On Terri Schiavo…
Like many of you, I have heard just about all the angles on the whole case involving Terri and Michael Schiavo and his “right” to end the life of his wife.
First, here are some “details” of the case that I was able to find online (www.freerepublic.com) that I am quite sure many of you (for me at least) have never heard in the mainstream media. Take a look:
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Statement By Michael Schiavo - from Tampa Bay Online
Last Wednesday, my wife’s feeding tube was removed. For over 6 years, I have struggled with the Schindlers in court. On Wednesday, I joined them in grief. I understand what the Schindlers are going through at this time. I feel the same loss.
For years after this happened to Terri, I tried desperately to find a cure for her. I went from one doctor to another.
Almost all of them told me there was no possibility she would recover.
FACT - 05/20/1990 —DR. NEWHART– The brain cells that control body function were not as seriously affected as initially diagnosed Consequently, it is anticipated that Terri should regain full use of her body.
FACT - 06/27/1990 —- DR. BARAS– had been seen by me at College Harbor and started to make improvement. Started to show some vocalization where she will say “no” and occasionally has some voluntary movement on command of eyes and mouth as reported by husband and mother.
FACT - 06-28-1990 — DR. THACKER Moaning type vocalizations initially; no sign of excess secretions requiring frequent suctioning; intermittently swallows, probably swallows her saliva without any trouble.
FACT — 07-10-1990 —- DR. BARAS –Purposeful movement in right upper extremity as seen by P.T. O.T. and me Flexing right elbow not as a reflex, but voluntarily.
FACT– 08/25/1990 DISCHARGE SUMMARY FROM BAYFRONT MEDICAL. Patient did show some improvement in range of motion.
FACT — 01/01/1991 PHYSICAL THERAPY _EVAL—Turns head from noxious stimuli.
FACT — 01/29/1991—- DR. ALCAZARAN –Meadowbrok California. Noted increased alertness, turns head toward voice, turns head from tactile stimulation. sucking, and rooting response to olfactory stimulation. spontaneously vocalied. Good cough. Some visual tracking.
FACT- - 02-1/1991 —Physical Therapy Notes — Alert throughout treatment session, responds to pain, moaning, turns head from noxious stimuli.
FACT– 02/15/1991 — PSYCHOLOGY NOTES WRITTEN BY PATTI SHOOK —Terri’s eye opening responses were her strongest. Terri’s tactile responses were her best, with other four modalities only 1 to 2 points behind. This level of functioning is appropriate for a sensory stimulation program.
FACT– 02/1/1992–THERAPEUTIC NOTES BY SHERRI LAGE –Patient appeared to focus on several pictures of family for 10 seconds, appeared to slightly track to left each session, but inconsistent Quick startle response to all auditory stimuli, occasionally moves head from tactile stimuli.
FACT — 02/20/1991– PHYSICAL THERAPY NOTES — Patient has made significant gains since admission in all areas of range of motion.
FACT — 03/19/1991— SPEECH LANGUAGE NOTES — Occasionally responds to request to verbalize, swallow and move arms.
FACT — 06/17/1991 — TREATMENT PLAN REVIEW — Vocalizing when prone in PT., occasionally will say “stop” to nurse doing procedures.
Michael Schiavo’s statement, “Any doctor that gave me a glimmer of hope that some new treatment or therapy would work was given free reign with Terri. I would do anything to make her well.”
FACT– 3/26/1991 —Nurses Notes— Terri’s side rail on her bed found down after Michael left. When told about it, he replied that “that was their job.
FACT — 1993 CAROLYN JOHNSON– No therapy per husbands orders. Dr’s orders over ridden. Patient kept in isolation, no stimulation.
FACT– APRIL 1995-JULY 1996 — CARLA SAUER AFFIDAVIT MICHAEL ORDERS NO REHAB; NO RANGE OF MOTION;NO NOTHING.
