Disclaimer. Please note that this article contains only my opinions, plus opinions of others. Some of the information here may be fact, while other information may be fiction. I have done my best to present fact, mostly gathered from the Internet, but cannot be held responsible for information that I present, which may be untrue.

The Case Against Terri Schiavo (part 3).

 (Picture of  Terri just after she suffered from her brain injury
Taken from her site at
  Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation.

Did Terri Schiavo ever have a 'death wish?' That is the question that I will look at in this article.

If you are not aware of who Terri is, I will not repeat her background here. You can check my previous articles for background information.

In my first article on Terri I, shared my observations regarding Terri's gastronomy tube, (the tube that provides Terri with hydration and nutrition). I came to the conclusion that Terri shouldn't be starved to death by the courts removing her gastronomy tube, because the gastronomy tube is in fact a very simple device used for hydration and nutrition. It is not some high technology device, requiring complex medical maintenance, as is sometimes inferred in media articles. If you haven't read the article, you can read it here The Case Against Terri Schiavo (part 1)

In my second article on Terri, I shared my observations regarding the suggestion (that is now a 'rule' of the court), that Terri is in a PVS (persistent vegetative state). It was my conclusion that from a statistical viewpoint, Terri is probably not PVS. I also concluded, by comparing her condition, with the condition of our profoundly brain injured child, that it is extremely difficult at any time to diagnose PVS. You can read my second article here. The Case Against Terri Schiavo (part 2).

Because Michael Schiavo was the first person to suggest that his wife had a 'death wish', it is probably relevant for us to delve a little bit into his own personality and see if we can understand why he would say this approximately six years after being awarded significant malpractice damages for his wife's brain injury. Certainly Michael was fortunate in not remembering Terri's 'death wish' during the malpractice suit, If he had, the moneys awarded would have been much less.

Michael's undying love for Terri was once convincing, because during the trial for malpractice damages, he said "I believe in the vows I took with my wife, through sickness, in health, for richer or poor. I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm going to do that." But then seven months after receiving this money, Michael instructed nurses caring for Terri not to give her antibiotics for a urinary infection. This untreated infection could have brought about Terri's death, and this fact was apparently known by Michael. To put it bluntly, seven months after receiving the money he wanted Terri dead!.

We can get a small understanding  into Michael's bizarre behavior by reading what Dr. Carole Lieberman, an expert witness, and the author of Bad Boys has to say. I will quote only extracts (with her permission). For the full text, please refer to the link at the end of this article.

**Testimony of Carole Lieberman, M.D., M.P.H., Psychiatrist/Expert Witness
Diplomat, American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology
Clinical Faculty, UCLA Department of Psychiatry
247 South Beverly Drive, Suite 202
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

July 12, 2004

Preliminary Thoughts On How Terri Schiavo's Husband, Michael, Fits The Profile Of A Wife Abuser.

Based upon my interviews of Terri’s father, Robert Schindler, and my research into media accounts of her case, I can provide the following preliminary opinions at this time:

--As the author of the book, Bad Boys: Why We Love Them, How to Live with Them and When to Leave Them, I have studied men who exhibit pathology in their relationships with women. Profiles of the twelve different types of bad boys are explained. Michael Schiavo fits the profile, described in the book as the Prince of Darkness (see chapter 13). .........
........
Terri was frightened to object to Michael’s pathologically controlling behavior. For example, he would monitor her odometer to control where she went. He tried to isolate her from her friends and family. She had to account for every penny, though they often lived on her income, since he would be fired, sometimes only after two weeks. He would splurge on $400 suits for himself, while she had to economize. He called her at work 3-4 times a day, often complaining of hating his job because no one appreciated him. He was often observed scolding her.
.......
Michael has had Terri’s jewelry re-set into a ring for himself. Terri had two beloved cats that she adopted from an animal shelter, where they’d landed after being mistreated. When he moved in with his girlfriend, Cindy, he had Terri’s cats euthanized. Psychologically, this is symbolic of what he is trying to do now to Terri.

--Michael has been under psychiatric care, including being prescribed several psychotropic medications. One of his treating therapists, Dr. Peter Kaplan, told Terri’s father that he should have called the police after Michael argued with Terri’s sister, Susanne, and Michael tried to attack her. This occurred right after Terri’s collapse, when they were all in a house together. Terri’s father told Susanne to lock her door and keep a hammer nearby.

--As a psychiatric expert witness, I have had experience performing psychiatric examinations of men like Michael Schiavo, and testifying in court about similar cases. The above is simply meant to illustrate some of the indications that Michael fits the profile of an abusive husband.
.....

From the above testimony, it would certainly seem that Michael treated Terri very badly during their marriage together.

Even after Terri was brain injured and placed in a hospice/nursing home, the abuse and negligence continued and continues to this day.

Carla Sauer Iyer, R.N. in an affidavit in September 2003, states (Extract only. For full affidavit, visit Terri's site).

I was employed at Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center in Largo, Florida from April of 1995 to July 1996, while Terri Schiavo was a patient there.....

