Lies Terri Schiavo's parents told me

The Terri Schiavo case has transfixed the right wing media while attracting comparatively little attention from the left. This is discrepancy is understandable. Once you know the facts, there's very little to argue about. The case is literally a no brainer.

The Schiavo case presents no intricate medical, ethical, or legal dilemmas. Abstract Appeal's comprehensive legal chronology shows just how straightforward this case should have been. Michael Schiavo is Terri's legal guardian, the courts have determined that Terri wouldn't want a feeding tube, and Michael asked the doctors to take the tube out. That's really all there is to it.

The campaign to "save" Terri Schiavo is a vicious and lavishly-funded propaganda campaign. Terri's parents and their allies are using pseudoscience and character assassination to destroy Michael Schiavo. Of course, the right wing is eating it up.

If progressives don't counter these blatant misrepresentations now, the Terri Schiavo myths will be used against us for years to come.

Myths about the Terri Schiavo case

1. Terri is conscious

Court-appointed, government-appointed, and private physicians have confirmed that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). Schiavo suffered massive brain damage 15 years ago and ongoing neurological degeneration.

Patients in a PVS have no higher cognitive function and no chance of recovery.

Terri is neither comatose, nor brain dead. She is in a vegetative state because her higher brain centers have been destroyed and replaced by fluid.

1.' A recent study showed that patients like Terri are more conscious than we thought

A recent fMRI by study found that two patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) showed slightly more brain activity during speech recognition tasks than would have been predicted based on the severity of their injuries and behavioral observations (Schiff ND, Rodriguez-Moreno D, Kamal A, et al, 2005). When the study was released, some commentators inappropriately cited this result as evidence that Terri Schiavo's level of consciousness might have been underestimated.

Terri Schiavo is not in an MCS. According to the authors of the study, a diagnosis of MCS is reserved for a subset of patients who demonstrate "unequivocal, but intermittent, behavioral evidence of awareness of self or their environment." Unfortunately, Terri isn't conscious at all.

2. There are new treatments that might help Terri

Despite what Terri's parents say, there are no new treatments that could help their daughter. Anyone who claims that he can improve Terri's level of consciousness is a quack. You can't treat a brain that isn't there.

3. Terri's collapse is unexplained and/or suspicious

In an attempt to discredit Michael Schiavo, Terri's parents and their supporters are circulating unsubstantiated rumors of abuse and even accusations of attempted murder.

Former chief medical examiner for the city of New York and co-director of the Medicolegal Investigation Unit of the New York State Police, Dr. [Michael] Baden is often quoted in news reports and interviewed on television. [...] Dr. Baden, who has written three books on forensic pathology, told [Greta]van Susteren: "It's extremely rare for a 20-year-old to have a cardiac arrest from low potassium who has no other diseases . . . which she doesn't have. . . . The reason that she's in the state she's in is because there was a period of time, maybe five or eight minutes, when not enough oxygen was going to her brain. That can happen because the heart stops for five or eight minutes, but she had a healthy heart from what we can see." [Village Voice]

Terri Schiavo was not a healthy young woman. Her heart stopped because of a potassium imbalance induced by severe bulimia nervosa.[AP]

Hypokalemic cardiac arrests are rare in the population at large, but they all too common in young women with severe eating disorders. Michael Schiavo successfully sued Terri's doctors for failing to diagnose her condition. If there had been an alternate explanation for Terri's condition--like attempted murder by the plaintiff--you would think the doctors Schiavo sued would have brought it up.

Here's a transcript of the Greta van Susteren's interview with Dr. Baden on FOX News.

In the interview Baden alludes to Terri's alleged "history of trauma" and suggested that her brain damage might have been caused by a "head injury." Dr. Baden's insinuations don't hang together. Both Terri's bulimia and her potassium imbalance are well-documented. Whereas there is no evidence that Terri Schiavo's brain was destroyed by any kind of trauma.

BADEN: Yeah, your staff has provided me with a bone scan that you guys obtained ah from her initial admission in 1991 to the hospital. And that bone scan describes her as having a head injury. That’s why she’s there, that’s why she’s getting a bone scan. And a head injury can cause, lead to the vegetative state that Ms. Schiavo is in now, and it does show evidence that there are other injuries, other bone fractures, that on healing-stage, so that...