PATIENT ALERT AND ORIENTED, SPOKE REGULARLY “MOMMA, “MOMMY’ “HELP ME”
Michael stated, “I took Terri to California. I stayed with her while doctors performed an experimental procedure to implant electrodes in her brain to stimulate its function. I spent months working with her -hopeful of a cure. Months later, the doctors told me the electrodes were not working.”
“I took Terri to Mediplex, in Bradenton, Florida, which is a residential rehabilitation facility that specializes in brain injuries. She spent months there in intensive physical, speech, and occupational therapy and testing.”
“Finally, the doctors and therapist told me and the Schindlers they could do nothing more for her. I hired a private duty aide 8 hours a day to take Terri on outings to parks and museums trying to stimulate her - looking for any sign of life, any flicker of hope. There was none - ever.”
FACT 03/15/1991 Therapeutic notes Laura Mizell — Patient has displayed an increase in eye opening since last 30 day summary, Patient responses to auditory stimulation are at the point that they are almost auditorily defensive. During recent outings, rugby games kept eyes closed to and from game…beach visit she was more aroused.
FACT 03/11/1991 Summary of all departments— 2 point increases in vocalization and eye opening, motor responses. Tactile increased 3 points. Overall her general responsiveness score increased slightly from 19 to 23.
Michael stated, “Over the years, I had three swallowing tests performed on Terri in the hope that some of the therapies would allow her to be weaned off the feeding tube. The test all showed no change, and I was advised she could not swallow food. Even now, the nursing home staff says that sometimes Terri gags and chokes on the moisture from the swabs they use to moisten her lips.”
FACT–March to mid summer 1997 — Heidi Law Affidavit — Patient did not like the taste of the teeth cleaning swabs or mouthwash. Did like the smell and feel of her lotion. Liked to have her hair combed. Did not like being tucked in. She would suck on ice chips and swallow ice water, orange juice or apple juice in her washcloth to give her something nice to taste, which made her happy. On three or four occasions, I personally fed Terri small amounts of Jello which she was able to swallow and enjoyed immensely.
Michael Schiavo stated, “The reports you heard from nursing home aides that Terri was responsive years ago are not true. I would give anything if they were.”
EXCERPTS THAT WERE TAKEN FROM MICHAEL SCHIAVO’S JOURNAL
4/16/1991 — BECAME EVERY EXCITED, CRIED, FACIAL EXPRESSION, TEARS, WHINING.
4/17/1991 — SITTING IN A CHAIR, HOLDING LEGS TOGETHER, HOLDING HER OWN HEAD UP, RESPONSE TO EVERY NOISE SHE HEARS, TASTED EXTRACTS, SWALLOWED. MIXED UP DAYS AND NIGHTS
4/25/1991 MS TALKING TO HER, SHE THEN LIFTED HEAD OFF AND AWAY FROM CHAIR. I ASKED HER IS SHE WANTED TO GET UP. SHE NODDED. I ASKED HER A MINUTE LATER, SHE DID THE SAME MOTION.
4/26/1991 JOHN (NURSE) SAYS EVERY TIME HE IS HERE TERRI SQUEEZES HIS HAND WHEN ASKED.
5/1/1991 - LAST FEW DAYS TERRI HAS BECOME A LITTLE MORE ALERT. SHE WILL MOVE HER HEAD FROM SIDE TO SIDE. WHEN OUT IN WHEELCHAIR, SHE WILL HOLD HER OWN HEAD UP FOR THE PERIOD SHE IS OUT. STILL MIXES UP DAYS AND NIGHTS.
5/2/1991- ASLEEP, SEEMS TO DO A LOT OF DREAMING, HEAD WILL MOVE BACK AND FORTH, TOES, LEGS,ARMS,FINGER, ETC WILL DO ALOT OF MOVING. TERRI DOES REAL WELL WITH HER EARLY MORNING STROLL.
SHE WILL HOLD HER OWN HEAD UP (UNLESS SHE FALLS ASLEEP) SHE WILL WATCH ALL THE NURSES DO THEIR THING.
1992
Aug - Terri awarded $250,000 in malpractice settlement. Nov - Terri awarded $1.4 million in malpractice trial. Nov - Michael Schiavo awarded $600,000 in malpractice trial.
