Originally Posted - March 30, 2006

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Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

As Michael Schiavo parades himself on the talk show circuit to peddle his book which he claims is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, once again, as in the 15 years between the time of Terri’s collapse in 1990 and her death orchestrated at the hands of her estranged husband, his pro-euthanasia attorney George Felos and Judge George W. Greer, Michael Schiavo’s story continues to change and misrepresentations and inconsistencies abound.

A year later, the need for an impartial investigation hasn’t abated, it’s intensified as Michael Schiavo reveals more and more inconsistencies with virtually every word he utters.

Terri wasn’t terminal, she wasn’t in a coma, she wasn’t brain dead. She was disabled, incapacitated by severe brain damage incurred in unexplained circumstances 15 years prior to her untimely death. For nearly 10 years, eight of which were in the court of Pinellas County’s highly biased and prejudiced George Greer, Schiavo battled Terri’s parents in the court system, trying to obtain court permission to remove his brain damaged wife’s feeding tube which would result in her death.

He said she was in a persistent vegetative state with no chance for recovery and would not want to kept alive but that’s not the picture he had painted to a jury when he had sued doctors in 1992, claiming malpractice and seeking a large monetary award.

Mary and Bob Schindler Sr., her parents, supported by numerous medical practictioners disputed that, said she could be rehabilitated with therapy. They sought new medical testing and wanted to take her home to care for her.

Along the way Felos and company managed to change Florida law, making a feeding tube a form of artificial life support. Schiavo refused to present himself for depositions, he refused to even attend courtroom proceedings but yet now, as he hawks his book and is seeking financial reward for Terri’s death, he’s tripping all over his words, incriminating himself and dispelling any minute particle of credibility that may have existed.

Terri died on March 31 of marked dehydration according to an autopsy, 13 days after her feeding tube had been removed. AUTOPSY REPORT

Michael Schiavo claims that the autopsy performed exonerated him from all claims of abuse. Not so.

The autopsy of Terri Schiavo didn’t vindicate Michael Schiavo. It in fact opened the door to more questions rather than providing closure and seems to point the finger of suspicion even more at Michael, the estranged husband and guardian.

The cause of death of the 41-year-old brain damaged woman was officially undetermined according to Dr. Jon Thogmartin, Pinellas County medical examiner, and the investigation remains open.

The medical examiner said that the anoxic brain injury sustained by Terri Schiavo on Feb. 25, 1990, was caused by lack of blood flow and oxygen to her brain but that the cause of that condition could not be detected and was undetermined. He did not rule out that the injuries could have been caused by smothering. Michael talks about the accusations of strangulation, but he’s strangely quiet about smothering.

It is significant to note that Thogmartin indicated that he based his autopsy findings on medical reports and records provided by Gary Fox, one of two medical malpractice attorneys for Michael Schiavo. The medical examiner specifically noted that he could not have completed the autopsy without these reports. He also indicated that "a lot of records have been destroyed" and that the case would remain open because of the missing documents in hopes that someone might come forward with them.

Are those missing records part of those which Michael Schiavo now says that he and his 10-year lover Jodi have packed away at their house? Maybe a search warrant should be effected to seize his records for independent review and a possible grand jury investigation. There would seem to probable cause.

Even Terri’s autopsy was somewhat controlled by Michael Schiavo and his team of attorneys.

Even now, Michael tries to make it appear to the public that he eagerly awaited the findings of the autopsy but he forgot to mention that he and Felos had no intention of having an autopsy performed. They had petitioned the court for immediate cremation.

That was contrary to law as were so many things that occurred in the Schiavo case.

Although Felos tried to tell the public that Schiavo had willfully decided to have an autopsy conducted in an attempt to dispel the allegations of criminal wrongdoing in the case, Schiavo and Felos had no choice in the matter as an autopsy was mandated.

The law provides that the district medical examiner shall have the authority in any case coming under suspicious circumstances to perform to have performed autopsies or laboratory examinations he or she deems necessary and in the public interest to determine the identification of the cause of manner of death of the deceased or to obtain evidence necessary for forensic examination.

William Pellan, investigator for the ME’s office, said that under Florida law, the district medical examiner shall determine the cause of death in certain circumstances and that family requests are immaterial in that determination. He said that Florida law authorizes medical examiner’s investigations, examinations and autopsies independent of the cooperation of the legally authorized next of kin.

That was just another of Schiavo’s lies exposed. He made sure that her body could never he exhumed for another examination such as was conducted in the death of 14-year-old Martin Anderson in the Florida boot camp death under the auspices of famed pathologist Michael Baden.

In that situation, it was determined that the conclusions made, claiming cause of death was from an undiagnosed sickle cell trait in the first autopsy of Anderson, were erroneous and that it was likely the cause of death was a beating.

What’s even more important in regard to the boot camp death is the disclosure of the allegedly improper actions of FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell, causing another law enforcement agency to be brought in to replace the FDLE in the matter.