Dr. Baden says that the bone scan describes Terri as having a head injury. The implication is that the bone scan reveals that she suffered a head injury. The paperwork requesting the bone scan lists Schiavo as having had a head injury, but the bone scan doesn't show any evidence of head or neck trauma.

The head injury hypothesis is utterly far-fetched. Believe me, if Terri had been bleeding into her brain on the night in question, the ER would have noticed.

An even crazier theory of Terri's collapse is phantom strangulation. This one got a sympathetic hearing from both Hannity and Colmes. The evidence is that Terri was admitted with a rigid neck. So far, no one has claimed that Terri had any of the classic signs of manual strangulation. Patients who have been strangled tend to have bruises on their necks, petechiae (blood flecks) in the whites of their eyes, and bits of their assailant's flesh under their fingernails. Manual strangulation doesn't always leave marks, but why attribute to phantom stranglers what can be explained by hypokalemia?

4. Michael Schiavo abused Terri

There is no evidence that anyone abused Terri. A judge ruled the abuse allegation irrelevant years ago, but Terri's "supporters" are determined to keep meme alive just to destroy Michael Schiavo's reputation.

Dr. Baden alleges that a bone scan taken in 1991 showed that Terri had suffered trauma. Here is the deposition of the radiologist who analyzed Terri's bone scan, Dr. William Campbell Walker.

During the deposition, Walker acknowledges that the abnormalities on the bone scan could have been caused by Schiavo's collapse, vigorous CPR, an earlier car accident, prolonged immobility, or aggressive physiotherapy. Contrary to Dr. Baden's insinuation, the scan revealed no abnormalities in the head or neck.

By the time the scan was taken, Terri had already been in the care of a nursing home for several months. For all anyone knows, Terri's bones may have been damaged by neglect or abuse at the nursing facility.

5. Terri's brain damage was caused by a closed head injury

The head injury claim has been repeated over and over in the right wing media. Here's the only evidence I was able to find for this bold claim: In his deposition, Dr. Walker says that Dr. James Carnahan, Terri's rehabilitation physician, wrote "closed head injury" on a form requesting a radiological trauma work up. Maybe Schiavo has a history of closed head injuries, but it is absurd to think that a closed head injury caused her current vegetative state.

6. Michael Schiavo just wants to inherit Terri's fortune

What fortune? Even the pro-tube Terri Schiavo Foundation reports that of the nearly one million dollar malpractice settlement earmarked for Terri's future medical care, less than $50,000 is left.

The TSF is righteously indignant that a fair chunk of that money has gone to attorneys' fees. A judge authorized Michael Schiavo to spend that money on legal representation for himself and his incapacitated wife. It's odd that the TSF is so indignant, seeing as they picked the legal fight that depleted the account.

The TSF also acknowledges that Schiavo offered to donate whatever money he stood to inherit to charity if Terri's parents would stop trying interfere with his right to make medical decisions on behalf of his wife.

I just hope that these character assassins can be discredited before they ruin another person's life. Michael Schiavo has suffered enough.

[Cross-posted at Pandagon.]

Comments

[Thad]

You never made a distinction between empirical facts and opinions.

Uh, I thought that was what we were talking about? Facts that are "in dispute"? (I coulda sworn I used the word "facts," repeatedly, above.)

Stand roughly there'

So, then -- what's your rough threshold for "facts in dispute" vs. just plain old "facts"?

Anyway, the upshot of all of this is that the amount of disputation has absolutely no bearing on the accuracy of facts. You wrote, above:

Nothing in this post refutes the pro-tube position, because much of the case turns on facts that are disputed.

Which doesn't follow at all. You are saying we ought to suspend rational judgment simply because one side happens to be full of sound and fury.

[dadahead]

Opinions are (often) beliefs about facts.

I'm not saying to suspend judgment just because one side is full of sound & fury. I'm just saying that all it seemed like she was doing was asserting the negation of what the other side says. THAT refutes nothing.

You say: leprachauns are real.

I say: No, they're not.

Have I refuted you?

