Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die

Human Events ^ | July 31, 2006 | Robert Schindler Sr.

[T'wit]

>> MS did not cause her injuries

How do you know this? How could you possibly know? What did happen?

Something happened. Shortly after Michael came home, late that Saturday night, Terri ended up on the floor, face down, close to death. Michael has told three or four different stories about it, some of which perforce were false. His one previous alibi -- the bulimia nonsense -- was shot down by the autopsy report. He has no alibi any more and he is the only suspect if it was foul play. So how did you manage to exonerate him?

[presently no screen name]

What conspiracy? There was no conspiracy. This case was hardly a mystery. It was ALL out in the open - even the actions of MS from the beginning.

It was corruption! Good vs. evil every time.

[floriduh voter]

This was touching to me today. I was standing in line at a dept. store. The fellow in front of me was in a motorized wheelchair and there was a person with him who may have been a paid helper or a brother.

This fellow starting talking about the primary with me. He asked me why Gallagher? I told him that I liked to help people and so did Tom Gallagher.

It was the end of his transaction an it was time for him to sign the credit slip. This guy is a quadriplegic and had to sign the credit slip with his teeth.

As he was leaving, he turned his head slightly back my way and said. that he "was inclined to vote for Gallagher because Crist was a lawyer".

This intelligent man who cannot use his arms or walk is going to cast a vote for Tom Gallagher.

God Bless him. So many Americans don't bother to vote at all.

[T'wit]

>> And who paid for the years of care?

You answered that earlier -- the insurance companies that were defrauded. There have been allegations that Medicare was also defrauded later, by putting Terri in a hospice when she was not eligible to be there. But Greer sealed at least some financial documents and there has been no investigation of this charge that I know of. Call this one an open question and hope that it will be answered someday, one way or the other.

If Terri had been allowed to live, there were at least three offers I heard, besides the Schindlers' own, to pay her costs the rest of her life. One was from a German hospice. It would have been very easy to raise money for her care had more been needed.

Money was not an issue.

[T'wit]

>> And who paid for the years of care?

P.S. Michael didn't. Not a penny came out of HIS "loss of consort" funds, no, sir. The only funds that went for Terri's care were the ones Michael's lawyers couldn't embezzle out of her trust fund.

[T'wit]

Bless your quadriplegic friend. He has more hope and spirit in him than anyone I've heard from the Death Cult.

[floriduh voter]

We became friends in about twenty minutes because the lady in front of him bought a lot of things and I think she cut in front of him to begin with. He said he had met Crist. I guess he wasn't impressed. Crist must have condescended or patronized him. Disabled people don't like that baloney.

[presently no screen name]

Your arguments are disjointed and nonsensical

Hardly. Pointing blame on voters is merely you defending the indefensible and have nothing to stand on.

Crist offered an opinion of constitutionality, and that was NOT ENOUGH. Legislative and executive action were NOT ENOUGH. People with more authority and power than he could do NOTHING. It was a pending case and the judiciary maintained exclusive jurisdiction

Gee, why didn't he speak up against corruption? Sad - it seems in Florida - everyones hands and mouths were tied. YET HE PRAISED THEM - so his 'not enough' was merely lip service - as we ALL KNOW.

You people want a scapegoat. You are angry, you are hurt, you are looking for revenge

Oh please. Talk about groveling and pointing blame in the wrong direction. Seems like you are the angry one because it's 'accountability' time. Besides God says vengence is mine. So that's taken care of.

Yes, it's merely election and accountability time. Can't see why Crist would have a problem with that? You pointed out how powerless he was. And his praising judges and hailing them as heros seems business as usual.

If the good people of Florida want to hold him up to the light and decide they to elect someone who does have power - I say they are doing a good thing for all. After all, that lip service act is SO OLD and the Floridians are too wise.

[bjs1779]

Not a penny came out of HIS "loss of consort" funds, no, sir. The only funds that went for Terri's care were the ones Michael's lawyers couldn't embezzle out of her trust fund.

"After the attorneys received their cut, Terri was left with $700,000 and Schiavo with $300,000. Her share of the settlement was placed in a trust fund and invested in blue chip stocks, U.S. Treasury bonds and a money market account. It was to be managed by a bank and guarded by the court. In April 1993 her assets were valued at $776,254. "

"Her trust fund remained relatively intact until 1997, when Schiavo hired Felos and others began – with court approval – to dip into Terri's trust fund. Most of it went for legal costs." (My, Michael spent a bundle trying to rehabilitate her )

"According to the St. Petersburg Times, which investigated the matter in June 2001, by April 1998, her money was down to $713,825."

"At Schiavo's request, Greer ordered all financial billings sealed, but payments are public record. The SP Times estimated that almost half the trust fund was gone, with only $350,000 remaining."

"Greer later approved a payment of $45,007 to Felos, covering a five-month period ending February 2002. Including that payment, Felos had by February 2002, billed for $352,211 from Terri's fund. Other lawyers, too, helped drain the account – in particular, Deborah Bushnell, who received just under $50,000 between September 1993 and September 2001."

Terri's Trust Fund Raided

[BlueNgold]

You really should read through your posts before you send them.
They honestly do not make much sense and your logic train is sadly lacking. This, again, shows the emotional nature of your argument.

With this post - I'm done. You jump from argument to argument and actually think you make sense. Don't expect another response, so feel free to rant and rave and call names and stomp your feet. When you;re done throwing your fit please read back through my posts on this topic and give them honest consideration.

Yet still you have no answer for what Mr. Crist could have done within his legal power that would have made one iota of difference in this case. Add to that you refuse to answer why you think it would be OK for a sitting AG to intercede and assume jurisdiction over a pending legal matter.

