Schiavo cleared in abuse charges

[Chefzhat]

Michael Schiavo was cleared last week of any charges of abuse involving his wife, Terry.

Meanwhile, Terry's parents have sold off their donation/contact lists to a mass-marketer for an undisclosed amount of money.

Terry's parents look worse and worse in my eyes.

[SandyM]

Wow.

I didn't even know he was being charged with abuse.

[Chefzhat]

Here is the article link. I may have my words confused. A bit fuddled today.

[Chefzhat]

Good grief. Link doesn't work. Here's the story:

ORLANDO, Fla. - In the four years after Michael Schiavo won the right to remove his wife's feeding tube, the state's social welfare agency methodically investigated 89 complaints of abuse, but never found that he or anybody else harmed Terri Schiavo, records released late Friday show.


To the contrary, the state Department of Children & Families repeatedly concluded that Michael Schiavo ensured his wife's physical and medical needs were met, provided proper therapy for her and had no control over her money.

They also found no evidence that he beat or strangled her, as his detractors have repeatedly charged.

The 45 pages of confidential abuse reports made public by court order Friday show that despite the litany of complaints, investigators never found that Terri Schiavo had been abused.

That raises what Michael Schiavo's attorney said is a key question: Why, during her last weeks of life, did DCF twice try to intervene in the seven-year dispute pitting Terri Schiavo's husband against her parents?

"The answer is obvious," said attorney Hamden Baskin III. "From the get-go, this was nothing but a political intervention. There was and continues to be no reason for them to have been involved."

DCF spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez would not address the charges of political interference directly, saying only, "The reports speaks for itself. ... We have a duty to protect the vulnerable and investigate allegations of abuse."

Terri Schiavo died March 31, nearly two weeks after the feeding tube that had kept the badly brain-damaged woman alive for 15 years was removed.

The courts had ruled that she was in a persistent vegetative state and had not wanted to be kept alive artificially. But her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, countered that she responded to them and wanted to live, setting off an international debate over right-to-die issues.

The records, which media outlets in Tampa Bay fought to make public, show that DCF took its duty to investigate the alleged abuse of Terri Schiavo seriously.

Eighty-nine times, DCF investigated calls to its hot line making allegations of abuse that have become familiar fodder on the Internet: Terri Schiavo was dirty and unkempt. She did not receive proper dental care or rehabilitative therapy. She was kept in isolation. Her husband beat her, and broke her bones. He wanted her dead for her money, or to remarry.

He pumped her full of insulin, hoping to kill her. He often asked, "When will [she] die?" Her lips were cracked and dry.

The names of the complainants were blacked out under Pinellas Circuit Judge George W. Greer's orders.

But DCF investigators looked into the charges and closed them as unfounded with such comments as "the spouse has always been courteous and very compassionate toward his wife" and "all her needs being met."

In at least one case, the caller found the evidence of Terri Schiavo's alleged abuse on the Internet.

In January 2004, a female caller reported that Terri Schiavo had an infection on her stomach, at the site of her feeding tube, that was not being treated. But, when questioned, she said she had no firsthand knowledge of her complaint.

"[She] stated that her information on current infections and lack of treatment was from Yahoo chatline," the report said.

In another instance, Terri Schiavo's parents were the subject of a complaint by a caller who alleged the Schindlers were exploiting their daughter by selling videotapes of her on the Internet for $100. That, too was, ruled unfounded.

[gertdog]

Originally posted by Chefzhat

Meanwhile, Terry's parents have sold off their donation/contact lists to a mass-marketer for an undisclosed amount of money.

In the weeks before Terri died, her parents also sold some of the lists to various groups that support right-wing causes; the groups then turned around and began soliciting money to "Save Terri" right away, even though there was no way the money raised could have been used for the Terri Sciavo case (due to the short time frame involved), so they basically took advantage of the situation to line their own coffers. I think it's fine for people to donate money to support most any cause they wish, but it makes me kind of ill that her parents had the time in those last weeks of Terri's life to barter such deals.