I don't have to suspend judgment, but, as someone who was and is almost completely unfamiliar with the facts of this case, the post in question did little to nothing to help me decide which side to believe.

This is overstating things a bit, b/c on some points she did, in fact, provide arguments. But on others she didn't.

You all might be right that the woman's parents are full o' shit; I don't really care enough about the case to look into it.

My take is: if she's truly brain-dead, then who really gives a shit?

[Marty]

The case has been decided.

The merits litigated.

What is truly being argued about here and elsewhere goes beyond Terri's case, as her case is being used as the backdrop for the deeply held views of many on both sides.

Few are listening to the other, but all provide a sounding board for the vent and rant of all the others with a myriad of motivations, whether political, religious, medical, etc.

This case, like many others before it, is a lighting rod for many of those who show little or no respect for Terri's privacy and her dignity.

If she were cognizant of what is being shouted about, do you think that she would be deeply hurt as to what is being said about her parents and her husband, and would ask you all to mind your own business, as it is a family matter?

Does anyone every consider that, right or wrong, the parents and Michael may very well have proper motives that cannot be reconciled? Is it possible for both sides to be correct, or both sides incorrect, depending upon how and who is judging the matter?

Although society does have an interest in the outcome of this case, for many reasons, including the sterile reason that the taxpayers will end up paying for the 24/7 care, we do not have the prerogative to "justly" defame and ridicule the parents and husband.

The people who ought to be ridiculed are those who pass judgment, defame, and demean the parents and Michael, without personally having read the transcripts and documentary evidence, studied the law, and then applied the law to the facts.

Maybe if that was done prior to judging, the vile things said about the judges, lawyers, parties, and witnesses, would be based upon sound reasoning rather than vitriol. But, I think I ask too much.

[Liberal Larry]

Obviously, this whole thing is a ploy by Evangelical Christians to subvert Roe v. Wade. Furthermore, if she's already a brain dead, worthless vegetable, then waiting around for her slowly starve to "death" is a complete waste of valuable resources and only serves to confirm the anti-choice, right-wingnut assertion that she was alive to begin with. As progressives, we should be demanding that Terri Schiavo be immediately bludgeoned with a hammer and tossed into a dumpster before any of more of our reproductive rights are ursurped in her name. It may seem extreme to some, but how many people has Bush murdered in Iraq? Isn't that "extreme"? She's already dead. She feels no pain. Let's get her out of our hair before any teenage girls are forced to get back alley abortions.

[Liberal Larry]

Obviously, this whole thing is a ploy by Evangelical Christians to subvert Roe v. Wade. Furthermore, if she's already a brain dead, worthless vegetable, then waiting around for her slowly starve to "death" is a complete waste of valuable resources and only serves to confirm the anti-choice, right-wingnut assertion that she was alive to begin with. As progressives, we should be demanding that Terri Schiavo be immediately bludgeoned with a hammer and tossed into a dumpster before any of more of our reproductive rights are ursurped in her name. It may seem extreme to some, but how many people has Bush murdered in Iraq? Isn't that "extreme"? She's already dead. She feels no pain. Let's get her out of our hair before any teenage girls are forced to get back alley abortions.

[paperwight]

First things first. Hopefully that will clear up the bolding problem. Second, this is the second place I've seen Wingut "Liberal Larry", who varies from the standard wingnut talking point troll by pretending to be a "typical librul". What a sad schtick this guy has, that he feels like this is how he needs to get his rocks off.

[Liberal Larry]

Sorry, paperweight, but I'm probably the only authentic liberal on this board. At least I have the courage to say what we all really mean, rather than dance around the subject out of fear that people will think we're all a bunch of drooling lunatics. Perhaps you should grow some "rocks" before casting them at me.

[Bryan]

I am a taxpayer in the state of Florida, so I have a financial interest in this case. My tax dollars have been used in the seven years of litigation in this case, and as the courts have uniformly come to the same conclusion, anything further is a waste of time and money.

I have been forced to finance a special session of the Florida legislature so they could pass a law that was unconstitutional on its face, and pay for the litigation that followed.

The private funding for Mrs. Schiavo's care is gone and her care now devolves to the taxpayers of Florida.

