Terri Schiavo's Final Wishes
By Bonnie Chernin Rogoff (03/18/05)
Unless pending legislation is passed and implemented by the Florida legislature and signed by Governor Jeb Bush, the process of dehydration and slow, painful starvation for Terri Schiavo begins today. Similar legislation, the Incapacitated Person’s Legal Protection Act, is pending in the United States Congress. The Schindler’s last appeal to the 2nd District Court of Appeals (DCA) in Lakeland Florida was rejected on March 16, 2005. Attorneys for Terri’s parents have appealed the DCA ruling to Supreme Court Justice Kennedy asking for a stay of enforcement until the Supreme Court can review the decision. In other breaking news, the U.S. House passed a bill on March 17, 2005 blocking the removal of Terri’s feeding tube.
The facts of her disability are clear. Something bad happened on the night of February 25, 1990. Based on medical testimony which I documented in a previous article, Terri may not have collapsed from a potassium imbalance. Whether her current condition resulted from an accidental fall during a fight with her husband or from a premeditated act of attempted murder is immaterial without a criminal investigation. In this writer’s opinion, Michael Schiavo is responsible for Terri’s disability.
Michael Schiavo maintains he is abiding by Terri’s wishes, and that she never would have wanted to be kept alive by artificial means. Absent of a living will, Michael’s word is all we have. How credible is that word? Can Michael’s role as guardian and spokesperson for Terri’s final wishes be trusted?
If he cares about his wife’s wishes, why is he living with another woman with whom he has had two children? Why did he abandon his marriage vows?
Why did Michael provide sworn testimony that he would use all of Terri’s large malpractice jury award money toward therapy and medical care for her and then renege on this promise less than a year later, choosing a death sentence for her instead? He has not permitted Terri to receive basic rehabilitative care all the years she’s been disabled and has even restricted visits from her own family.
Why did Michael exclude the opinions of medical experts who do not believe she is in a persistent vegetative state and would respond well to therapy?
Finally, if Michael Schiavo cares about his wife’s wishes, why is he arranging to have her cremated? He never maintained that Terri desired cremation, only death. Whose wishes are being fulfilled?
Michael Schiavo has been offered $1 million by a California businessman. Why didn’t he take the money and run? People who abandon their disabled spouses would not forfeit all that cash, especially if they were in a new relationship. Wouldn’t Michael jump at the opportunity to marry his fiancé and legitimize their children? Michael perjured himself and used his wife’s disability to his benefit. Consider the following exchange during the November, 1992 jury malpractice award trial which reveal a very different Michael with different motivations than today:
Q: How do you feel about being married to Terri now?
MS: “I feel wonderful. She's my life and I wouldn't trade her for the world. I believe in my wedding vows.”
Q: You believe in your wedding vows, what do you mean by that?
MS: “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.”
Note that Michael did NOT say he would change his mind someday, meet a new woman and bar any attempts to provide ongoing care for Terri. How many unfaithful husbands would still care about their wives’ alleged death wishes 15 years later? We must assume that this adulterous perjurer is unique. He is not a perfect husband but remains a perfect guardian and human being; honorable, unmotivated by profits, attentive to his ward, beyond reproach. However, even as guardian Michael is a failure, for he has been hostile to his ward’s needs and those of her family.
Regrettably, a person can’t lie and cheat and still claim to honor the wishes of the person they lied and cheated. Michael Schiavo has some other reason for not taking the money. One is that Terri would still be alive. The other is that as inheritor of Terri’s medical fund he stands to gain possibly more money once she dies.
If Terri’s execution takes place, it will be a victory for pro-euthanasia activists and politicians and organizations like the Hemlock Society. It will fulfill the wishes of the “loving” husband. It will vindicate activist judges like George Greer. It will set a dangerous precedent where states have the right to kill without consent. A person’s right to life should be inviolate, but that basic right is in grave peril.
I’ve written about her, talked about her, and told you how I feel. Now, it’s Terri’s turn. She wants you to know her final wishes.
My name is Terri Schindler, although the media has presented me as Terri Schiavo. I no longer want to be associated with that name, or that former husband. As I lie in my bed, desperately wanting treatment all these years so I may live a normal life again, I saw Michael Schiavo deny me my basic right to life. I know about his adultery, and watched him leave my bedside to run to another woman with whom he now has children. I cannot speak, but I can hear, feel and cry inside. Right now, my vocal chords don’t work. Had it not been for the ministrations of my “devoted” husband, I may have received voice therapy and I’d be able to tell you some things about him.
If you can visualize my thoughts into speech, please listen: I want to live. If there is going to be a death decision, I should be the one to make it. I am furious at Michael Schiavo for implying that death is my final wish. It isn’t true, and I never said such a thing. I certainly never told him I wanted to be cremated, but I think I know why he’s doing it. Someday, if you give me therapy, I’ll recover and tell you about it. Judge Greer made his ruling but I’m still a human being. Treat me like one and make them understand that I want to be with my family that loves me.
Please save me from Michael Schiavo and the Florida legal system that is killing me against my will.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Bonnie Chernin Rogoff
