Reply #15: the truth

[glaucon]

Terri Schiavo--TRUTH vs. Lies


TRUTH about her husband:

*When doctors determined that Terri had entered a persistent vegetative state, Michael flew Terri to California for experimental surgical treatments, sleeping on a cot in her hospital room.

*Even after doctors in California determined surgery would do nothing to help Terri, Michael continued to seek help. He admitted Terri to a Florida brain-injury center and hired an aide to take her out to parks and museums, in the hope it might stimulate her reawakening. It didn't.

*With his wife in a nursing home, Michael began taking classes in health care at St. Petersburg Junior College. He eventually became a certified respiratory therapist and a registered nurse. Michael today works in an emergency room at a hospital in Florida.

*He has said his own mother's death from cancer helped him come to terms with death and dying. In 1998, Michael began to petition the court for the removal of the feeding tube that had kept Terri alive for eight years.

*When asked on CNN's "Larry King Live" why he doesn't simply divorce his wife, Michael said, "This is Terri's wish, this is Terri's choice. And I'm going to follow that wish if it's the last thing I can do for Terri."

*The court has agreed she said she did not want to live in a vegatative state. The court and husband are satisfied on this topic.
--------------
LIES being told by right wing bloggers and terrisfight.org:

*Her name is Terri Schiavo, NOT Terri Schindler-Schiavo, this is a right to life TRICK to make you think about her parents.

* Her situation CAN improve. How MANY doctors need to tell the parents and right wing goofballs she CANNOT improve before they accept science and move on?

* She was NEVER abused. Her husband NEVER put her in this condition. It's like all the abuse claims over children come out AFTER the divorce proceedings begin. NO COURT has ever entertained these claims as being factual.

(A tip o' the hat to WatchThisDrive on SC)


From http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=519&e=10&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman_money_1

Money Evaporating in Terri Schiavo Battle

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - As the battle over Terri Schiavo's life rages in the courtrooms and halls of government, the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman lies in a hospice bed, dependent on Florida taxpayers and the institution's charity for her care.

The $1 million received by her and her husband, Michael, in a medical malpractice case in 1993 is nearly gone, attorneys say, spent on her care and the husband's legal quest over the past seven years to stop her artificial feedings so she can die.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have fought their son-in-law every step of the way in a bitter saga that could be entering its final chapter as the court-ordered removal of the feeding tube approaches on Friday. On Wednesday, a Florida appeals court rejected another request from the Schindlers to block the removal.

In a case where both sides have accused the other of being motivated by money, hardly anybody is getting paid anymore.

Michael Schiavo's attorneys say they have not been paid in more than two years. David Gibbs III, whose Clearwater law firm represents the Schindler family, said he is working for free, although a national anti-abortion group, Life Legal Defense Foundation, has paid some of his expenses and previously paid a Schindler attorney.

"We committed to help the Schindlers as a law firm whether they could pay or not," said Gibbs, whose rapid-fire filing of court motions trying to save Terri Schiavo's life has kept judges busy for weeks.

Just $40,000 to $50,000 remains of the money won in the malpractice case after Terri Schiavo's heart stopped in 1990 and left her in what court-appointed doctors say is a persistent vegetative state. Deborah Bushnell, one of Michael Schiavo's attorneys, said the money is being saved for litigation expenses.

The money is held in a trust fund, and a judge approves all expenditures, from attorneys' fees to the woman's haircuts.