There are poor adults and children in Florida who could get well and contribute to the state with the money the state is spending on Mrs. Schiavo.

At this point the question is: what makes Terri Schiavo so unique that other Floridians must die so she can continue to be kept alive?

[James]

This is a case of parents being selfish. Michael Baden once again prostituting himself and right wing nut jobs not seeing the future. How long do we keep severely handicapped individuals onn feeding tubes? Do we keep the premature baby with little brain activity alive forever by the use of machines? Can parents determine the destiny of their minor children or will they be forced to accept the right wing hysteria that had come about in this case?

[KJ]

I won't argue the facts of the case except to say this. I think all of the following is true and without dispute:

1. What is properly "in dispute" is the desire of Terri. She never did a living will or wrote a word about her desires under these circumstances. Her husbands story is convenient. Her partent's are as well. The standard the judge was to apply is "clear and convincing evidence she wants to die." I don't see how the judge got there with the weak evidence offered by her "husband" but he did. So be it.

2. Although the "husband" may have no money now, he had a lot when he started the efforts to kill his wife. At the trial of the medical malpractice action, he promised to use all that money to keep Terri alive. Future medical expenses were the basis for the jury's large award. The jury didn't give him that money to spend on lawyers to try to starve her to death. Maybe he should be prosecuted for perjury.

3. The reason we allow "gaurdians ad litem" to make these decisions is b/c we assume the guardian has the best interests of the incompetent person at heart. Mike has a new lover (whom he can't marry b/c you can't get divorced from a brain dead person), new kids, and a new life. He no longer has, and for some time has not had, his "wife's" interests at heart. He wants to get on with a new life that he can't have so long as Terri is alive. If that isn't really true, it is certainly a reasonable inference from the facts. Maybe she should have a new guardian.

I don't like the way this played out. All of the undenial circumstances look to me like a guy who doesn't want to be bothered with his brain dead wife and wants to get on with a new life. While I can understand in theory why he might feel that way, I don't think it makes his credibility or intent look honorable. And it sure as hell doesn't justify killing Terri if someone other than the state has the resources and desire to help her live.

[KJ]

Bryan, James,

Can we agree that no one deserves my tax dollars to pay for his or her health care? If not Terri, then no one?

Would you be in favor of killing her against her husband's wishes? [Assuming there was no more private funding.]

I'm fine with a yes on the first question BTW. I am just wonder if you want her dead b/c of who is championing her cause, or if you mean what you say about public funding.

[Joanne]

To Cookie:

Thanks for your voice of reason. It is refreshing amid so many other posts, especially the "let's get her out of our hair" (or something close to that) from a poor excuse for a human being. I'm sorry for the background of this person which brought him/her to this kind of mindset.

I would have to believe that this person would respond likewise to their mother, father, brothers and sisters, and their children with the same thought: "Get them out of my hair".

No. I don't want to be where that person is. My conscience would be screaming at me!

[Joanne]

Re: the Terri Schiavo case, what's true, what's not.

Money from malpractice suit was put into a trust fund for Terri and not much is left...or

Michael was able to use these funds to pay lawyer's fees?

Michael accused Terri's parents of injecting her with "something" and his lawyer made the accusation public, and following that...

A police investigation determined this was false, yet Schiavo deprived Terri's parents the right to visit Terri during the investigation and even after an investigation cleared them.

Carol (Carla) Iyer stated, among other things that Michael Schiavo intimated the staff where Terri lived at the time. I believe it was she who stated in an affidavit that he said,
"When is that bitch going to die?" That was just one thing, among others, that she stated in an affidavit. At least one other nurse spoke out against Michael Schiavo.

How can we not suspect that there are serious reasons for a full investigation of what's taken place regarding this case in FL?

I tend to believe something is corrupt in Pinellas County, and, if so, who will step up to the plate and expose it?

Florida is a beautiful state. We've visited there many times. Never would I make my home there, for the same reason I won't move to California. The liberal atmosphere would not be conducive to my peace of mind.

Euthanasia is not my bag. Nor is homosexual marriage. And I know clearly why these agendas will destroy our society.

