Guest Author - Linda Sue Grimes

How did Terri Schindler Schiavo get into the condition she’s in? What caused her to become brain-damaged?

According to numerous reports, on February 25, 1990, at 5:30 a.m., Terri suffered a heart attack that deprived her brain of oxygen, and that lack of oxygen resulted in brain damage. But what caused the heart attack? Did she really suffer a heart attack? Why has she been able to live so long if she had a weak heart?

It is also reported that when the paramedics who treated Terri first saw her, they called the police, who suspected this was an attempted homicide. What happened with that? Her husband, Michael Schiavo, was the only other person with her when she suffered this supposed heart attack, so why was he not thoroughly investigated? The Schindlers, Terri’s parent, have openly revealed their belief that Michael Schiavo may have been responsible for Terri’s trauma. As soon as he received the money from a malpractice suit that he promised he would use to rehabilitate Terri, he stopped all rehab efforts and began court proceedings to have Terri’s feeding tube removed. It was seven years after the trauma, that Michael Schiavo started claiming that Terri had expressed a wish not to be sustained artificially.

Only people named Schiavo have supported the claim that Terri expressed right-to-die wishes. Others including her parents and friends who knew her well have claimed the opposite. Why has the court, Judge George Greer, taken the side of Michael Schiavo, whose motives have been questionable? He has not remained a loving and caring husband to Terri; his openly living with another woman and fathering children with her is ample evidence that he does not respect the sanctity of marriage.

Why does Michael Schiavo insist on retaining guardianship of Terri Schiavo? Is it for the money remaining from the lawsuit? The money issue is unclear, because it is variously reported that there is $40,000 to $700,000 left of the $1.3 million malpractice lawsuit won by Michael Schiavo in 1992, and neither Schiavo nor his attorney will discuss the existence of a life insurance policy.

So, if there is no money, then aren’t we led to believe that Michael Schiavo is a man of such high morals that he has chosen to remain married to Terri in order to preserve her wishes of right-to-die? But then wouldn’t a man of high morals find the practice of living with a woman and father children out-of-wedlock grossly immoral?

Why does Michael Schiavo not allow an MRI and PET scans to be performed on Terri? Why does he not allow physical therapy? Why does he even forbid her parents visitation rights for long periods of time?

All of these questions remain surrounding this case. Those who accept Michael Schiavo’s claim that Terri would not insist on right-to-life measures and those who accept the original court’s verdict regarding the condition of Terri as persistent vegetative state have no question regarding what should be done: the feeling tube should be removed and should have been removed years ago. Very simple. But for those who realize that those two questions—did Terri, in fact, make the right-to-die claim? and is she really PVS? — are not sufficiently answered, a host of other question arise.

To paraphrase President Bush, the issues surrounding this case are complex and if an error is to be made, shouldn’t it be made on the side of life?