Right-To-Die, or Murder Most Foul?
Commentary by Darryl Wood, ^©2005 Wood Communications, LLC 

Why is Michael Schiavo so adamant that Terri, his alienated, brain-injured wife, be put to death? What does Terri know and could it be damaging to her estranged spouse? Is her husband lying through his teeth about Terri's desire to die rather than live in a bed-ridden, handicapped state? 

We may never know the answers to most of these questions. But an undeniable body of facts and informed opinion indicate that Terri Schiavo should not be euthanized [read that killed by court order].

Nearly five years ago, Michael Schiavo and his right-to-die activist lawyer, George Felos, moved Terry from a nursing home to the Woodside Hospice House in Pinellas Park. Hospices are places where the terminally ill are sent to die. Terri isn't terminally ill. Why, then, is she in a hospice? (Read "Medicaid, Medicare Fraud Evident In Schiavo Hospice Certification")

Based on Michael Schiavo's pattern of neglect, and back door legal maneuvering, which have been sorely under-reported in the mainstream media accounts of this story, Florida law enforcement should have opened a criminal investigation of him long ago. For example, according to a report in the Empire Journal, in the case of Terri Schiavo, according to the certification report on file for her admission to the hospice, she was never properly certified and therefore her five year stay at the hospice, done under orders of Michael Schiavo at the time his attorney, George Felos, was chairman of the Hospice board of directors, was done illegally and may constitute Medicaid and Medicare Fraud in addition to other possible violations of both federal and state hospice law.

Even more astounding is the firsthand account of Carla Sauer Iyer, a nurse who cared for Terri Schiavo for more than a year. She has gone on the record and in a sworn affidavit claims she believes Michael Schiavo may have attempted to kill Terri by injecting her with insulin.

Mike "It's not about me" Schiavo
Michael Schiavo says he wants what's best for Terri. He claims Terri would want to die rather than live like a vegetable. But why should we believe him?

This is the same guy who barred Terri's parents, siblings and friends from visiting her. He's refused to provide comprehensive medical and rehabilitative care for the past decade, and has prohibited Terri from even being moved from her room to simply go outside for fresh air and sunshine. But Michael Schiavo stresses he wants what's best for Terri.

Terri's parents are more than willing to care for her the rest of her natural life. Why, then, won't Michael Schiavo allow her to be released into their care? Internet news site Worldnetdaily.com recently recounted the official record from a 1999 deposition in which Michael Schiavo was asked why he wouldn't turn custody over to Terri's parents.

Schiavo responded, "Basically, I don't want to do it. … Because they put me through pretty much hell the last few years. ... Just their attitude towards me because of the litigations. There is no other reason. I'm Terri's husband and I will remain guardian."

Following a malpractice suit over Terri's care, guardian, Mr. Schiavo, took control of over 2-million dollars - money that should have been used for rehabilitation but for the most part never was. Michael Schiavo eventually asked that Terri's medical care be paid for through Medicare. A judge granted the request. Apparently, records show money that should be providing for Terri's care is mainly being spent on Michael Schiavo and his lawyers.

The following is a summary of expenses paid from Terri's 1.2 million dollar medical trust fund awarded by a jury in 1992. In 1993 Schiavo alleged the 1993 guardianship asset balance at *$761,507.50:

Michael, in the meantime, has acquired a big new house and expensive European autos for himself and his girlfriend, with whom he has fathered two children. Michael, however, insists that it's "...not about me." He only wants what's best for Terri. 

Mainstream Media Missing The Mark
The mainstream press, meanwhile, have either under-reported or just plain misrepresented the facts of this story-especially with regard to Terri's current condition. They have trotted out a handful of medical experts, who tell the public Terri will die humanely, peacefully, and painlessly. Not once are we hearing about the slow, agonizing, and inhumane effects of starvation. There's no debate among medical professionals on the ethics of the medical, let alone the legal basis for killing Terri Schiavo. Furthermore, the press have conveniently omitted the questionable circumstances under which Terri ended up in her current circumstance. Her parents and others suspect foul play. Poll questions on whether Terri should live or die posed by Associated Press, ABC news and Ipsos polling to name a few, direct the public to believe Terri is virtually comatose, unresponsive, on life support and beyond hope.  

Actually, Terri's body is alive and well, able to sustain itself with only the aid of a feeding tube. A feeding tube, while providing vital fluid and nourishment, is not life support in the technical sense of the phrase. As a reporter I've observed patients in surgical intensive care units where barely living bodies are being forced by machines to inhale and exhale, while other machines monitor brain wave and heart activities. That's not what's going on here.

According to at least two nurses and her parents, Terri responds to her environment using crude speech, physical gestures and sounds, which by these same accounts demonstrate her ability to express happiness, sadness, discomfort and pain. Additionally, 14 independent medical professionals (6 of them neurologists) have given either statements or testimony that Terri is NOT in a Persistent Vegetative State. Moreover, there has never been any medical dispute of Terri's ability to swallow. Even with this compelling evidence, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, has denied any serious course of therapy. Why? 

With her tube now removed and time running out, Michael Schiavo and attorney, George Felos are characterizing congress, the president, and anyone else attempting to save Terri's life as cruel villains who should be ashamed for interfering with her wish. That's precisely the point. We don't know Terri's wish. We only know what Michael Schiavo tells us her wish is. That's not good enough given his pattern of mendacity.

The Law: Servant or Master?
Like some judges in our day, Jesus of Nazareth encountered judges of the law with ulterior motives in His day.

And it came to pass also on another Sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand, "Rise up, and stand forth in the midst." And he arose and stood forth.

Then said Jesus unto them, "I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?"

And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, "Stretch forth thy hand." And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
                                                      -Luke 6:6-10

In these passages Jesus demonstrates the hierarchical relationship between the rule of law and the priority status that human life has over that law. He further explains it in a separate, but similar situation elsewhere:

"… The Sabbath [law] was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath…"
                                                       -Mark: 2:27

In other words, the law must be flexible enough to be guided by compassion and common sense, so that the legal system does not exist for its own sake, but function as the servant of humankind. To pervert law and make it the end in and of itself is to elevate it beyond its proper place in human affairs. That's good advice for where we are in this current legal quagmire.

Given our doubts about Michael Schiavo's truthfulness, and about her true state of mind, Terri's right to life supersedes right-to-die rules and regulations. After all, who does allowing Terri to live harm? If the answer is no one, and it is, then the courts must give her life the priority it deserves; order the replacement of her feeding tube immediately; and stop this legal sham by ordering a full judicial investigation of her due process. The courts do no less for convicted killers on death row. In fact, given the endless appeals process, they do more. How much more, then, should be done to protect an innocent, defenseless woman, whose life literally hangs in the balance?  If the courts don't intervene, then the governor must step in, exercise his constitutional authority and stop this starvation.

Anything less would be neglect, an unfortunate judicial rush to judgment, and quite possibly a court-ordered murder most foul.








* Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, 4615 Gulf Blvd #104-103 - St Petersburg Beach, FL 33706