Documentary Reveals New Details In Terri Schiavo Case

UC Daily News ^ | February 25, 2009 | Gina Adams

[BykrBayb]

 

DOCUMENTARY REVEALS NEW DETAILS IN TERRI SCHIAVO CASE

 

By Gina Adams

Story Published: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:31 PM CST

Story Updated: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM CST

The story of Terri Schiavo caused a nationwide uproar that garnered the attention of the worldwide media, the U.S. Congress, and even the office of the President of the United States.

 

The ethical and cultural implications of her case are still being felt throughout society and continue to spark debate.

In the newly-released documentary, The Terri Schiavo Story (Franklin Springs Family Media), previously unexplored facts of the case are revealed through in-depth interviews with participants on both sides of the issue.

Hosted by author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who became personally involved in the case in 2005, The Terri Schiavo Story sheds new light on the controversial decision that led to the death of a 41-year-old disabled woman.

In 1990, at the age of 26, Terri Schindler Schiavo suffered a mysterious cardio-respiratory arrest for which no cause has ever been determined.

She was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy - a neurological injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Terri was placed on a ventilator, but was soon able to breathe on her own and maintain vital function.

She remained in a severely compromised neurological state and was provided a PEG tube to ensure the safe delivery of nourishment and hydration.

On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pasco's Sixth Judicial Court.

Veteran producer and director Ken Carpenter felt the story deserved to be re-told, but he did not anticipate the amount of new information that would come to light.

"Working on this project made clear to me that we need to keep Terri's story alive. Our children need to know the lines were drawn when our government and court system let Terri die. Knowing the full story - not just what we heard in the media - equips us to address new challenges to our faith."

Joni Eareckson Tada, herself disabled after a diving accident which left her a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and unable to use her hands, says what happened to Terri continues to affect disabled citizens.

"The story remains relevant because there are countless people like Terri Schiavo whose lives are in grave danger because of unclear custody and guardianship laws," says Tada. "Plus, more states (under futile care policy directives) are quietly removing the feeding tubes from brain-injured people when families abandon their responsibilities. Feeding tubes are providing basic care, not medical treatment."

Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, was interviewed at length in the documentary and is now involved in helping families in similar circumstances through The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation.

Schindler believes the truth about his sister's death has been distorted and hidden - until now.

"Our hope is that people will learn the truth about what happened to Terri," says Schindler, "and realize the atrocity that it was and that anyone who claims that her death was 'peaceful' and 'painless' is lying. It is because of the truly inhumane nature of death by dehydration that when people are killed this way it is always done behind closed doors in the strictest secrecy. I wholeheartedly believe that if the public had been allowed to witness Terri's suffering first hand, the outcry would have deafened Florida and the world."

Tada was on the front lines with Terri's family in 2005, helping lead the protests that eventually landed in the halls of the U.S. Congress. "I hope that people understand that Terri Schiavo's story is really our story," says Tada.

"We have a special obligation to protect the weak and vulnerable in our society. We have a responsibility to uphold their human dignity -- because we are of equal dignity, we are not at each other's disposal. The weak and the vulnerable need their rights safeguarded and protected... we must not allow them to become eroded. For when we do, we are jeopardizing the rights of us all."

Originally produced as an episode for the Joni & Friends television series, Franklin Springs Family Media felt the story was compelling enough to produce as a stand-alone project.

Their decision was recently justified when The Terri Schiavo Story won the Jubliee Award for Best Documentary at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival.

Franklin Springs Family Media founder Ken Carpenter believes the documentary should be seen by every church and organization that cares about policies related to the disabled and pro-life issues.

"I hope this film helps us see that our understanding of complex situations such as Terri's should not be rooted in popular opinion, but in biblical standards."

Carpenter took home the Dove Award for Long Form Video in 2007 for Amy Grant's Time Again, and in 2006 for Mark Schultz' A Night of Story and Songs.

Carpenter also recently produced and directed the latest John Tesh television special - John Tesh Alive.

Through his Franklin Films production company, Carpenter has produced projects for many of the leading names in Christian entertainment and ministry, including Michael W. Smith, Compassion International, Steven Curtis Chapman, The Gideons, Jeremy Camp, eHarmony, dcTalk, Integrity Publishers, Mercy Me, Big Idea Productions, Casting Crowns, and many others.

Carpenter launched Franklin Springs Family Media in 2005.

For more information and to view a trailer for the new documentary, click here: www.TheSchiavoStory.com.

For more information on Franklin Springs Family Media,visit: www.FranklinSprings.com.

For more information on The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, visit: www.TerrisFight.org.

For more information on Joni Eareckson Tada, visit: www.JoniandFriends.org.

 

 

[floriduh voter]

Obama called the babies “tiny cells”. He was right at the forum w/McCain. When life begins is above his pay grade. Obama is a big death cultist. Their only goal is to line their pockets. The agenda is to experiment and to destroy. So far, Obama’s got an A in destruction. EVERYTHING HE TOUCHES.

