Posted on 03/26/2005 1:00:05 PM PST by BellStar
Because I try to track down facts before I write about a subject, I have not written about Terri Shiavo and the battle over her condition. What actually happened to Terri back in 1990 that caused her to be the topic of world conversation today? Before we decide to permanently dispose of her, shouldn’t we first find out how she got into this predicament?
Well, she collapsed, we are told by her husband Michael, in 1990 and was taken to the hospital . Some stories say she had a heart attack. Other stories, including a medical report by Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-reknowned neurologist, totally refute any heart attack. Hammesfahr reported:
“Ms Schiavo was in her usual state of good health until 2/25/90, when her husband reported that he was awakened from sleep approximately 6 Am by her falling. He reports that she was unresponsive. "Paramedics were called, and aggressive resuscitation was performed with 7 defibrillations en route. “In the Emergency Room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained, but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack.”
Some reports guess that she collapsed due to an effort to lose weight – although, she was not at the time overweight. Hammesfahr’s report stated:
“The patient had a difficult hospital course with the development of poorly controlled seizures and prolonged coma state requiring, for a time, ventilator support. However, the staff noted improvement, and it was recommended by several physicians that she be discharged to an intensive rehabilitation center.” In 1992, Michael Shiavo sued for malpractice and won over a $1 million. He was personally awarded $300,000 for his “loss” and $700,000 for Terri’s rehabilitation and care for the rest of her natural life. However, the therapy, after the award, was not approved by Michael Shiavo and she was confined to a nursing home after the settlement.
It was after the settlement that Michael first claimed that Terri had previously stated that she didn’t want to be kept alive by artificial means — a statement he never mentioned during the malpractice trial. He has never produced any written proof that Terri said that.
Beginning almost immediately after receiving the malpractice funds, Michael Shiavo, as Terri’s legal guardian, began to refuse approval for ANY therapy or rehabilitation efforts and she has been confined to bed.
Since 1995, Michael Schiavo has lived openly with a girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, with whom he has two children, while remaining legally married to Terri, as well as being her legal her guardian.
In 1998, Michael Schiavo petitioned the court to have Terri’s feeding tube removed. In 2003, Michael Schiavo’s attorneys reported that the trust fund was down to $50,000, with more than $430,000 going to “pay for court costs associated with her husband’s legal battle to remove his wife’s feeding tube.” Meanwhile, Medicaid helps to pay Terri’s $5,000-a-month nursing costs at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida. 13
During this time period, Terri’s parents have attempted to gain guardianship over their daughter. During the legal battles that have ensued, in 2003 a a deposition was taken from Dr. William Campbell Walker, a radiologist, concerning a bone scan the hospital did on Terri in 1991. That bone scan revealed what Dr. Walker reported at the time as “compression fracture in the 19 vertebral body of the spine.”
For seven years as Terri has been consistently denied rehabilitation treatment that, according to several doctors, would have significantly improved her chances of recovery, Michael spent her money awarded for her therapy on lawyers trying to get her starved to death. Several doctors pointed out, including Dr. Hammesfahr, that Terri not only CAN swallow on her own, but frequently DOES swallow and pictures shown clearly indicate, as Hammesfahr and other testify, that she can and does respond to voice commands and particularly to her parents.
This would indicate that she is NOT in what the State of Florida defines as a “vegetative” state. It also makes me wonder, now that the feeding tube is removed, if any effort to help her swallow water or food is being made today, or whether under the court order spoon feeding also has been outlawed? Terri's parents, if they just came and got her and took her home, I guess would be arrested for kidnapping under Florida's legal system.
At this point, the legal system of Florida has, in the words of one legal observer, created the “framework for legal euthanasia.” Of course, euthanasia is technically the practice of killing someone painlessly because they prefer death to life for whatever reason. I would not classify starvation as a “painless” way to die.
Dr. Hammesfahr stated in his report:
“In the spring of 2000, three physicians, including Dr. Jay Carpenter, who is a former Chief of Medicine at Morton Plant Hospital, filed affidavits after observing Ms. Schiavo. All three physicians stated that it is visually apparent that Ms Schiavo is able to swallow and, in fact, does swallow her own saliva. “The patient continued with no physical therapy, communication or speech therapy, or routine medical screening evaluations and treatment such as dental care, mammography, gynecological exams or pap smears during this time."
Under these conditions and questions, it would appear to me that Terri SHOULD have a totally different guardian, such as her parents, until some questions are answered about the spinal and other injuries that appeared on her bone scan a decade ago. Why is it that a man who clearly wants his wife dead, cannot explain how she actually got into the state she is in, or produce ANY proof, other than his unsubstantiated words, that she would want to die, is being unquestioningly defended by the Florida courts?
Increasingly, it appears to me, that Terri would have gotten better care had her husband never won that malpractice suit and been given $1 million to spend – much of it on lawyers to legally kill off his wife.
It all makes me wonder just when Michael Schiavo made his first effort to kill Terri? Was it before or after she ended up in the hospital with an unexplained problem that put her in a coma?
Some interesting talking points.