When Michael visited Terri, he always came alone and always had the door closed and locked while he was with Terri. He would typically be there about twenty minutes or so. When he left Terri would would be trembling, crying hysterically, and would be very pale and have cold sweats. It looked to me like Terri was having a hypoglycemic reaction, so I’d check her blood sugar. The glucometer reading would be so low it was below the range where it would register an actual number reading. I would put dextrose in Terri’s mouth to counteract it. This happened about five times on my shift as I recall. Normally Terri’s blood sugar levels were very stable due to the uniformity of her diet through tube feeding. It is my belief that Michael injected Terri with Regular insulin, which is very fast acting.....

If the above statement is true, then Michael's actions represent physical and emotional abuse.

Heidi Law, a Certified Nursing Assistant at the Palm Gardens nursing home from March, 1997 to mid-summer of 1997, occasionally took care of Terri. In an affidavit she shares her belief that Michael was causing more abuse. She states (Extract only. For the full affidavit, visit Terri's site).

....On one occasion Michael Schiavo arrived with his girlfriend, and they entered Terri’s room together. I heard Michael tell his girlfriend that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state and was dying. After they left, Olga told me that Terri was extremely agitated and upset, and wouldn’t react to anyone. When she was upset, which was usually the case after Michael was there, she would withdraw for hours. We were convinced that he was abusing her, and probably saying cruel, terrible things to her because she would be so upset when he left....

It would seem that  from the psychiatrist's testimony and the affidavits of the two nurses, Michael was and is an abusive person towards Terri.

The following information is from Terri's site indicating that abuse might have caused Terri's injury..

A bone scan taken 53 weeks after Terri's collapse revealed that Terri had fractured ribs, damage to her pelvic area, L1 vertebrae, spine, both knees and both ankles. It also revealed that Terri had suffered a broken femur and a broken back. Three doctors concluded that Terri had endured trauma of some sort. The radiologist responsible for the scan plainly stated: "This patient has a history of trauma".

If my may digress for a moment.

I am a bit old fashioned and I do enjoy the old films and comedies. Who out there can remember Amos and Andy :)

There is an old film "12 Angry Men", featuring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley and Jack Klugman, which I do enjoy watching. It is about a jury who have to decide whether or not a man, lets call him George, is guilty of Murder. The film starts off with 11 jurors believing that George is guilty and one juror does no believe him to be guilty.. During the film, one by one each juror changes his mind. The accused man is acquitted of the charges. There is a lot of heated debate in the jury room. Some of the evidence suggests that George has been heard saying that he wanted to kill the victim. During the heated debate, one of the jurors gets so worked up that he yells at another juror that he wants to kill him. The jurors come to realize that in the heat of the moment, that it is possible to say something that you just don't mean.

Conclusion

I have two observations to make.

Assuming that Terri did make a 'death wish', it is possible,  that she may have said this under duress and stress, without even meaning what she was saying. At a later time, when not under such stress, she probably wouldn't have made a 'death wish', at all. Of course the 'death wish' is only hearsay evidence. There is no written directive by Terri that she would want to die under these circumstances. Florida Law dictates that an "end of life directive" is a requirement in order to legally remove a person's nutrition and hydration, but there is no such directive in Terri's case.

Even if Terri did make a 'death wish', there are times, I would suggest, that perhaps many of us have felt like that. Even though I am a Christian, I do confess to such feelings. Some years back we had fairly significant financial problems. On one occasion, while depressed, I had thoughts of driving off the road. 

And what about all the children and adults who are anorexic. Many of them are 'force' fed, because if they weren't they would slowly die of starvation. Their 'death wishes' are prolonged, sometimes for years. Many of them after receiving significant counseling and therapy recover and enjoy life to the full. You wouldn't find many people wanting to allow them to go ahead with their 'death' wishes.

I personally do not believe for one moment that Terri had a 'death wish'. The evidence that suggests she said such a thing does seem very weak, with Michael and two other Schiavo's all of a sudden remembering Terri's wishes some six years after she became brain injured.

It would seem to me to be much more likely that for the first six years, Michael wanted his wife to die. He demonstrated these intentions by  denying  her all therapy, putting do not resuscitate orders beside her bed and instructing nurses not to give antibiotics when she had a urinary tract infection. Those actions of omission are the ones that are known. Because Michael does not allow Terri's parents to have access to her medical records, it is not unreasonable to assume that other areas of neglect have been perpetuated by Michael towards Terri, in the hope of shortening her life. 

Links mentioned in this article

  (Psychiatric assessment link

------------

About the author:

Paul Copeland is 58 years young. He is happily married to Alison. Their children are Tim, aged 16, who is profoundly disabled and Alicia who is 22 and engaged to be married. Paul's family are Christians. He, is very concerned about Terri's welfare and has set up a site at www.saveterri.com, to alert folk about Terri's plight. Paul can be contacted at:

paulcopeland@saveterri.com

Tell a friend about this site!

------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED!