Terri Shiavo, some things you may not have heard

I've been reading around the web about Terri Shiavo.

I guess part of the reason this case is so fascinating to me is because it was just a few months ago the my mother passed. One of the decisions I had to make during that ordeal was to withhold feeding tube and hydration.

There was nothing else I could have done. Mom was in her 80s, she was in the late stages of Alzheimer's unable to make decisions for herself, and she had a blockage in her lower intestine. She had a living will from before she succumbed to Alzheimer's that directed that no feeding tube be used. She was put into the hospital for Pneumonia brought on by aspiration, caused by the blockage. She was too weak, surgery would have killed her.

I have to say this about all the talk about how horrible it is to die by starvation and dehydration. I saw none of those symptoms. Mom passed peacefully, and in seeming comfort. She displayed no thirst, in fact she refused more than a sip of water now and again.

Had we ignored Mom's living will she may have lived a few more months or weeks. But the pain of dying from the tumor, the constant aspiration from that blockage would have been painful and torturous for her. I'm glad she had that living will which allowed us to allow her to pass in relative comfort.

But Terri Shiavo is a different situation.

She is young, physically in good health, except for the brain damage. Many experts have said she could live a much improved life if she were given the physical therapy, which Micheal Shiavo has denied her.

Medical breakthroughs happen today at such a rate that it is possible a cure could be found in the next few years. That won't happen if Terri is dead.

Hey, what about all those wondrous things Stem Cell Research is supposed to do for us?


Here are some interesting bits of info that I never heard about from the alphabet soup of dead tree big transmitter media.

Take them or leave them.


Terri Shiavo is able to laugh, cry, smile

Terri is able to laugh, cry, smile and several medical professionals believe she could be rehabilitated if she is given the opportunity to be treated with new and aggressive therapies. For the past 10 years, Michael Schiavo has been successful in blocking efforts to provide Terri with rehabilitation

Michael Schiavo: Loving Husband Or Monster?


Schiavo´s Date with Death

Within months of the money being deposited in the bank, Michael ordered a do-not-resuscitate order placed on Terri's chart. He has also repeatedly denied her other forms of medical care, such as treatment for infections.

Once the money was in the bank, according to affidavits filed by nurses under penalty of perjury, Michael ordered that Terri be denied stimulation.

Michael moved Terri from a nursing home to a hospice three years ago even though Terri is not terminally ill. A hospice specializes in dying patients and is not as equipped to provide patients like Terri with proper care.

Pinellas County State Attorney Bernie McCabe No help to Terri Shiavo.

The Schindlers were disappointed he did not investigate a bone scan conducted on Terri in March 1991. The scan showed Terri was the victim of "previous traumas," indicating she may have been beaten or abused -- possibly by Michael. McCabe said too much time had elapsed, and would not investigate.

Meanwhile, three nurses filed affidavits on Wednesday saying Michael has withheld proper medical care from Terri.

"He's been trying to kill her -- that's the bottom line," said Carla Sauer Iyer, a 39-year-old registered nurse who cared for Terri Schiavo at a nursing home in 1995 and '96. She says Terri has said words such as "Mommy," "help me" and "pain."



Yet, videos on the parents' web site clearly show Terri communicating with expressions to doctors and her parents.


doctors for the parents say that Terri, with proper rehabilitation care, could recover. Terri Schiavo is on no form of artificial life support.


Michael Schiavo has been providing only maintenance care for his wife since receiving an insurance award that provided $300,000 to him for lost companionship and $700,000 to provide for his wife's medical care and rehabilitation.

Michael is currently living with another woman with whom he has had a child, though he is still legally married to Terri.

he melted down her wedding ring for cash

And get this: Soon after the malpractice money came in, Michael had Terri´s cats put to death he stopped all her antibiotics and he melted down her wedding ring for cash!

An affidavit filed by Heidi Law, one of Terri Shiavo´s nurses

2. I worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant at the Palm Gardens nursing home from March, 1997 to mid-summer of 1997.

Michael ordered that Terri receive no rehabilitation or range of motion therapy

At least three times during any shift where I took care of Terri, I made sure to give Terri a wet washcloth filled with ice chips, to keep her mouth moistened.I personally saw her swallow the ice water and never saw her gag.Olga and I frequently put 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 mouthfuls of Jello, which she was able to swallow and enjoyed immensely.I did not do it more often only because I was so afraid of being caught by Michael.


In the past, I have taken care of comatose patients, including those in a persistent vegetative state.While it is true that those patients will flinch or make sounds occasionally, they don’t do it as a reaction to someone on a constant basis who is taking care of them, the way I saw Terri do.

In the past, I have taken care of comatose patients, including those in a persistent vegetative state.While it is true that those patients will flinch or make sounds occasionally, they don´t do it as a reaction to someone on a constant basis who is taking care of them, the way I saw Terri do.

Several times when Michael visited Terri during my shift, he went into her room alone and closed the door.This worried me because I didn´t trust Michael. When he left, Terri was very agitated, was extremely tense with tightened fists and some times had a cold sweat.

A Visit With Terri Schiavo

Attorney Barbara Weller

From the moment we entered the room, my impression was that Terri was very purposeful and interactive and she seemed very curious about the presence of obvious strangers in her room.


When her mother was close to her, Terri´s whole face lit up. She smiled. She looked directly at her mother and she made all sorts of happy sounds. When her mother talked to her, Terri was quiet and obviously listening. When she stopped, Terri started vocalizing. The vocalizations seemed to be a pattern, not merely random or reflexive at all.

Main page of Terri´s fight
Lots of updates of the legal battle. Also videos of Terri Schiavo. Watch and maks up your own mind.



Codeblueblog analyzes Terri Schiavo's ct of the brain and says This brain is not that bad.

Q. What does it mean to be in a "persistent vegetative state"?

A. It means the brain is functioning only at a very rudimentary level, says Kenneth V. Iserson, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson. He says people in this state are not dead; they have sleeping and waking cycles and often can breathe on their own. But they cannot feel pain, express themselves or receive communication. They might have basic, but not voluntary, reflexes, Iserson says.

From various web sources.

Dr. Walker, an associate professor and head of the school's division of medical ethics and humanities, Has been all over the TV and the web giving his diagnosis of Terri's condition, he is the present media darling and so called expert on Terri Shiabo

"I don't think it is widely appreciated just how damaged her brain is," said Walker

Schiavo's cerebral cortex, he said, is mostly gone. It was destroyed by the loss of oxygen she suffered when she had a heart attack 13 years ago. Once gone, the cortex cannot grow back, Walker said. The space it once occupied in Schiavo's skull is now filled with spinal fluid.

"The cortex does all our thinking," he said. "Some people argue that it's responsible for personhood. Without a cortex, you can't think, feel, have consciousness."

Schiavo is "awake but not aware," Walker said. Parts of her brain that control reflexes and other basic bodily functions still work. So she can sleep, breathe, blink and make the other moves that fuel the faith of those who seek to save her.

Her lack of consciousness is so complete that, according to Walker, if her feeding tube were to be removed from her stomach, Schiavo would not suffer. His language is chilling; the picture he leaves, almost unimaginable.

"She cannot perceive thirst or hunger. She doesn't have the brain structures necessary for that kind of perception."

Terri's family says that Dr. Walker had never met or examined Terri. Since when do doctors diagnos people they have never met. I can't even get my Doctor to issue a decongestant prescription without an office visit. And he has been treatingme for 5 years!

Dr. Walker had never met or examined Terri


We'll all have to make up our own mind on this one, but I son't believe that the liberal biased medis is doing anone any favors by failing to disclose all the facts and allegations.