Very interesting, clarifies a number of things.
Evidence that she is being murdered under the false predicate of PVS. A good number of neurologists conclude she is not in PVS, but M. Shiavo death judge Greer won't allow any tests for the last 9 years.
It's murder.
Actually, this should be "Dr. William Hammesfahr, a world-reknowned quack and huckster".
In 1994 when he first asked the doctors to NOT treat her for a (possibly fatal) infection.
It all makes me wonder just when Michael Schiavo made his first effort to kill Terri? Was it before or after she ended up in the hospital with an unexplained problem that put her in a coma?
YOUR ARE MAKING ALLEGATIONS YOU CAN NOT BACK UP. THIS IS THE WORST KIND OF SLANDER.
IT IS LIKE ME SAYING THAT MY NEIGHBOR IS HAVING AN AFFAIR AND I HAVE NO EVIDENCE.
YOU PEOPLE HAVE GOT TO GET A LIVE.
REMINDS ME OF THE 2ND GRADE STORY I READ IN GRADE SCHOOL. IT WAS ABOUT AN OLD INDIAN SQUAW WHO WAS A BURDEN ON THE FAMILY UNIT. SHE KNEW THAT OTHER MEMBERS HAD TO TAKE CARE OF HER AND THIS WAS NOT RIGHT. DURING A SEVERE SNOW STORY THE OLD INDIAN SQUAW WALKING OUT INTO THE BLIZZARD NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. THE TEACHER ASK ME WHAT THAT MET? I HAD NO GOOD ANSWER AS YOUNG LIBERAL STUDENT. TODAY AS A OLDER MATURE CONSERVATIVE ADULT UNDERSTAND. WHEN WE ARE NO LONGER A BLESSING AND ADDING VALUE TO OUR SOCIETY IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON TO A HIGHER LEVEL OF LIVING IN PEACE.
IF YOU WOULD GET OFF TERRI BACK SHE WOULD DIE IN PEACE WITH PEACE IN HER HEART. AS LONG AS YOU ARE SPENDING SOMEONE ELSE MONEY, AND BURDENING SOMEONE ELSE TO CARE FOR THIS WOMAN YOU RUN YOUR MOUTH.
GET A LIFE. SIX BILLION SOLES ON THIS EARTH, MILLIONS DIE EVERY YEAR FROM STARVATION, DISEASE, HIV, ETC.
THIS IS ALL I AM GOING TO SAY ABOUT THE MATTER SO FORGET SPAMMING ME.
Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize for his work in Medicine and Physiology in 1999. The Nomination was for work started in 1994. In 2000, this work resulted in approval for the first patent in history granted for the treatment of neurological diseases including coma, stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, hypoxic injuries and other neurovascular disorders with medications that restore blood flow to the brain. It was extended to treat successfully disabilities including ADD, ADHD, Dyslexia, Tourette's and Autism as well as behaviorally and emotionally disturbed children, seizures and severe migraines.
The article's author did not investigate enough prior to writing. Unfortunately she (purposely?) left out the basis for the malpractice suit (which must have been affirmed, since there was indeed a hefty award to MS).
The malpractice suit was based upon the *fact* that the doctors who had been treating Terri Schiavo had not appropriately treated her for her bulimia.
MS was not the only one who substantiated that claim, the Schindlers were complicit (i.e., supported him in this suit).
The doctors and their insurance company were found liable (and I don't necessarily agree with that, either, because that is ascribing to the doctors responsibility for Terri's personal bulimia, treatable or not), hence the award. The Schindlers were upset that MS didn't *share* the $$ with them.
That's when the real mess began.
Consider what portion of the $350,000 went to the attorneys for Schiavo and Schindler, as well as previous care for Terri Schiavo. Consider, too, that the care in a hospice can be as low as $30K a year, and up to nearly $100K A YEAR!
If you want to read another view point, don't just read writing by and for Terri Schiavo and her family. Read both sides, openly, and you may find differing information and opinions.
There are no words to describe the horror of what I am seeing on my tv. How is this being allowed to happen in my America?
MS attorney on tv just a little bit ago was one of the most sickest things I have ever witnessed. And the kicker was when he said that the politicians have backed off this because of the polls. The politician best ask themselves if those idiots taking that poll actually VOTE on election day. People will lose careers over this.
In other words, use any tactic available to achieve the result you want. Ignore principle. The ends justify the means.
Randall Terry is the "Michael Moore" of the Republican party. In other words -- a repellant demogogue.
Wasn't it 1993 when he posted the DNR order on her chart? As in, almost immediately after he got the checks from the malpractice suit in which he tearily promised to care for her for the rest of her life?
Hammersfahr was never nominated for the Nobel Prize by any means recognized by the Nobel committee. There was just a letter from his congressman. He has published no scholarly research and peer review of his methods is skeptical of his claims. He has faced discipline in Florida for making unfounded claims for his methods.
Please ping your lists.
If this sad case runs it's apparent course, Jeb Bush should convene a grand jury for the purpose of indicting the Judge and Michael Shiavo for murder.
Ping Pres Bush.
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