[floriduh voter]

Fla Guv Crist picks lefty for Fl Supreme Court. (remember Crist, Fla’s major RINO?????). He let Terri die (article at FR. “Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die”)

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/mar/11/111608/crist-appoints-perry-florida-supreme-court/

[floriduh voter]

Alan Keyes also tried to help Terri but JEB BUSH refused to meet w/him. JEB BUSH: Pontius Pilate.

http://www.renewamerica.us/ (good stuff today at Keyes’ site).

[wagglebee]

The death culters have now openly admitted their desire to pursue the evil of bad sci-fi movies.

Thread by me.

Use Aborted Children to Make up Shortfall of Transplant Organs: Oxford Stem Cell Expert

LONDON, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Oxford University stem cell expert has urged the use of aborted children in organ transplants as a solution to the shortage of available organs. Sir Richard Gardner has called for a feasibility study on the possibility of obtaining organs from the bodies of aborted babies.

He said, "It is probably a more realistic technique in dealing with the shortage of kidney donors than others."

. . .

[wagglebee]

There are still pockets of sanity in California.

Thread by GonzoII.

“They’re nothing more than a baby-killing organization” Orange County supervisors cut funding to PP

The Orange County Board of Supervisors has voted unanimously to rescind a contract with Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties because of the organization’s links to abortion. “I don’t believe the county should be funding abortion, and I don’t believe the county really should be involved in funding an organization who performs about 35 percent of the abortions in the country,” said Supervisor Chris Norby, the Orange County Register reported. . .

[wagglebee]

Zero's legacy continues in Illinois.

Thread by me.

Illinois "FOCA" Moves to House Floor - Would Eliminate All Abortion Restrictions in State

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, March 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An Illinois bill enshrining abortion as a "right" and introducing explicit sex education was approved by the Illinois House Human Services Committee yesterday in a 5-2 vote.

HB 2354, proposed by state House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, states that the government shall not "deny or interfere with an individual's right" to abortion and contraception. The bill would nullify or prevent all common-sense legal restrictions on abortion, including health and safety regulations for abortion facilities, informed consent, and parental notification laws. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[wagglebee]

More on the new documentary about Terri.

Thread by me.

New Terri Schiavo Documentary Gives Facts Media Distorted in Euthanasia Death

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A new documentary about the life and death of Terri Schiavo presents facts that the mainstream media distorted. Schiavo was killed in a painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death over the course of nearly two weeks when her former husband won a court order to kill her.

Though the media maintained the disabled woman was in a persistent vegetative state experts say she was in a minimally conscious state and her family indicated she repeatedly interacted with them.

Now, Franklin Springs Family Media has put out a newly-released documentary called The Terri Schiavo Story that it says provides previously unexplored facts of the case through in-depth interviews with participants in the saga.

The documentary is hosted by author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who became personally involved in the case in 2005 and is herself disabled because of a diving accident. . .

[wagglebee]

The Vatican is coming out strongly against Sebelius, but the Archdiocese of Washington is intent on being spineless.

Threads by Jim Robinson and me.

Top Vatican Official Slams Choice of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services

SAN DIEGO, CA, March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The head of the Roman Catholic Church's highest office overseeing Church law has slammed the nomination of Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), calling the nomination "the source of greatest embarrassment" to the Catholic Church.

In an interview with Thomas J. McKenna, president of Catholic Action for Faith and Family, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, strongly supported the means by which the Governor has been disciplined by her bishop because of her public support for abortion. Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann has been strongly critical of Sebelius in the past, publicly admonishing her not to receive Communion, and has called Obama's nomination of the governor "offensive."

"Archbishop Naumann acted with exemplary pastoral charity in the matter, protecting the Body and Blood of Christ from unworthy reception, preventing the Governor from the commission of the most serious sin of sacrilege, and ending the great scandal caused by the Governor's unworthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ" said Archbishop Burke in the interview. . .

_____________________________________________________________

D.C. archdiocese hedges on Communion for Sebelius

The Archdiocese of Washington is trying to duck a growing debate on whether pro-choice Catholic politicians can take Communion within its boundaries.

The appointment of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, one of the nation's best-known Catholic politicians, to head the Department of Health and Human Services has consumed Catholic blogs and opinionmakers because the nominee has been told by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan., to not take Communion. He would only lift the order, he wrote in a May 9 column in his archdiocesan newspaper, when the governor had "acknowledged the error of her past positions, made a worthy sacramental confession" and made "a public repudiation of her previous efforts and actions in support of laws and policies sanctioning abortion."

The debate heated up Friday when a Catholic web site released an interview of the Vatican's top-ranking American official who said the governor should not be taking Communion anywhere in the country. Archbishop Raymond F. Burke, the prefect for the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican's highest court, was asked by a reporter for Catholic Action for Faith and Family if this applied to the Archdiocese of Washington, Mrs. Sebelius' presumed new home. . .

[wagglebee]

Michael Steele is proving himself to be a horrible choice to head the RNC.

Thread by xjcsa.

Steele: Abortion an 'individual choice' (interview a must-read)

In an interview with GQ, Michael Steele called abortion an "individual choice" and said the question should be left to the states. . .

