Posted on 03/27/2005 6:31:02 AM PST by gesully
When did Michael Schiavo first start trying to kill Terri? Mary Mostert March 23, 2005
Because I try to track down facts before I write about a subject, I have not written about Terri Schiavo 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 Schiavo 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 Schiavo 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 Schiavo, 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 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?
Mary Mostert is a nationally-respected political writer. She was one of the first female political commentators to be published in a major metropolitan newspaper in the 1960s. After working in President Lyndon Johnson's failed War on Poverty programs in New York state, she became a Republican. She ran, unsuccessfully, for the New York State Senate and became campaign manager for a number of candidates. She once served as the secretary of "Positive Action NOW!"--a South African women's group that sought to reduce the hostility among South Africa's various racial, religious, and political groups.
In recent years, Mary has researched, written, and edited articles for national talk show host Michael Reagan's Information Interchange on the Internet, and for The REAGAN MONITOR, a monthly newsletter that provides in-depth information on key issues. Her book, COMING HOME - Families Can Stop the Unraveling of America," was published in 1996 by Gold Leaf Press. Mary maintains a political media site, Banner of Liberty. She can be contacted at mary@bannerofliberty.com . Click here for more information.
"A compression fracture can be (well, is usually) caused by a severe impact such as a fall on the tail, or a head-butt. Some sort of 'axial loading' type of trauma."
A very common cause of compression fractures is the disease osteoporosis which is a more than frequent result of bulemia and other eating disorders. Further, osteoporosis often results from or is exacerbated by anti-convulsant drugs such as the type Terri Schiavo was given after her collapse.
This disease thins the bones, often to the point that they are too weak to bear normal pressure. The thinning bones can collapse during normal activity, leading to a spinal compression fracture. In fact, spinal compression fractures are the most common type of osteoporotic fractures. The fractures usually heal on their own.
In cases of osteoporosis, actions as simple as bending forward can be enough to cause a "crush fracture", or spinal compression fracture.
Oh Lord, that takes my breath away. I wondered about the subperiostial bleeding in a leg bone,,the kind of trauma from a blow or kick. I actually had an idea that someone kicked the hell out of her.
I don't know what the meds were for, but this link has a very interesting article with info from a psychiatrist, who states that the estranged husband "fits the profile of a wife-abuser":
http://www.theempirejournal.com/03200508_terri_schiavo.htm
Am I correct in assuming that he was already dying before the feeding tube was removed?
So he was living with this other woman well before he first petitioned to have Terri starved and dehydrated to death, yet Judge Greer allowed him to be her guardian. That clearly exposes how outrageous this has been handled.
Oops, see my later post. This article was written by the the empirejournal people, NOT the psychiatrist.
See my post 144.
I hit the post button too soon.
I saw that. When I hear "controlling behavior" my flags all go up. His actions with nursing homes were controlling. And now, control is his game. And vengence.
No, he could have lived for a very very long time. All of us chose not to put HIM through this. Your arguments about thrill seeking by starvation is ridiculus on its face. No one has said it was bliss full at all. And to suggest that Terri is in good physical condition is also beyond belief. I suppose laying there like that in the contorted state she is in is normal to you, but no thank you let me go by any means necessary. I have met many many parents of children who are very ill with cancer and what not. One of my very best friend's son was in the last stages of cancer from a brain tumor. She is very much a christian woman. She sat with him for 15-hours straight as he was dying. Jordan was just under two years old. We parents that were present, took turns spoon feeding her while she held her son. Jordan suffered unbearable pain before he died. She told me later (she is a nurse herself) that she was so tempted to give him a lethel injection of morphine. I swear if it was readily available I bet she would have done it. I know this is not the same in this case. But people make these decisions everyday in this country. And for people in Terri's condition like my uncle, feeding tubes are removed daily in homes and hospitals.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1371722/posts?page=105#105 <-- Link
I am starting to believe those people that tell me this is common.
Take a look at these links to a medical blog which has analyzed her injuries and some of the records:
http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/
http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co_1.html
http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co.html
So many red flags here that it boggles the mind.
I understand that the Schindler's took their retirement money and paid for Terri's rehab prior to the lawsuit. They supposedly had an agreement with MS that they would be repaid if he won the lawsuit. The plans were to build a house especially equipped for someone in Terri's condition and have the Schindler's take care of her.
The Schindlers went to the nursing home, found out about the DNR order, confronted Michael about the order and the money. MS got angry, began throwing things, and severed relationship with the in-laws.
People with eating disorders keep it very much a secret. So I am not surprised by this.
So, he was seeing a doctor for maybe some mental health reasons, so what.
Thank you. I was looking for that the other day.
Yes, sometimes. And sometimes when this occurs is because the person (more women than men) has self esteem problems that could be the result of being called fat. There are many reasons not just one specific one.
I guess -- I'm still pretty cloudy on the whole story. My earlier post was more or less pieced together from various bits and pieces. The one reference I recall to a jury is 70% Terri's responsibility. If there was a jury, I would assume the jury made an award, which doesn't explain the talk of settlement. I read on FR that someone on a talking head show mentioned a $7-$8 million verdict. So I don't know.
I do know most settlements -- big ones anyway -- carry a confidentiality agreement (though word often leaks out). And most people are pretty close-mouthed about money anyway.
I found it odd that she was i Hospice for 5 years, I thought that Hospice was for terminally ill patients with a 6 month life. Wonder if the fact that his lawyer is on the board of directors has anything to do with it.....even so, why hospice?
Michael Schiavo caused all of this, In my arrogant opinion!
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.