Statements Regarding the Terri Schindler Schiavo Dispute

CNSNews.com Information Services
October 21, 2003

Editor’s Note: The following statement was issued by Michael Schiavo, Monday, Oct. 20, 2003. Immediately after it, is a response issued by the family of Terri Schindler Schiavo.

“Last Wednesday, my wife's feeding tube was removed.

“For over 6 years, I have struggled with the Schindlers in court. On Wednesday, I joined them in grief. I understand what the Schindlers are going through at this time. I feel the same loss.

“For years after this happened to Terri, I tried desperately to find a cure for her. I went from one doctor to another. Almost all of them told me there was no possibility she would recover. Any doctor that gave me a glimmer of hope that some new treatment or therapy would work was given free reign with Terri. I would do anything to make her well.

“I took Terri to California. I stayed with her while doctors performed an experimental procedure to implant electrodes in her brain to stimulate its function. I spent months working with her - hopeful of a cure. Months later, the doctors told me the electrodes were not working.

“I took Terri to Mediplex, in Bradenton, Florida, which is a residential rehabilitation facility that specializes in brain injuries. She spent months there in intensive physical, speech and occupational therapy and testing.

“Finally, the doctors and therapist told me and the Schindlers they could do nothing more for her. I hired a private duty aide 8 hours a day to take Terri on outings to parks and museums trying to stimulate her - looking for any sign of life, any flicker of hope. There was none - ever.

“Over the years, I had three swallowing tests performed on Terri in the hope that some of the therapies would allow her to be weaned off the feeding tube. The test all showed no change, and I was advised she could not swallow food. Even now, the nursing home staff says that sometimes Terri gags and chokes on the moisture from the swabs they use to moisten her lips.

“The reports you heard from nursing home aides that Terri was responsive years ago are not true. I would give anything if they were. Those aides cared for Terri during the time that I was desperately seeking a cure for her. I was so frustrated that I could not help Terri. I am sure that I was sometimes unkind to the aides - even shouted at them. This was not because I wanted Terri dead, but because I desperately wanted her alive. I blamed myself because I could not bring her back.

“It seemed to me, during that time, that the aides never did enough for Terri. Some days they did not put her makeup on. I would storm into the nursing home insisting that they do so. I knew Terri always wanted to look her best. Sometimes, the aides did not get her dressed and sitting up until late in the morning. They did not always get her hair combed. They sometimes failed to give her vitamins and medications on time. At each of those failures, I became enraged and lashed out. I felt so helpless. Each small infraction reminded me how powerless I was to really help Terri. I admit that I yelled at the aides and I am now deeply sorry for that behavior. Much like the Schindlers now, I stubbornly resisted and [sic] suggestion that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state and would never get better.

“I never wanted Terri to die. I still don't. After more than seven years of desperately searching for a cure for Terri, the death of my own mother helped me realize that I was fooling myself. More important, I was hiding behind my hope, and selfishly ignoring Terri's wishes. I wanted my wife to be with me so much that I denied her true condition.

“Terri told me on several occasions before this happened that she would not want to live in her current condition. If we had been older, I am sure she would have signed a living will making it clear that she did not to be kept alive on tubes and machines. She never had the chance.

“That left me to carry out her wishes. It has been hard. In fact, it is the hardest thing I have ever done. In the end, I did what I believe Terri would have wanted me to do.

“Some people do not agree with the decisions the court made to remove Terri's feeding tube. I struggle to accept it myself. But I know in my heart that it is right, and it is what Terri wants. There is no longer any realistic hope of Terri's recovery. Perhaps there never was, but I had to try - just as the Schindlers have tried. The reality is that Terri left us 13 years ago, and none of us can bring her back.

“Terri's parents and family may visit with her as much as they choose in the days to come. I, and my friends and relatives, will be there as well to spend time with Terri, as we all grieve. Please pray for us all.”
 

The Schindler family’s response

“We, the Schindler family, wish to respond to the statement of Michael Schiavo published by the media on October 20, 2003. Mr. Schiavo’s statement is an exercise in self-justification that completely rewrites the true history of his efforts to have our Terri put to death by starvation and dehydration.“Here are the facts that Mr. Schiavo has hidden in his statement:

• “Terri, on Mr. Schiavo’s orders, has had no therapy of any kind since the Fall of 1991.
• “At a medical malpractice trial in November 1992, Mr. Schiavo swore to the jury that he would devote any jury award to Terri’s care and rehabilitation and he promised under oath that he would take care of Terri for the rest of his life.
• “After securing an award of over $700,000 for Terri’s care, Mr. Schiavo did an about-face, and has spent the last 10 years in a determined campaign to cause Terri’s death.
• “This campaign began within a few months of the malpractice award, when, in mid-1993, Mr. Schiavo had a ‘do not resuscitate’ order placed in Terri’s medical chart.
• In June of 1993 Mr. Schiavo refused to allow treatment of an infection Terri had developed, later admitting under oath that he expected the infection to progress to a fatal sepsis that would kill Terri.
• “In 1995, contrary to his promises to the jury that he would honor his marriage vows, Mr. Schiavo, who still pretends to be Terri’s ‘loving’ and ‘grieving’ husband, began living with another woman, by whom he has conceived two children out-of-wedlock. He calls this woman his fiancée, even while his wife Terri lays starving and dehydrating to death in hospice for the terminally ill---to which he consigned her three years ago so that she would receive no therapy.
• “It was not until 1998, when Mr. Schiavo hired Mr. Felos, that Mr. Schiavo suddenly ‘remembered’ that Terri had made some vague remarks about not wanting to be sustained on anything ‘artificial’ if she became incapacitated.
• “When he promised the malpractice jury back in 1993 that he would take care of Terri for the rest of his life, Mr. Schiavo said nothing to the jury about Terri not wanting to be sustained on anything ‘artificial.’
• “Mr. Schiavo’s crocodile tears and his statement that ‘I struggle with’ the Court’s order to starve and dehydrate Terri defy belief. That order is the end result of Mr. Schiavo’s utter determination to see Terri dead so that he can marry his ‘fiancée.’
• “Even though he has no Court order authorizing his actions, Mr. Schiavo has not only removed the feeding tube that has sustained our Terri for 13 years, but has also ordered that no attempt be made to feed Terri by mouth, even if she could be trained to take sustenance orally.
• “On Saturday, October 18, 2003, one of Mr. Schiavo’s team of lawyers refused to allow our Terri to receive her final Holy Communion. This lawyer would not even allow Msgr. Malanowski to place a miniscule piece of the Host on her tongue. Perhaps Michael fears that if Terri can swallow a piece of the Host, the whole world will know he is starving a helpless woman who can take sustenance by mouth.
• “Mr. Schiavo has spent the great bulk of Terri’s malpractice award on legal fees for Mr. Felos, in an effort to have Terri killed. He spent nothing on Terri’s therapy and rehabilitation---contrary to the promises he made to the jury, under oath, more than ten years ago.
• “We cannot allow Mr. Schiavo’s lies to go unanswered. We pray that God will see to it that justice is done and that our Terri’s life is delivered from the clutches of this ruthless man, who dares to pretend that he is grieving with us over what he has done to Terri.”

Robert Schindler, Mary Schindler, Robert Schindler. Jr. and Suzanne Sc