in memoriam Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo passed away yesterday. God rest her soul.

I regret not having followed her struggle from the beginning. In recent weeks, however, I received quite a few messages in support of her struggle via my network of Catholic homeschooling friends. The messages urged to pray for Terri, take action by writing to your congressman, and other suggestions along those lines.

I went and read up on the issue on MSNBC. However, I didn't dwell on it. Both the messages I received from my religious friends, and the interpretation of mainstream media were treating Terri's struggle as a "Right to die vs Right to live" issue. This is right along the lines of the Pro-life vs Pro-choice issue and that of Strong government vs Government that leaves the people alone. All of these are full of false dichotomies. By a false dichotomy, I mean offering people a 'choice' between a rock and a hard place, thus stealing from them the REAL choice of mapping their own actions. This approach relies heavily on sweeping generalizations and on black and white world view. Because of this, any discussion of the above issues quickly deteriorates into absurd, and I refrain from ever participating in such.

However, about a week ago, I had a dream in which I was saying good-bye to Terri (who for some reason looked very much like one librarian from a local library, but this was obviously a quirk on the part of my subconciousness). The dream was very powerful and filled me up ith great sadness. I cried and cried, and woke up with tears in my eyes. I was sad for days afterwards.

This prompted me to read more about the case and reexamine my assumptions. It amazes me now how much Terri's struggle has been misrepresented. So many eloquent speeches were said in support of Right To Live and the Sanctity of Life, and as many in defense of Right To Die With Dignity and Respecting Private Family Decisions. The people who defended Terri's Right to Live couldn't care less about the Right to Live of the many innocent Iraqi civilians. How one can be pro-life and por-war at the same time I will never grasp, but I know a lot of otherwise sane people who subscribe to this notion. While people who talk about Dying with Dignity and respecting Terro's presumable wishes, overlook many glaring inconsistancies in the case.

When everything is taken into account however, a truly horrific picture emerges. It has nothing to do with either of the two purely theoretical in our state of society 'rights', but instead has 'premediated murder' written all over it.


The following powerful commentary sums it up perfectly and deserves to be reproduced here in its entirety:

[...]

