Posted on 04/06/2005 9:41:34 AM PDT by tacomonkey2002
An Open Letter to Terri
04/06/05
Dearest Terri,
How can it be? How can I have loved you so much without ever having met you? How can my country have abandoned you and starved you to death? How can it be?
I first heard of you on Catholic radio in 2003. Johnette Benkovic and Fr. Edmund Sylvia let us listeners know that a disabled woman might be killed merely because she couldn’t speak for herself. I began praying for you then, but suddenly the wheels of injustice had begun to crush you. Your starvation and dehydration began, and I wept for you and cried for you and called your governor. God bless him, he was able to save you then.
That’s when I began to dig into the circumstances that led to a runaway judicial system deciding to kill you.
I learned that your husband had received hundreds of thousands of dollars to care for you. Then, with all that money sitting in a trust fund he could inherit, he chose to let you suffer with a urinary tract infection in hopes that it would turn to septicemia and kill you. What pain you must have endured.
I learned that your husband was living with another woman and now has two children with her. I learned that your parents, your wonderful, loving parents, tried to have him removed as your guardian so that they could take care of you. I’ve learned now that the judge who decided you should die never ruled on your husband’s fitness to be your guardian.
I learned that you’ve been living for fifteen years assisted by nothing more complicated than a feeding tube. I heard from other members of the disabled community that they love their tubes. I’m sure that you loved yours. But I learned that the same judge who decided you should die also refused to allow you any swallowing therapy so that you might live without that feeding tube.
I learned that your dear friend Diane Meyer testified in court that you had great sympathy for Karen Ann Quinlan, a girl also famous for her disability. You said of Karen, “Where there’s life, there’s hope.” I repeated your words over and over as I watched your parents fight valiantly for your life. But the judge who decided you should die discounted Diane’s testimony and called for your death.
I learned that doctors disagreed over your condition. Many, many doctors and therapists watched video tapes of you and said that therapy would help you get better. But the judge who decided you should die judged you from those same video tapes and said therapy was useless.
I learned that the wheels of injustice would not stop turning. Your governor’s actions were declared unconstitutional, and the judge who had never met you called again for your death.
Your parents turned to the Holy Father who just a year ago spoke the words that could save you. All life, he said, is a fundamental good and must be protected. He was speaking specifically of you, Terri, and of all disabled people. Most importantly, he said that feeding you was morally obligatory. But the judge who decided you should die said that wasn’t important.
Your feeding tube was pulled, and for 24 hours I chose to starve along with you. How my heart broke for you as I, too, shivered and thirsted. My heart further broke at the thought that though I’d be able to eat again soon, that might not happen for you. Your parents fought and fought and fought for you, when I know they would have loved to have been by your side. Yet no matter how hard they fought, and no matter how hard thousands of us prayed for you, no judge would take pity on you and let you eat.
You passed from this world into the next, and thousands of us mourned. Please know that we promised in your memory that we would work to make sure this never happened to anyone else.
The Holy Father did not forget you either. He, too, has now passed from this life to the next, and his journey was blessedly similar to yours. As you approached the end of your earthly life, he accepted a feeding tube. His teaching became his treatment, and he showed his solidarity with you.
But it did not end there. Just as your husband had first hoped you’d die from a urinary tract infection, so too the Holy Father developed one. As if to prove to the world what danger you had suffered, his infection turned to septicemia and his body began to ebb.
As you clung to life longer than any of us knew was possible, so too did the Holy Father. A false report of the Holy Father’s death was announced and some thirty of us gathered at a playground fell to our knees in prayer for him. We ended by asking for your prayers, too.
In this octave of Easter, just three days after you died, so too died the Holy Father. Both of you died in the 9th hour, you in the morning, he in the evening. What an appropriate comment from God on the stages of your lives.
Just as we waited three days for Jesus to emerge from His tomb, you were in Heaven for three days waiting for the comfort of your Holy Father, the man who all the way from Rome reached out to try to save you.
I’m sure that he’s holding you now.
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Outreach
Toni Collins is a convert to Catholicism, a church musician, a freelance writer, and a summa cum laude graduate in computer science of the University of California-Irvine. She and her husband, Rick, are the parents of four daughters and live in Northern California.
It is indeed claptrap. Enough already. She's dead.
May her face haunt him."
I just thought of a great idea - all of us Freepers, and all of our friends, should make copies of photographs of Terri and mail them to Michael. We should bombard him with pictures of her, and NEVER stop!
You won't be confused anymore when I ask you THIS question: "Michael said that Terri told him "no tubes for me; I would never want to live like that". So, then, WHY did he insert the tube in Terri in the 1ST PLACE???? So much for "respecting" her "wishes", huh?
OR, because Michael didn't want any "evidence" lying around. I firmly believe that that is the case.
According to court transcripts, $750k was set aside for Terri's rehab payments. Michael had only $300k and according to him, the argument was over the split between him and the Schindlers. It is interesting to note that their relationship fell apart after a meeting in which this was discussed. What seems to mitigate in Michael's favor relative to this issue is that he turned down 2 $1 million and 1 $10 million offer to turn Terri over to the parents.