1993
Feb - Michael Schiavo denies Terri recommended rehabilitation treatment.
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This comes from Cheryl Ford, RN and friend of Terri Schiavo. Here is the actual link to the article.
What made this case so unique was that this woman did not have a living will AND there was such a ground-swell of supporters on both sides of the issue before the media decided to run with it.
One of the things that upset me as a black man is when I hear or read comments from US (like I have over the past few weeks) that suggest that this case would not have received as much attention if it involved a black woman/man. As true as this may be in some cases, comments like this further prove the point that unless there is a “black-angle” to the story, we show very little interest. Scan the black media landscape and do a comparison of how much coverage WE have given this issue (I think it is worth mentioning here that 9 members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted in favor of Terri receiving life assistance).
For once, let’s forget the race/gender/religion angle. I think that the most important thing that we as blacks can pull from this whole case is the importance of creating a living will for our families. What kind of specific instructions are we leaving for our family in the event of us being incapacitated?
Here is what Lori Montgomery of the Detroit Free Press had to say on the overall issue back in 1997:
For many Americans, that trend is a blessing. But a growing body of research suggests that those who feel blessed are predominantly white.
Racial minorities, by contrast, are far less interested in having doctors help them die. Research shows they feel more threatened when health professionals talk to them about living wills. And black patients, in particular, are far more likely than whites to say they want aggressive treatment and life support no matter how sick they become.
…”Among more enlightened people, there is a sort of a paranoia in the back of our minds that, if assisted suicide becomes legal, then lawmakers will somehow find a way to manipulate the law . . . to where African Americans are, to a greater extent than anybody else, receiving less medical care and are more often eliminated,” said the Rev. James Perkins, minister at Detroit’s Greater Christ Baptist Church. (more..)
The whole notion of blacks creating living wills for ourselves is virtually off the table of discussion of black America (do a web search and see for yourself) . Dying is something we just don’t like talking about–let alone a doctor helping us to do it. While we have ignored talking about this issue, children have been misplaced, homes and properties have been taken away from us, etc. At the same time, we blame white America as the culprit.
Conclusion
What disturbs me about the whole Schiavo case is that we live in a country where a person can go to prison for starving an animal, but for humans it seems to be o.k. What about those so-called experts that tell news reporters what exactly a person in Terri’s state is feeling right now. Those of us with common sense should ask the question “have you, Mr. doctor been in that state before?”.
If Terri had left specific instructions IN WRITING for her family instructing them on what to do, then I would not see it as a problem if she made the decision to pull the plug. If the parents are willing to take complete ownership of the whole situation, I say, don’t deny them that opportunity.
In the black community, we often use the phrase “It takes a village…”. The question before us today is “are we leaving the village with any instructions?”
March 28th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
Before my mother and father died, the doctors sent them home to die without any medication, they couldn’t eat or anything else by themselves and the health care facilities turn their back. This happens all the time. I really think it is interesting that this case went as far as it did. This story is such a contradiction on many levels. Should Terry parents take over her care? Maybe they should. I don’t know. Maybe her husband is actually doing what his wife wants. As for me, all I can say is I wouldn’t want to live like that and I’ve informed everyone of this.
March 28th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
A few questions:
1. How many of the Health care professionals named above have gone on record and states that Terri Schiavo is not at this moment in a PVS?
2. How many reading this blog knew about the baby in Texas who was allowed to die against her mother’s found out about it independently from the Schiavo case ?
March 28th, 2005 at 7:11 pm
Look, every single person related to Terri Schiavo is a total and complete sh*t. They all stink to high heaven.
Michael stinks. He’s a cad and a bounder who lived off the largesse of his in-laws until he had his malpractice settlement. He’s got a girlfriend with whom he’s had two children. But he’s put his trust in the judicial system and competent neurologists who will not profit in any way from presenting their findings of evaluations of Terri.