[SLFlyt]

It's all very, very sad. However, I still can't agree to starve someone to death, no matter what. To me that is cruel because no one really knows if she was in terribly pain from the denial of food and water. I cannot, under any circumstances, take away someone's feeding tube - and that is not a political statement. I just don't consider food and water as "artifical".

[Chefzhat]

This has nothing to do with the removal of the feeding tube, but everything to do with the underhanded tactics by the parents and siblings of Terri. I watched the whole mess with horror, but yet always wondered why the parents had so much time to concoct stories, incite near riots, fundraise, and spend hour after hour on any tv show that would have them. Their actions made my stomach turn - if my child were in that situation I'd be by her side or outside her door 24/7 - not spreading my laundry all over the tv news and local courthouses.

[greysangel]

I don't know every single detail, but I'm guessing that it was more about who controlled the money vs the "life" of this woman

[Beth]

Sandy, he was never charged, as in legal charges, but there were family and friends making the allegations long after she had the heart attack and efforts to improve her condition had continued to fail. I heard her sister basically say that because she had bruises before and he could lose his temper, he must have been abusive. She didn't consider that a person with an eating disorder would have nutritional deficiencies that would make them more prone to easier and larger bruising or any other factors -- just he doesn't agree with us and therefore he must be a bad person.

I am fully sympathetic to both sides of the feeding tube issue, but I was not impressed with her family or Congress (one or two members in particular).

[BarbaraL]

I'd heard that Michael refused to allow rehabilitative services that might have allowed Terri to eat on her own or be more "functioning".

When I heard they were doing an autopsy, I wondered what evidence of abuse they could possibly find after 15 years.

[gertdog]

Originally posted by BarbaraL

When I heard they were doing an autopsy, I wondered what evidence of abuse they could possibly find after 15 years.

I'd guess they could look for healed bone fractures and other injuries to the bone that might suggest abuse.

[Melman]

I thought the autopsy would show once and for all if she really had been in the vegetative state they kept saying she was in. My understanding was that they would be able to determine if the dozens (however many) medical professionals who had agreed over the years with the state of her condition was more accurate than the parents' descriptions that Terri had reacted to them with smiles, eye contact, etc.

[gertdog]

It sounds like he is being cleared not on the basis of the autopsy results, which have not yet been released (as far as I know), but on the basis of the records of DCF investigations into complaints of abuse- the 45 pages of information mentioned in the article Debie posted. Basically it sounds like DCF investigated all allegations and did not find any evidence of abuse.

[Kjente2]

Originally posted by Melman
I thought the autopsy would show once and for all if she really had been in the vegetative state they kept saying she was in. My understanding was that they would be able to determine if the dozens (however many) medical professionals who had agreed over the years with the state of her condition was more accurate than the parents' descriptions that Terri had reacted to them with smiles, eye contact, etc.

That is the microscopic portion of the autopsy and it will display those results whether pro or con to either "side". The xray examination at autopsy would display old breaks and whether they were consistent with that type of trauma.

[HejazSunKat]

The number of complaints of abuse alone sounds suspicious. I mean, how many people actually had access to Teri? Realistically it should only have been family, friends and medical personnel. It's not like just anyone could walk into the hospital and ask to see her (at least I hope not) so how could nearly 100 complaints be generated unless there was a sort of campaign going on the incriminate Michael Schiavo and/or damage his case because people didn't agree with how he thought his wife's care should be handled.

[Kjente2]

It's not like just anyone could walk into the hospital and ask to see her (at least I hope not) so how could nearly 100 complaints be generated unless there was a sort of campaign going on the incriminate Michael Schiavo and/or damage his case because people didn't agree with how he thought his wife's care should be handled.
Those places are full of minimum wage employees, so yes, I believe most anyone, until the last public relations exhibition, could probably walk right in. BUT, I think that the accusations were indeed fabrications for political gain and I think the likes of Pat Boone should have to publically apologize for their slander. This poor woman was used by everyone as their particular cause and should all be ashamed of themeselves.