2. I haven't heard the parents say they told him to get a new girl...but only Micheal claim it
It was discussed at length here on FR in a number of threads, and I seem to recall that the information was gleaned from a deposition in which Bob Schindler admitted telling Michael to get on with his life, start to date, and that Michael introduced his current girlfriend to them, and all seemed fine....until the $300k split issue.
The point IS an innocent woman was starved and tortured to death in the United State of America simply because she was inconvenient.
Well, you are correct that she was starved, but as to the torture, that appears to be a very arguable point. As for innocent, yes, but again the arguable point seems to be her alleged desire not to be hooked up. I didn't agree with the position, feeling that Judge Greer should have given consideration to the conflict of interest issue. Nevertheless, it was a very nice letter, but as I said earlier, there were other issues impacting this and not all mitigating in the Schindler family's favor.
Unfortunately, this situation was set up years ago, starting with Statute 765 and with Michael & Felos hooking up. The Schindlers never had a chance, as Greer was NEVER going to rule in their favor. Those 3, and others, had an agenda that they were putting in place, and it wasn't & isn't good. I don't think Terri is the only one - there are more to come.
APPLAUSE!! (I know some, too..)
I would imagine that most states have statutes relating to health care surragates. Specifically, why do you think Greer would never have ruled in their favor?
Those 3, and others, had an agenda that they were putting in place, and it wasn't & isn't good.
What do you think was their agenda other than the specific subject of the litigation, ie: Terri's guardianship?
I don't think Terri is the only one - there are more to come.
In Florida, or elsewhere? Are you aware of any specific cases?
Yes, he turned down offers of $1 million and $10 million if he would let her live.
The question no one has ever asked him is how much money he was offered to let her die. I'd like to see the moral weasel answer that one.
yes...very dead.
mm hmmm.
Borges is forgiven.
:)
peace.
Because he is a lier?
Michael "turned down" those offers only after he was in this thing deep, deep, deep. Up to his eyeballs.
This was a model case for the Death Industry, and its representatives wouldn't have let Michael Schiavo turn back for anything.
And after the year 2000, there's very little MS could've done anyway. Do you know that after the court ruled that it was Terri's wish to die, the matter was actually out of Michael Schiavo's hands?
Death by starvation/dehydration became Terri's inexorable fate after that court decision in 2000. (I suppose Michael Schiavo could have stopped it by suddenly reversing course and shouting "I lied! I lied!" and demanding a new trial. But he wasn't about to do that, was he.)
I had heard that, but have seen no links supporting the conclusion that Greer or anyone associated with the Schiavo case had anything to do with it. Do you have any information to support this theory?
Do you have any information to support that? Who might have made him such an offer...and why? If you believe this to be the case, then you should have some support for it.
Since you were not personally in the room when the argument took place, we have only the Schinder's and Michael's account. I don't know the truth, as I don't have all of your inside information. I simply said that there are other versions of the events that took place. Again, no one seems to be able to say why Michael was so interested in the $300k but turned down $1 to $10 million simply to walk away.
Terri sitting in the dark, no TV, no music, no picture's etc... then I realized that sensory deprivation is a well known to cause infants to become brain damaged.
Are there any documented discussions from the physicians involved concerning this? After all, it would seem that if so, then perhaps some type of criminal action would ensue. I'm sure you can point to such documentation.
Funny how we remember things.
Other than a useless statement, please provide information that counters what I said, that it was Bob Schindler who suggested that Michael start dating and that Michael introduced his girlfriend to the Schiavos. As I said, it was well discussed here on FR. Perhaps the deposition is not real. I would assume you know, since you are completely aware of everything in this case.
yeah...it's debatable.
You people lose all credibility when you link Terri Schiavo to the German holocaust of six million Jews, and the Mengele experiments.
Your black and white world cannot stand the possibility that there may just be some shades of grey out there.
I have no idea what that means. He could easily have walked away even days after the feeding tubes were removed. What does that mean? Surely any agreement to relinquish Terri's guardianship would include a hold harmless agreement.
This was a model case for the Death Industry, and its representatives wouldn't have let Michael Schiavo turn back for anything.
Who are these people? Can you document any of this? What hold would they have on Michael? Or are you just assuming all of this?
And after the year 2000, there's very little MS could've done anyway. Do you know that after the court ruled that it was Terri's wish to die, the matter was actually out of Michael Schiavo's hands?
Not at all. Had Michael simply said that maybe there was some question about her wishes, any of the 40 plus judges who reviewed the case would clearly have stopped it. Contrary to the opinion of many on FR, I have seen absolutely no documentation to support some gigantic cabal of doctors, judges and the so called "death industry" to kill Terri.
(I suppose Michael Schiavo could have stopped it by suddenly reversing course and shouting "I lied! I lied!" and demanding a new trial. But he wasn't about to do that, was he.)
He would not have had to do that. He would simply have had to turn guardianship over to the Schindlers and they, being Terri's legal guardian, could have most assuredly gotten the tubes reinserted. Michael could easily have said that perhaps Terri did not really mean feeding tubes.
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