The Schindlers stink more. They’ve surrounded themselves with toadies who don’t give a f*** about Terri. They know a cash cow when they see one, as do the Schindlers. They could have easily taken Terri home with them ten years ago when they had the chance. Indeed they did. What they found out was that their daughter was physically incapable of surviving without ’round the clock skilled nursing care. As soon as Michael banked his malpractive settlement they started going for the bucks. They’ve filed fifteen or twenty suits in court to get their way, all of which fly in the face of law, ethics, and morality.
Those who claim to have the moral high road in this case seem to have forgotten that there is an alternate morality, one that says that it is cruel to force a soul to remain trapped in a body that is little more than a vehicle for metabolism.
They throw out borderline cases, cases in which there is potential for recovery, potential for engagement in the external world. Terris has no such potential. She will never be engaged in the external world. She will always be a vehicle for digesting nutrition and excreting it and little more.
That is worse than death. Your morality claims that that is better than death. Your beliefs could be wrong, my beliefs could be wrong.
The main difference between the two moral positions is that those who argue that Terri must retain her physical state argue at the same time that the funding that enables her to have ’round the clock skilled nursing care are the same people who seek to eliminate government funding of skilled nursing care.
You cannot have it both ways. You cannot on the one hand campaign for Terri to continue to require skilled nursing care while at the same time campaign to have the funds that provide the skilled nursing care to be eliminated.
You assert that Terri can swallow her own saliva. She cannot do that. Her saliva must be vacuumed out periodically lest she choke on it.
It matters little whether one is a neurologist. All that one needs to be is the aide who bathes Terri day in and day out, who changes her dressings and her bed clothes. Had anyone who argues that the moral high road is that which keeps Terri “alive” had that experience of caring for these bodies, they would be actively campaigning to allow her to leave this physical plateau and travel on to her next stage of being.
It is inconsistent to assert a belief in God and heaven while at the same time forcing a soul to remain in the physical world when all the body that contains that soul is capable of is reflexive responsrd unrelated to external events and metabolizing nutrients delivered by tube.
An alternate view is that God is waiting for her to arrive in heaven, and he looks down upon the circus that has accumulated around this woman and wonders what he has done in creating human life. In the Garden he gave us Free Will. He sent us out into the world to find our way back to Him. He did not invent the technology that enables human beings to “survive” past the point where anything but technology can keep them breathing and metabolizing. God did not intend for us to need catheters to evacuate urine, nor did He intend for us to have enemas at regular intervals to clean out the lower bowel. He did not intend for us to develop life-threatening bedsores, and he did not intend for us to require tubes down our throats or needles in our veins to perpetuate our time in the physical plane. He gave us roads out of the physical plane when we reached the point when these things were required to keep us on earth.
Perhaps He is happy that paraplegics and quadraplegics and the blind and the deaf and the autistic and the multiple amputees of the world are capable of leading productive lives. Odds are that He is, for such people have Free Will. But He is miserable to watch someone who will never have Free Will again to be deprived of the ability to move to another plane, to a place in which she will be made whole again.
And he is bloody well pissed off to watch resources be poured into a machine for metabolism when there are eight-month-old children who will die in the next week because they are deprived of simple pharmaceutical interventions. Each of these eight-month-olds have the potential for changing the world. Terri Schiavo will never be capable of doing anything but metabolising nutrients and being evacuated of waste.
You might say that the severely mentally retarded are in the same category as Terri Schiavo, but she is not. Every psychologically active human being has the potential for exerting a positive influence on the world around them. Terri has no potential other than to drain resources in a world in which there are not infinite resources.
You can take your morality to the nursing homes and hospices where there are 23-year old men who can have erections but will never leave their beds and who will never be able to talk to another human being; where there are 90-year-old women whose bodies are paralyzed by decay who cannot leave their chairs and who cannot communicate with the outside world; where there are men who have had strokes that have deprived them of everything that made their lives worthwhile. You can bathe them and you can hold them and you can feed them, but you can only trap them in their bodies. You cannot do anything but prevent them from leaving their bodies and finding peace in the next world.
If you take such a challenge on, you will learn what morality is.