The public has been told that Terri Schiavo is a "vegetable" - a shell of a person in what is called a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS). They say that her brain is "mush" (an actual quote), and that she is unaware of her environment and unable to communicate at even the most basic level.
We are also told that she had expressed her desire to be removed from life support if she were ever in such a state. Her husband, supposedly out of love for her, claims to be striving to fulfill her wishes and free her from her "living prison." Her poor, misguided parents, on the other hand, are portrayed as delusional - clinging to every blink of Terri's eyes as proof she can think - unable to face the truth and let go.
First of all, examination of the evidence demonstrates quite clearly that Terri's brain is not "mush." She is able to communicate. One member of the SotT team had a family member in exactly the condition Terri is in, and also had a friend who WAS in a Persistent Vegetative state, having been revived after cardiac arrest, and the difference is profound. People in a "persistent vegetative state" make meaningless noises and movements. Terri Schiavo clearly makes noises and movements that have meaning, that relate to understanding what is happening in her environment.
Numerous people, including three nurses charged with her care, have testified to many instances of communication. She had distinct signals to notify nurses when she had soiled her adult diaper or started her period. She greeted her nurses when they entered her room. She was distressed and depressed after visits by her husband, Michael Schiavo. There are sworn affidavits attesting to these observations.
Second, Terri is not completely reliant on the feeding tube. She is able to swallow water. Nurses have testified that she has also been fed orally, but that her husband Michael had ordered she be fed by tube instead. Judge Greer's order didn't just require that the feeding tube be removed. It expressly forbids anyone from feeding her orally, from giving her water, or even putting ice chips to her mouth.
Michael Schiavo claims that Terri had privately expressed her wishes to him. But there were no witnesses to that conversation, and we have only his word that such sentiments were ever expressed by Terri.
Several of Terri's friends have testified to the contrary.
This subject actually highlights the typical way the case has been handled. Terri's friend Diane Meyer testified in 2002 that Terri, in 1982, stated to Meyer that she disapproved of the fact that the parents of Karen Ann Quinlan were seeking to remove their daughter from life-support.
Judge Greer dismissed this testimony from Terri's friend ruling that it was obviously not credible since Quinlan had died in 1979, therefore Terri must have been a mere child when she made the comment.
The FACT is that Quinlan actually died on June 11, 1985. making Terri an adult when she complained about the ventilator being removed, thus supporting the testimony of Diane Meyer, Terri's friend.
Greer refused admit his mistake about the date of Quinlan's death and to reverse his ruling. Instead he ruled that Michael Schiavo's hearsay testimony would stand.
It should also be noted that Michael Schiavo conveniently remembered that Terri had said years ago the she wouldn't want to live on life support only AFTER the malpractice suit awarded more than $1 million to Terri for her rehabilitation. We should note that $300 thousand of this award went to Michael and he has allegedly paid $385,000 to his attorney Felos. Michael Schiavo pledged that the money would go to Terri's care, but all of her rehabilitative therapy stopped immediately thereafter, by Michael's order.
Another important avenue of investigation has also been neglected. Judge Greer denied the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to investigate 30 accusations of spousal abuse. There is testimony from expert witnesses that warrant investigation into the circumstances surrounding Terri's alleged collapse from a chemical imbalance. Allegedly there are numerous suspicious fractures on bone scans.
A neurologist who examined the timeline of Terri's brain scans found that for the first three days of her initial hospitalization in 1990, her brain scans were normal. Then suddenly, on the sixth day, her brain scan showed evidence of a massive injury. He concludes that Terri was hit on the head and suffered intracranial hemorrhage while in the hospital. The physician maintains that she did not suffer her brain damage outside the hospital but while she was hospitalized.
According to the physician, if the reports produced are accurate (normal CT brain on Feb. 27, collapse on Feb. 25, 1990) then she did not suffer an event of massive ischemia on Feb. 25, 1990, the date of her alleged 'collapse' The physician says that there is no radiologist or neurologist or neurosurgeon in the world that would dispute this as it is impossible. The CT on Feb. 27, 1990, would have been grossly abnormal." The entire article including Terri's NORMAL original brain scan can be found here.
Why is this significant?
Terri's brother and several friends have testified that Terri had expressed to them her intention to divorce Michael. They had a "violent" fight on Feb. 24, 1990, the night before her so-called "collapse." She was found, in the early morning hours, on the hallway floor with her hands around her neck.
The cause of Terri Schiavo's brain damage has never been determined. Michael Schiavo has ordered those medical records sealed.
Michael Schiavo has been reported to say "Isn't the bitch dead yet?" to the staff at the Suncoast Hospice. The affidavits are available on the (court documents section) of www.terrisfight.org .
Nurses who made positive notations on Terri's chart found those notations removed by the next day. For a long time, Michael instructed that there be no sunlight, no radio and no television in Terri's room.
These are just some of the items from the Schiavo case that are not being reported in the mainstream media which is playing wildly upon the emotions of those who have not taken the time to search out the facts.
Tracking the events chronologically suggest a scenario quite different from the one presented to the public. This is not a "right to die" case. This is a "right to kill a disabled woman who can't speak for herself" case. More than that, it is a case where it seems clear that Michael Schiavo may have a vested interest in Terri NOT receiving any rehabilitative therapy. It suggests that he is afraid of that therapy and what Terri might say IF she had ever received it and had been able to tell what REALLY happened on the night when she suffered her alleged "collapse."
Consider the fact that Michael has been offered a million dollars to relinquish his guardianship of Terri. He could take the money, turn her over to her parents, and walk away from the whole problem. He wouldn't have to suffer the ire of half of America who are accusing him of being a killer. He wouldn't have to be responsible for Terri.
Some people think that Michael refused this money because he loves Terri so much that he is "incorruptible." He is determined to see her "wishes fulfilled."
There is another way to look at this refusal when one considers all the evidence.
Do we REALLY think that Michael Schiavo loves Terri so much that he is willing to withstand the hatred of millions of people, to stand up against George Bush and the congress, (who, we should point out, are easily enough able to get judges to do what they want when it serves their interests, so we suspect that Terri's death serves their interests more than her life), to be the villain for the rest of his life?
Do we believe this when we know that Michael Schiavo began living with another woman within weeks of Terri's accident while still suffering this great, everlasting love that drives him to free Terri?
Sorry, we don't buy it.
It seems rather clear that Michael Schiavo is driven by something else. Yes, he refused a million dollars. Yes, he refuses to let Terri's parents care for their daughter. Yes, he refuses to care what anyone thinks of him or how many people call him a murderer because he is driven by something else.
Michael Schiavo is driven by fear of what Terri would say if she lived and received therapy and recovered her ability to speak. The one person who could accuse him of murder and make it stick will soon be dead.

[...]

A friend who worked as a nurse for a very long time, pointed out another high strangeness in Terri Schiavo's case. Terri was in hospice care for 3 years prior to her death. Hospice services are reserved for the terminally ill that have less than six months to live. Terry did not fit these criteria; in fact it is not uncommon for a person in her condition live up to 50 or 60 years of age. Also, hospice provides palliative care, which includes nourishment, hydration, and pain relief. None of this was given to Terri while she was dying. In fact the very removal of those caused her death. The implication of this are deeply disturbing.

The death of Terri Schiavo is a marker of profound change in American values and society. This is yer another good cop / bad cop game, where numerous people and organization from the whole spectrum of political affiliation and ethical views take advantage of the situation to further their own goals. And in the meantime, the real issue, that of a cold-blooded and heartless murder of an innocent disabled woman, is covered up and ignored.


It is all the more significant that Terri's death is accompanied by the impending death of Pope John Paul II. Someone also remembered that a similar thing happened in 1997, when the death of Princess Diana was closely followed by Mother Theresa's death. A death of a martyr followed by a passing of a "Catholic Icon" in both cases. I too can't help feeling that this is more than a coincidence.

Lastly, there is this:
Did Nostradamus Predict the Sacrifice of Terri Schiavo?

Quatrain 6,72

Par fureur feinte d’esmotion diuine,
Sera la femme du grand fort violee:
Iuges voulans damner telle doctrine,
Victime au peuple ignorant immolee.

Through feigned fury of divine emotion
The wife of the strong one will be violated:
The judges wishing to condemn such a doctrine,
She is sacrificed a victim to the ignorant people.

I don't know about you, but to me it seems that the shoe fits.