Posted on 06/17/2005 11:08:07 AM PDT by ClancyJ
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush asked a prosecutor Friday to investigate why Terri Schiavo collapsed 15 years ago, calling into question a gap in time from when her husband found the woman and called 911. In a letter he faxed to Pinellas-Pasco County State Attorney Bernie McCabe, Bush said Michael Schiavo testified in a 1992 medical malpractice trial that he found his wife collapsed at 5 a.m. and he said in a 2003 television interview that he found her at about 4:30 a.m. He called 911 at about 5:40 a.m.
"Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay,'' Bush said. ""In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome."
Terri Schiavo died March 31 from dehydration after her feeding tube was disconnected despite unsuccessful efforts by Bush to keep her alive.
The battle between her husband and parents over whether she should be allowed to die also engulfed the courts, Congress, the White House and divided the country. Her autopsy, released earlier this week, showed suffered from severe and irreversible brain-damage.
McCabe was out of state Friday and couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment from The Associated Press. But in comments published Friday by The Miami Herald, he said Terri Schiavo would not have survived if her husband had not immediately called 911.
"It's absolutely preposterous,'' Felos said. "If he had waited 70 minutes she would have been dead.''
Letter To State Attorney From Gov. Jeb Bush
" June 17, 2005 Via Facsimile and U.S. Mail Facsimile The Honorable Bernie McCabe State Attorney for the 6th Judicial Circuit
Dear Mr. McCabe,
Wednesday the Chief Medical Examiner for Pinellas County issued his report on the autopsy of Terri Schiavo. While the report clarifies many questions surrounding the case, it leaves some unanswered.
Of particular interest are the report's findings as to the cause of Mrs. Schiavo's original injuries. The report indicates that there was little evidence of an eating disorder, previously the lead theory of the cause of her injuries. The report also indicates that blood tests conducted on Mrs. Schiavo in 1990 upon her collapse were routine and would not necessarily have detected or ruled out many types of drugs or toxins. The report rules out any overt or blunt trauma, but could not rule out or positively identify other causes. As a result, the cause of her injuries is more in doubt than ever.
Also of interest is the gap in time between Mr. Schiavo's discovery of Mrs. Schiavo's collapse and the 911 call he made to request assistance. According to Mr. Schiavo's testimony in the medical malpractice trial in 1992, he discovered Mrs. Schiavo had collapsed at about 5:00 a.m. According to his comments in a 2003 television interview, he found her at about 4:30 a.m. According to the Chief Medical Examiner's report, Mr. Schiavo placed the 911 call at approximately 5:40 a.m. Between 40 and 70 minutes elapsed before the call was made, and I am aware of no explanation for the delay.
In light of this new information, I urge you to take a fresh look at this case without any preconceptions as to the outcome. I understand that these events took place many years ago, and that you may not be able to collect all the relevant records and physical evidence. However, Mrs. Schiavo's family deserves to know anything that can be done to determine the cause and circumstances of her collapse 15 years ago has been done. The unanswered questions may be unanswerable, but the attempt should be made. Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely, Jeb Bush "
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Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Seems to me that the investigation should have been done BEFORE she died.
Must be at least partly because of what is in Mark Fuhrman's book, Silent Witness, about to hit the bookstores.
Bump. Looks like everyone was too easily buying into the "eating disorder" story.
Too little and too late, Jeb. . .
Agree.
But glad to see it is getting done now. Should have been done at the time of the incident.
I am glad they are investigating it.
Just wish it had been done sooner.
I wish this story would die. This was why Congress is getting such a bad rep. This story has been going on too long and I thought it would end with the unfortunate demise of Terri.
There is much bigger fish to fry atm.
The parents are maligned and ignored. It would go nowhere and it could be a criminal offense that should be handled by the Attorney General's office. The Schlinder's are not in the law enforcement.
BREAKING! Bush closes barn door after horse leaves!
I understand your intentions are good, but taxpayers pay for possible murder investigations routinely. It's the duty of the state to do this.
If it is a possible criminal investigation then it has to come from the state and not the parents. The way it sounds if any information is found then it will be a criminal investigation.
Of course there are much bigger fish to fry - but that does not mean we ignore crime, injustice and killing of citizens by the state.
They should also ask for a civil injunction, (damages), against Michael Schiavo, who caused Terri Schiavo's parents, siblings and loved ones an unconscionable amount of emotional pain and suffering for so many years.