[Mandy Fox]

Michael Schiavo has moved on with his life. He has a new family. Why should he care if his wife stays alive or not. Under normal circumstances when people end relationships they move on and forget about the other person. I was married twice and when I moved on I didn't get involved in my ex's life. It wouldn't be normal if I did. That's what's so perplexing about this case. Why does he even give a shit? Why does he put himself through hoops and expend all that time, energy, and money, if there was no benefit to him? Especially in light of the fact that her family is more than willing to take care of her for the rest of her life. They even proposed to make it easier for him to sever all ties by asking him to get a divorce from Terri. There's something more to this story that neither you, I, or the media know. His behavior just doesn't pass the smell test.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

There's a very simple reason: He loves her and he promised to take care of her.

Terri isn't Michael Schiavo's property. She's his wife. He can't just donate her to the Schindlers. Florida isn't a slave state. You can't just offer someone $10 million for his wife as if she were chattel.

Terri wouldn't have wanted to live like this. Michael is not going to abandon her just because her parents think they're above the law.

[C.Hayes]

I would like for anyone who thinks it is ok for Terri Schiavo to be starved to death to go off of their food until she is dead.I guess that wouldn't be OK though because they would be dead.
The sad thing is that Scott Peterson who is now on death row will be treated better than that.If he needs medical treatment they will give it to him at our exspense.When his time to die comes we will treat him better then we will treat Terri.
All I ask is anyone who thinks she should be starved to death while Peterson gets 3 square meals a day,Just give up food for awhile and see how it feels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Simon Cooke]

C.Hayes -

You can't starve Terri to death. Terri's not there any more. She doesn't exist any more.

Terri doesn't have a brain any more.

Although I suggest that you start polling your local representatives now - maybe they can arrange an experimental brain transplant.

[KJ]

"There's a very simple reason: He loves her and he promised to take care of her."

Wow, what a leap of faith. That explains why he is using the med malpractice funds that he testified would be used to keep Terri alive for his legal fees to try and kill her. It would also explain why he is now shacking up and having kids with another woman. I wonder if he makes her watch. It shouldn't bother her of course, since she is all but dead anyhow. Actually, I suspect that there are some major hoops to jump through to divorce someone who is incapacitated. That may have a lot to do with the loving adulterer husband's motive, and his desire to have her killed so he can finally remarry.

"Terri's not there any more."

Double wow. Why don't we just use her medical experiments. Maybe her womb could be used to harvest embryo cells.

I do not believe that all of the world is gray. I believe in black and white, but I admit that some things are tough. I think this case, and in fact any case of state sponsored, non-punitive murder, that does not involve a living will granting that permission, is tough. The cavelier nature and absurd arguments of the pro-kill Terri crowd here is scary.

As for the specifics of this case, maybe Terri would want to die in this situation, but we really don't know. We do know her "husband" wants her to die, and I see lots of reasons to not believe his desire is all that honorable. That's all.

[Thad]

Wow, what a leap of faith. That explains why he is using the med malpractice funds that he testified would be used to keep Terri alive for his legal fees to try and kill her.

You don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about. The money from Terri's settlement is long gone. If it's all about the money, explain why Michael has repeated rejected offers of up to $10 million to give up his quest to see his wife's desires fulfilled.

Also, you don't seem to understand that Terri's cerebral cortex is gone. Do you even know what the cerebral cortex is? Do you understand what a "persistent vegetative state" is? Do you know anything about the case you didn't learn from Fox News?

[John F. Bradley]

I'm not sure what Terri Schiavo would want, but I doubt seriously that she would want her fate decided by the wishes of her adulterous husband.
I'm also concerned that the money from the malpractice lawsuit, which was supposed to have been used to attempt to rehabilitate Terri, was never used for that purpose. It has all been eaten up in legal expenses, because her husband is so eager to bring about her death.

It is entirely possible that Terri's cerebral cortex is destroyed NOW, and that her life may be hopeless. But what was her condition immediately after the injury? Might she be in better shape now if her husband had used the money for her benefit?

[Thad]

Here we go again... John, turn off the damn Fox News and try actually reading about the case from reliable sources, okay? These issues have been fully investigated by the courts and settled long ago.

Questions and Answers

What happened to Terri?

