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by Barb Ernster (As published in HLA Action News, Summer 2005)
After a 12-year court battle, Robert and Mary Schindler lost their daughter, Terri Schiavo, at 9:05 a.m. on March 31 at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla. Her two-week struggle against court-ordered death by dehydration kept the nation, and the world, transfixed.
Despite claims by Terri's husband, Michael, and his lawyer, euthanasia advocate, George Felos, that Terri looked "beautiful," and "peaceful," Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, called her death "grotesque," particularly the final 72 hours. Terri's tongue and throat were dry, cracked and raw. Her eyes were bloodshot and bleeding. For the last 26 hours, she breathed rapidly as if she had just run 10 miles and couldn't catch her breath. Terri was not even allowed ice chips to soothe her parched mouth, which was not only unusual, but "criminal," said Bobby.
"I think they had to lie about my sister's condition and they had to lie about what kind of death it was, because if they didn't, they wouldn't get away with it," said Bobby. "They stopped all videos and pictures of my sister. They didn't let any of our doctors examine her. They did everything to isolate her, kept her away from the public's eye, and they went on a publicity campaign to talk about my sister like she's not a person."
Bobby noted that George Felos constantly used dehumanizing terms when he referred to Terri, always saying she was on "artificial life support" and "vegetative." "They gave the perception that Terri was being sustained by things other than what she was being sustained by, which was simply food and water, and that her quality of life was so low that it would be in her best interest to let her die, which in fact, she wasn't dying. They're really conditioning the public to accept that it's okay to kill people like my sister," he said.
The euthanasia movement has been operating under the radar for years, changing laws and making it easier to kill people, he added. "We saw what happened in Florida-Michael walks into a courtroom and based on casual conversations, claimed that Terri made this alleged death wish when she was in her early 20s, brought in a doctor that said she was in PVS (persistent vegetative state), which is a criteria by state law-and there you have it; that's all he needed."
Bobby believes a lot of people in the secular media were alarmed about what happened in Terri's case and are "doing a lot of damage control" to give the perception that Terri's case was just and that the system worked. The family was very upset about press reports that vilified members of Congress because they tried to intervene, and turned the process into a political issue.
"All they did was pass a law to ask a federal judge to make sure my sister's due process rights weren't violated. If you look at what they do for people on death row, it's the same exact thing," he said. "My sister was going to die and they wanted to make sure her due process rights were not violated."
Federal District Court Judge James Whittemore of Tampa, who was charged by Congress to review Terri's case, not only refused, but angered some members of Congress because he had a serious conflict of interest and should have recused himself from the case. He was recommended for the 13th Circuit Court of Hillsborough County, Florida, from 1990 to 1999, by George Felos' ex-wife Constance d'Angelis (McCaughey), who at the time served on the judicial nominating commission and was named the commission chairman in 1991.
Constance d'Angelis had co-counseled Felos during the guardianship proceedings on behalf of Michael, and argued in court that CT scans and other medical records asserted Terri was in a "persistent vegetative state." After Terri's death, she also requested of the court to be named the person who will interpret the medical examiner's autopsy report, claiming in a statement that she could "analyze the results and weigh in on the important matters of how-by reason, not emotion-the 'persistent vegetative state' diagnosis of Terri Schiavo was arrived at, and why." Her request was denied. The family is concerned about the autopsy report, soon to be released, because Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner, Jon Thogmartin, has personal connections to Judge George W. Greer, who presided over the 12-year court hearings. Brother Paul O'Donnell, of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace in Saint Paul, MN, and spiritual director for the Schindler family, said that if the autopsy reveals that Terri's cerebral cortex was intact, "that would blow George Felos and Michael Schiavo's and Judge Greer's opinions right out the window, because they were calling her flat liner, brain turned to mush, and that is simply not true." Such a report would open up these individuals to a wrongful death suit, he added, and "we don't know if the medical examiner is going to take that risk."
It should be noted that just 4-1/2 hours after Terri died, Michael filed papers in court to be granted the rights to Terri's remaining estate. In his order Judge Greer mistakenly wrote that Michael, not Terri, had died on March 30th, getting the date wrong as well. Michael has also signed a $2.1 million book deal, half of which was advanced, and has been approached about a made-for-TV movie. Michael has not yet revealed where Terri is buried, despite a court order to do so. The Schindler family is continuing their mission to fight for the rights of the disabled and vulnerable and lobby for changes in state and federal laws through the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation. Bobby Schindler has resigned from his teaching position at Tampa Catholic High School to work full time with the foundation.
He has already testified before the Louisiana legislature, and he has been in touch with the mother of Scott Thomas, a 34-year-old Jacksonville man who was brain damaged during a suspicious fall in his kitchen. Thomas is able to communicate and told his mother, Pamela Patton, that his wife struck him in an attempt to kill him. Patton was able to obtain temporary legal guardianship of Thomas and is caring for him, but his wife, Eliza, is seeking to move Scott to a hospice and remove the gastric tube that provides him food and water.
"The public needs to be educated with what's going on and how the euthanasia movement and these death organizations operate," said Bobby. "I don't think people even realize how easy it is to kill someone in Terri's condition. We're up against a powerful force, but it would be irresponsible for our family to walk away from this now."