It was done with O.J. after he beat the murder rap, and just might be worth a try. If nothing else it will drag that sub-human worm of a 'husband' through a living hell and perhaps balance the scales a bit.
Why? Yes, lots of private investigators are hired to investigate murders; but, don't we expect the state to do it? Should the state investigate any cases were murder is suspected?
Can't wait for that one.
Me either. But don't want to expect too much.
Uhhh, here's a flash for you, 'Gordon' Felos - she is dead.
Ok not that I'm saying that the investigation shouldn't happen, but where is the effort to change the Florida statute. Michael Schiavo wasn't really functioning as Terri's husband by the fact that was shacked up with this other woman and had two children with her. He was her husband on paper...that's it. The law governing these matters needs to be changed, tweaked, or something.
Ping
You are soooo right. I pity you the flames you are about to receive, though.
Agreed.
You know, the one judge who wanted to hear the parents case, a liberal Clinton appointee.
This tells me all I need to know about this issue.
This was an internal family dispute, it had no business becoming a national media circus, it certainly had no business becoming top priority in Congress, and we shouldn't still be talking about it.
This should have been investigated at the time. I can't say I'm sorry to see it now,though.
Her best friend says that Michael and Terri had a big fight the day of her death, to the point of she didn't want her to go home. Michael was a little of a control freak, checking her odometer, etc. Terri had discussed divorcing him with her friend.
This was begging for an investigation. I don't understand why one wasn't done at the time.
Was Micheal a respiratory tech at this time? I am not clear on that.
Who is determining when citizens have to die? What authority do they have? Is an "end-of-life" panel making laws? And what about the progressive altering of those laws.
Posted by mercyme from undocumented source
"The 765 law was revised in 1999 to include "end-stage condition" as a reason to withdraw life prolonging procedures along with persistant vegetative state and terminal illness. This was also put into law. Geldart also redefines terminal illness as not just conditions that cause death, but "irreversible" conditions or conditions "with no reasonable chance of recovery". Felos used this definition for the argument that Terri is terminal because she has a "irreversible" neurological condition with no "reasonable hope for recovery".
Seems the public needs to be aware of just what is being decided and who is deciding regarding the ability to keep their constitutional rights of LIFE in that state and probably other states as well.
Interesting... If Schiavo had a part in this, then why didn't he just go ahead and kill her before the ambulance arrived? It appears, from what I've read, that it wouldn't have taken much effort nor would it have left physical evidence. Why would he permit even the remote chance that she might live if he wanted her dead? If he was clever enough to set all this up, then why wasn't he clever enough to plan to mention the same time each time he was interviewed?
Good point.
Did someone force you on this thread to talk about it?
Terri Schiavo died in 1990 when her brain died from lack of oxegen (which only takes 10 mins) after being without a pulse for almost 2 hours.
After reading through the 39 pages of the autopsy report, I question the bilemia explanation as well, even though I origionaly accepted it as likely. While I highly doubt that she recieved 1240ml of Iv fluids, during that period, which is a partial explaination for her reduced potassium levels, I do agree with heart medcations causing them to fall slightly. I don't think she was in good health however, because even in 1990 she had serious ostioperosis problems, caused by poor diet most likely, because she did loose 100 lbs rapidly.
She didn't have a heart attack, rather, something caused her heart to stop. Another cause of rapid pottasium depletion, as well as other blood chemistry, is a pancreatic attack. there is evidence of some pancreatic damage. A brain disorder is also suggested, but inconclusive because of the passage of time and disolving of brain matter into cerebrospinal fluid. (her brain wasn't shrunken, it was half the MASS of a noramal brain due to this global (complete) disolving of the cerebal neurons into fluid).If she did have a brain infection or disorder of some type, the evidence is lost.
I doubt that a further inquiry will discover anything further. The autopsy investigation into the events on feb 25 1990 begins with a 911 call at 540 am. it does not mention that her husband discovered her earlier, at 5 am or 430 am. This is interesting, although it may just be a memory lapse after passage of time. Her brother Bobby was also there, so it may be easly answered.
And what fish would those be? Seems to me that a non-criminal citizen being ordered to death by a state would be a pretty freakin' big fish.
He took medical training as a nurse but that was after her "incident".
Uh no, but I'm just sick and tired of this Schiavo thing, we're fighting a war right now, we are in need of an energy policy, and we have various foreign relations problems popping up across the world.
