, of course it wasn't, and now we as a society cannot manage to declare illegal the killing of full-term babies in utero, and have the judiciary uphold that law. Meanwhile, the "right to die" issue is morphing into the "obligation to die", soon to become the "right to kill". Where will this one end?

So, yes, this is a serious issue, and serious people are treating it that way.

[Boardwalk]

Couldn't Bush send the Marshalls to visit Terri in his place?

[AaronInCarolina]

Michael can't even handle a softball interview without messing up.

Man, you've got that right!!! Have you seen him in interviews? I'll bet Felos cringes everytime Michael Schiavo does an interview without Felos sitting right there beside him to correct him. I remember reading the transcript of a Larry King interview where several times, at least, they (Schiavo and Felos) answered questions simultaneously, and they answered exactly opposite!!! LOL.

Schiavo is a loose cannon in an interview. He almost always turns it into a pity party for himself. It's always all about him and the intrusion on HIS privacy and HIS family matters. He told Larry King that the Schindlers were taking the stance they are taking just to make HIS life HELL!

Then he calls Tom Delay a "slithering snake". I'll bet Felos crapped a brick when he heard Schiavo make such a juvenile insult.

[PatriotGirl827]

Isn't that the truth.

[Salamander]

"So, yes, this is a serious issue, and serious people are treating it that way."

And there are many "there but for the grace of God go I" people fighting the trend, too.
Some of us *could* have been her if things hadn't broken the -other- way.

[PhilipFreneau]

"Come down, President Bush," Schiavo said in the Times interview Saturday

That psycho need to be committed.

[festus]

I think after the a$$ whopin from Jeb and George the appropriate response would be to tie him on behind the limo and drive thru town.

But then I've always been a bit of a moderate.