It seems you would have preferred that he make some inneffectual token grandstand play that would have done nothing, but that would have made y'all feel better. That, ladies and gentlemen, would have been politics of the worst kind.

Find me something concrete - something legal - that he could have or should have done - the truth is that no such option or obligation existed as determined by the FL courts and the federal courts that reviewed the case. You may deny that this is scapegoating, but you really should take a good look at your arguments and motivations - because that's all this is - denying it doesn't make it untrue.

[T'wit]

We will have to let the docs have a few mysterious remarks on this one :-) Dr. Thogmartin gave the MECHANISM of death as dehydration (adding that it was not starvation). For the CAUSE and MANNER of death, he hearkened back to Terri's "severe anoxic brain injury," adding that the cause thereof could not be determined with any degree of medical certainty. In other words, just as we knew all along -- her brain was damaged by not getting oxygen, cause unknown. If you prefer, in another passage, he called it "marked global anoxic-ischemic encephalopathy resulting in massive cerebral atrophy."

Same translation. Something or someone cut off her oxygen and we know no natural cause for it. I occasionally, just occasionally, can imagine a not-so-natural cause for it. Blonde hair, for instance :-)

[Old Student]

"Robert Schindler is coming dangerously close to becoming a mirror image of Cindy Sheehan."

How? Did Terri sign a living will while he wasn't looking? Casey Sheehan enlisted against his mother's wishes, and was killed. Terri had a major medical problem for which there are already existing laws that should protect her, including the Federal Americans With Disabilities Act, ADA, and Florida laws on the care of the disabled. She was killed when a State Judge ordered her killed.

[bjs1779]

It seems you would have preferred that he make some inneffectual token grandstand play that would have done nothing, but that would have made y'all feel better. That, ladies and gentlemen, would have been politics of the worst kind.

Intresting statement, but it was never about making us feel better. What it was about, and still is, is the judicial murder of a disabled woman who was denied every right ever written in Constitution. Greer even denied her access to appear in his court dispite the request of the Schindler's attorneys. Terri wasn't allowed to have her own attorneys btw.

[presently no screen name]

..that he make some inneffectual token grandstand play that would have done nothing

He did with his lip service!

When all is said and done, it's his accountability time, not mine.

[BlueNgold]

This was all litigated. The courts - all of them - up to SCOTUS - refused these and every other argument made. You continue to make legal sounding declarative statements that are completely contrary to the legal findings of the court.

No one has an answer to any one thing that AG Crist could have done that was within his legal authority, yet you continue to vilify him for inaction. How, pray tell, can a sitting AG step into a case under litigation and take any sort of executive action? Even the governor was powerless. My God people, they passed a brand new law, signed it, the AG (Crist) issued a positive constitutional opinion - and they still were unable to intercede.

You don't like Crist? Fine. You don't have to like him. But this endless trashing and vilification over issues which he had no authority or legal ability to impact is not only silly, it is dragging the life and death of Teri out into the political mud, and it's not a pretty sight.

I said I was done - I guess not. Back to about 3 posts ago I reminded you all that it was Mr. Schindler who brought the legal challenge, effectively saying that he thought he had a valid legal argument and that the courts were the appropriate venue for resolution of the matter. How is it wrong that AG Crist said the same thing - it was a judicial matter and it should be handled by the courts? Yet, when Schindler lost, suddenly the courts were not good enough and anyone who 'stood by' and 'allowed' the legal action that HE started come to its final conclusion - those people are somehow derelict in their duties.
THAT is why this is scapegoating.
THAT is why this is distasteful.
THAT is why this is bad politics.
THAT is why Mr. Schindler should be ashamed for dragging his daughter's name into the political fray.

He filed a suit, he fought hard, he lost. That left the decision back in Michael's hands. Remember - the courts didn't kill Teri, they quite simply affirmed the right of the legal next of kin to make a decision regarding continuation of life support. There is but one possible villain here - and should you need to name one - it is Michael Schiavo. No ifs, no buts, no maybes - just one - just Michael - and he is not running for governor. And unless or until he does - Teri should not be an issue in a gubernatorial race.

[bjs1779]

Remember - the courts didn't kill Teri, they quite simply affirmed the right of the legal next of kin to make a decision regarding continuation of life support.

Is there anything in Judge Greer's order that you do not understand?

'Ordered and Adjudged that absent a stay from the appellate courts, the guardian, Michael Schiavo, shall cause the removal of nutrition and hydration from the ward, Theresa Marie Schiavo, at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2005,'"

[BlueNgold]

Read it again. He clearly refereces Michael. Thank you for making my point.

And this is what I mean by shifting arguments and scapegoating. First it was Crist - that argument wasn't winning - so now it's Greer - but you don't seem to thoroughly read or understand the court order you are quoting. You also need to understand and read the order to Greer legally biding his actions written by the Second District Court of Appeals which directed that he "enter an order scheduling the withdrawal of life-support". That is why he gives time and date - he was so directed by a higher court. Other previous orders all clearly mention Michael as the legal guardian in charge of this action, as does this one.

I'm waiting - feel free to try another argument from a different angle, it would be par for the course.

[BykrBayb]

I wonder how many people we could support by cutting off your living expenses.

[bjs1779]

You also need to understand and read the order to Greer legally biding his actions written by the Second District Court of Appeals which directed that he "enter an order scheduling the withdrawal of life-support".

I think I would need a source on that. Got one? Sounds silly to me.

[BykrBayb]

Why bother?

If you're going to go to all the bother of speaking for God, you should at least go the bother of picking out a passage that you can pretend supports your claim. How about the 23rd Psalm? Of course, those of us who embrace His love, understand what it really means. But there are probably some lurkers out there that you could fool into believing that it means God wants the weakest among us to submit to the death imposed by the evil among us.