An internal family dispute does not belong in the federal courts, and it does not belong on the National News. Especially when most of those politicians didn't even really give a damn about the family. They were just jumping on a bandwagon so they could get some political points. I think Jebs motives were pure, I can't say the same about Congress.
And one thing no one here ever considers. If the federal courts had ruled that Terri had to be kept on life support, then a few years later, some liberal lawyer defending a condemned convict would have come along and attempted to create a precedent argument based on the Schiavo case.
Apples and Oranges, but when you're dealing with courts, as we all know, anything is possible.
But it's better than nothing.
A lot of things need to change besides Michael Schiavo being brought down. The laws need to be changed I think on the Federal Level that all types of Euthanasia/killing of the handicapped in this country should be made illegal, especially if they have no written directive. This case has so many parts of it that went wrong for Terri. Florida let her down and allowed her HINO to put her down like a dog, and our Federal Justice system let her down after Bush signed into law Terri's law 2. It is a disgrace and I pray to God our country will do the right thing and change the laws!
What life support was she on other than nutrition? I'm having smoked tuna for "life support" as I type.
Too late? Is there a statute of limitations on these kinds of criminal investigations in Florida?
The federal government has no business getting involved
This is an issue for each state to decide, according to each states values and mores
Before Roe v. Wade, there was no national ban on abortion, abortions were up to each state regarding legality, and I think a few states had them legal (CT, HI?)
"Wonder if this has a chance in Florida?"
Dunno, but I doubt it, since there is so much buddy-buddy corruption in the state, esp. Pinellas Co.
BTW, here's another thread with the same story. The comments on that thread turned into a Bush-bash, too. Check my post # 32.
GOV. BUSH CALLS FOR SCHIAVO PROBE
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1424852/posts
One of the reasons we are so very upset about this case is that it does set precedents for each and every one of us in this country.
It means the state can kill citizens based on "criteria".
It means that every man or woman finding themselves in a coma or "other criteria" can be killed based on a mate remembering "they once mentioned they did not want to live if in any coma".
It means that the euthanasia movement is progressing through our laws and finding ways to "remove some".
It means that man now decides death - not a God determined end to life.
All kinds of precedents. Which is why Terri woke many of us up to what is going on.
Pinged from the Dailies site:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1416995/posts?page=513#513
8mm
She was being kept alive thru artificial means. If there had been no modern technology in 1989, she would have died in 1989 (that was the year right?)
Government has no business intruding into the personal affairs. Terri was not killed by "fiat of the government of Florida"
Terri died because under Florida law, spouse apparently has the power of guardianship, and as guardian, Micheal Schiavo decided to pull life support. (As far as I'm concerned, it was life support, life support is something that keeps you alive when in a natural state, you'd be dead)
It was not Judge Greer, or the 11th Circuit, or any of that other propaganda that was floating around.
In family law, it was a decision made by the guardian, and that's it, the government didn't "put her to death", Micheal Schiavo did.
That's the big issue. Isn't it?
Neither her family, her husband, nor the medical community ever considered her dead before March 31, 2005. Why do you?
Another fair-weather federalist.
The state is the one doing this. This is Jeb Bush, Governor, not Pres. Bush.
I'm afraid that Florida may be rife with powerful influences that "believe" or want the weak done away with. Scientology is headquartered there in Pinnelas County. The euthanasia movement is very strong and involved.
And, it appears law makers may listen to these powerful lobbyists. So, what we are seeing is their march on society.
Sorry but when our country is allowing Euthanasia/legal murder to go on which is against the law, i believe the Federal govt could take this up and put a stop to it all. I don't believe the FEd. govt solves all problems as I don't want them to either, but this does not make me a fair weathered whatever!
It's for people like you that we intend to keep it alive. At least until there's a satisfactory resolution to this case - with Michael Schiavo in jail where he belongs.
So the State ordered Micheal Schiavo to take his wife off of the feeding tube?
Gee, sorry about that - I did a search under the above title.
IMO Gov. Bush is as upset with this as we are. And, I would not be surprised if he knows a lot more about it than we do because he is in the politics of that state.
But, he comes from the same family as "W" and I would not count him out yet. He is probably a good poker player also.
Just very sad that the whole Terri situation had to come up because a man just could not turn her over to loving parents and go on with his life.
Those loving parents would have judged her quality of life and if she was indeed suffering, they would do the best for her. But, they did not get that chance because one man fought 15 years in order to kill.
If it weren't for Democrats like Dick Durbin, the GOP would implode over the continuation of this BS.
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