[wagglebee]

This is repulsive!

Thread by GonzoII.

Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace Funding Pro-Abortion Groups in Mexico

TORONTO, March 11, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The official international development organization of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops is funding groups in Mexico that are pressuring the Mexican government to legalize abortion, LifeSiteNews has learned. The five pro-abortion groups have received $170,000 in total this year from Development and Peace. In an interview with LSN, the Director of International Programs for Development and Peace admitted that the issue of whether or not a group is pro-abortion is not a determining factor in funding. . .

[wagglebee]

A great expose of the death culters.

Thread by me.

The Final Exit Network's Shadowy World of Assisted Suicide and Death

Two weeks ago I wrote about "Alleged Assisted Suicide Ring Busted." If you're interested you can find out what my take is on the Final Exit Network.

The New York Times picked up the story thread yesterday.

The assisted suicide lobby has no more faithful friend, no more aggressive advocate or vociferous cheerleader than the Times.

We've long since come to expect that the publication whose motto is "all the news that's fit to print" would only print news about assisted suicide that says it "honors" patient's wishes and avoids having it done "underground or covertly, with hushed tones," as Barbara Coombs Lee, the president of pro-euthanasia Compassion and Choices, told the Times yesterday.

Robbie Brown's "Arrests of Right-to-Die Officials Focus New Attention on Assisted Suicide" is far more balanced than the usual legalize-this-now-or-you-are-an-uncaring-cad malarkey we are accustomed to reading in the Times. . .

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Sun]

“In an interview with GQ, Michael Steele called abortion an “individual choice” and said the question should be left to the states. . . “

Very disappointing. I just said a prayer for him, and for all concerned, including the UNBORN CHILDREN.

I hope the Holy Spirit will grant him more wisdom.

[Lesforlife]

So predictable!

[wagglebee]

The culture of death truly beliefs that nobody else has ever had to watch a loved one die.

Thread by me.

A Right to Die

Whenever the debate over euthanasia arises, I wonder whether opponents of assisted suicide have ever seen a loved one battle a terminal disease. Written descriptions fall flat in comparison to actually watching a person die in front of you — watching as her body thins and her eyes shrink and recede. You see a face become nothing more than pronounced cheekbones and a receding hairline. It’s difficult to watch; it must be almost unbearable to experience.

The reason I wonder whether critics have ever experienced such a tragic situation is that their arguments often come off as juvenile. Kevin Smith, the executive director of a New Hampshire-based conservative think tank, was recently quoted in The Dartmouth as saying, “Doctors are there to do good … They’re there to help people, not to put people to death” (“Assisted suicide bill proposed,” Feb. 27). Ideally, doctors would not be responsible for ending lives, but this is not an ideal world. Indeed, terminal diseases are about as far from ideal as you can get, and it is both crude and unproductive to frame the euthanasia debate in terms of “good” and “bad” actions. The argument is far more complex than such vague and simple terms. . .

[wagglebee]

Tiller the Killer's trial starts tomorrow and as of Thursday he was still botching abortions.

Threads by GonzoII and me.

Kan. late-term abortion provider faces trial

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - For abortion opponents, the trial of one of the nation's few late-term abortion providers has been a long time coming, a chance for a little bit of justice after years of seeing their efforts thwarted. To abortion-rights supporters, Dr. George Tiller's trial set to begin Monday is the culmination of repeated harassment, a witch hunt in which his foes have been willing to do anything and everything to gain a conviction. . .

_____________________________________________________________

As Tiller Jury Selection Begins, New Video Documenting Botched Abortion Shows Need For Justice

WICHITA, Kansas, March 15 /Christian Newswire/ --On the eve of jury selection for Tiller's criminal trial, Operation Rescue has released a new video with more information about a young woman who was hospitalized on Thursday due to a botched abortion at George Tiller's infamous abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas. . .

"We will not be silent.
We are your bad conscience.
The White Rose will give you no rest."

[wagglebee]

Archbishop Naumann has written a wonderful editorial on Sebelius.

Thread by me.

Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann: Why Sebelius should refrain from communion

As a Catholic priest, my life is dedicated to attempting to bring people to Jesus Christ. In our Catholic faith, we believe that Jesus makes himself uniquely present to us through our reception of the Eucharist.

Catholics, in receiving the Eucharist, profess their faith in the real presence of Jesus as well as their communion with His Church.

Catholics have a personal responsibility not to receive Holy Communion if they have with knowledge and intention committed a grave evil.

While I realize that most readers of The Star do not share my faith in the Eucharist, I share this brief description of Catholic belief to provide the context for my request that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius not receive Holy Communion.

As a bishop, it is my responsibility to protect the integrity of the sacraments as well as the teaching of the Church. . .

[freepertoo]

Eeeeevil Conservative and I were there in Florida. We were in the same hotel with Terri’s parents and brother and were fortunate enough to be able to speak with them and see their heroism, faith, and courage. I am still badly shaken by this whole thing...it was the most horrendous example of evil.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!