The Second District's opinion in the first appeal in this case explains:

On February 25, 1990, . . . Theresa, age 27, suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of a potassium imbalance. Michael called 911, and Theresa was rushed to the hospital. She never regained consciousness.

What's happened to Terri since her collapse?

The Second District's first opinion in this case explained:

Since 1990, Theresa has lived in nursing homes with constant care. She is fed and hydrated by tubes. The staff changes her diapers regularly. She has had numerous health problems, but none have been life threatening.

Over the span of this last decade, Theresa's brain has deteriorated because of the lack of oxygen it suffered at the time of the heart attack. By mid 1996, the CAT scans of her brain showed a severely abnormal structure. At this point, much of her cerebral cortex is simply gone and has been replaced by cerebral spinal fluid. Medicine cannot cure this condition. Unless an act of God, a true miracle, were to recreate her brain, Theresa will always remain in an unconscious, reflexive state, totally dependent upon others to feed her and care for her most private needs.

Why did Terri’s husband get to make the decision about whether she should live or die?

Michael Schiavo did not make the decision to discontinue life-prolonging measures for Terri.

As Terri's husband, Michael has been her guardian and her surrogate decision-maker. By 1998, though -- eight years after the trauma that produced Terri's situation -- Michael and Terri's parents disagreed over the proper course for her.

Rather than make the decision himself, Michael followed a procedure permitted by Florida courts by which a surrogate such as Michael can petition a court, asking the court to act as the ward's surrogate and determine what the ward would decide to do. Michael did this, and based on statements Terri made to him and others, he took the position that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures. The Schindlers took the position that Terri would continue life-prolonging measures. Under this procedure, the trial court becomes the surrogate decision-maker, and that is what happened in this case.

The trial court in this case held a trial on the dispute. Both sides were given opportunities to present their views and the evidence supporting those views. Afterwards, the trial court determined that, even applying the "clear and convincing evidence" standard -- the highest burden of proof used in civil cases -- the evidence showed that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures.

Is Michael really just looking for money?

I have no way to know. I know what the Schindlers say to reporters, but then I know that the Second District's first decision in the case used these words to describe Michael's care for Terri:

Theresa has been blessed with loving parents and a loving husband. Many patients in this condition would have been abandoned by friends and family within the first year. Michael has continued to care for her and to visit her all these years. He has never divorced her. He has become a professional respiratory therapist and works in a nearby hospital. As a guardian, he has always attempted to provide optimum treatment for his wife. He has been a diligent watch guard of Theresa's care, never hesitating to annoy the nursing staff in order to assure that she receives the proper treatment.

Also, though he has said little to the public about this case, Michael has stated that he believes he is fulfilling Terri's wishes and that she would not want to live like this.

[Coria]

All I have to say is that those of you who support her death were in Terri's situation that someone WILL starve you to death, because you don't seem to care as long as it is not you.

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

If I were in Terri Schiavo's situation, I would want my feeding tube removed. That's why I'm interested in this case. I want everyone to be able to make their own decisions about their medical care. I also believe in marriage to the extent that married couples become each other's legal guardians.

The courts have already ruled on what Terri would have wanted. That's over, done, settled. You don't get to keep appealing just because you disagree with the verdict. If you respect the rule of law, you agree to abide by the decision of the court. The court weighed the evidence and found not only that Terri wouldn't have wanted the feeding tube, but ALSO that Michael Schiavo had no conflicts of interest that would prevent him from resuming his role as his wife's legal guardian.

I don't care how many people have theories about what Terri would have wanted. That contingent had its days (and days and days) in court and lost. At this point, these are just irrelevant speculations.

The pro-life faction seems incapable of seeing this dispute in terms of principle. They're fixated on details of Terri's marriage and not on the general principles at stake. There is no serious dispute about whether people should be allowed to make their own decisions about end of life care, nor is there any serious dispute about the fact that a husband should be his wife's legal guardian (and vice versa).

[Thad]

Wow, Coria, you really don't get it, do you?

Even according to Fox News, 74% of Americans would want the feeding tube removed if they were in Terri Schiavo's situation.

And people like you claim that liberals are out of touch?

[markg]

"This case is literally a no brainer." Ha,ha,ha.