In the Schiavo case, although FDLE investigator Mark Dubina and another investigator had determined that enough probable cause existed from evidence presented to open a FDLE investigation, he reportedly was told by his supervisors to “shut down” his investigation, close the file and turn it in. He says that Pinellas/Pasco state attorney Bernie McCabe allegedly ordered that all criminal investigations in regard to the Schiavo matter, including the FDLE investigation, be shut down and no investigatory action was ever taken. That statement by Dubina, Homeland Security advisor to Gov. Bush, should have sent bells and sirens all the way to Washington and been immediate cause for the Governor’s brother, the President, to order a federal investigation into McCabe, the Pinellas County state attorney’s office, the FDLE, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s office where Michael Schiavo is now employed and has in fact, been promoted. It’s not too late for a federal investigation to be opened into the handling of the Schiavo case.

Was Tunnell involved in closing the Schiavo case down? The revelation of the inappropriate actions of Tunnell and the FDLE in the boot camp death are all the more reason to open an independent investigation into the Schiavo case by a special prosecutor who preferably has no political or other ties to Florida and its officials.

Schiavo seems to live by the theory that if you tell the same lie enough times it becomes true or that it can and will completely override the truth of a matter. A year later, Schiavo is openly misrepresenting the findings of the autopsy and is still claiming that Terri suffered from bulima and had a heart attack as a result of a potassium imbalance.

The autopsy specifically dispelled those claims.

In an interview with Larry King on CNN Monday night, March 27, Schiavo continued to persist in his claim that Terri had bulima, a false claim which resulted in what are now known to have been false malpractice claims.

KING: OK. Was there -- I know you write about lots of things. First, the issue of whether Terri had an eating disorder, that she had bulimia. Did she?

SCHIAVO: I now believe she did. With becoming a nurse and listening to doctors and even her family said that she had bulimia. Her mother came out and stated it to a nurse at one of the medical facilities that Terri had bulimia. So I believe she had bulimia. And it sets something else straight about that, about the bulimia. The medical examiner also stated that after 15 years, he couldn't really tell if she did or didn't. So he did not rule bulimia out.

KING: Did bulimia have anything to do with the cause of her illness and death?

SCHIAVO: I'm sure it was the cause of her cardiac arrest.

Thogmartin indicated in his autopsy report that his findings were based on 274 external and internal body images but that missing records and documents, missing because Schiavo’s attorney failed to provide them, were a problem in determining what caused Terri's collapse.

Thogmartin said at the news conference about the autopsy and in the autopsy report that there was no evidence of bulimia and the assumption of bulimia presented at the medical malpractice trial had simply been accepted and not challenged. He said there was absolutely nothing to support the theory of bulimia as presented by Michael's attorneys. He also ruled out the 15-year fallacy presented by the mainstream media (and Michael Schiavo) that she had sustained a heart attack, saying that her collapse was the result of an "external problem outside of the heart causing the heart not to beat". He said there was no evidence that she had had any heart problems prior to her collapse and said that the fact she lived 15 years after her resuscitation was testimony to the strength of her heart.

Thogmartin further disputed the potassium imbalance caused by purging and bulimia theory perpetuated by the mainstream media saying there was absolutely no evidence of such.

Fox and attorney Glenn Woodworth had represented Michael Schiavo in bringing medical malpractice actions in 1992 against a general practitioner and gynecologist who had been treating Terri prior to her mysterious collapse.

Thogmartin said he was sorry he could not provide a more definitive answer for Terri's parents, the Schindlers, of what caused the loss of oxygen and blood flow to their daughter's brain causing her incapacitation. He also said that the 15 years between the time of the original incident and the time of her death greatly hampered his findings.

While Thogmartin said on direct questioning at the news conference that there was no abuse, the report indicates that Terri was suffering from bladder and urinary tract infections and had not been treated with antibiotics. He also said that there was no sign of trauma which contradicts previous reports and findings by other physicians. He said no factures or trauma was found during the initial admission to the hospital in 1990, according to the reports provided by Michael's doctor but admits that reports were missing and had not been provided to him. The ME said his findings showed she suffered from marked osteoporosis.

"She could have lived another decade" if she had been provided treatment for those infections". Thogmartin stated. Schiavo had refused to allow her to be given antibiotics, then asking the nursing home staff, “is she dead yet….when is that bitch gonna die?”

In addressing the diagnosis that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state, Dr. Stephen Nelson said that they found nothing inconsistent with the PVS finding but consistently stressed that PVS was a clinical finding, not a medical one. He also indicated that there are no current studies which define and differentiate between PVS and a minimally conscious state.

Thogmartin said according to the reports made available to him, Terri's heart was not beating at the time the paramedics arrived at the Schiavo home on Feb. 25, 1990, and that she was in respiratory arrest. She was revived and her heart was beating at the time she arrived at the hospital an hour later.

The medical examiner said that she had incurred massive neuronal damage and that no amount of therapy or treatment would have replaced the lost neurons. He said she was blind and upon questioning following his presentation, that she could not have "tracked" a balloon as well-known video is said to show. However, Thogmartin's finding was based on Terri's eyes as of April 1, 2005. The balloon video was done three years previous in 2002,

Although both Thogmartin and Nelson stressed that Terri's brain was only half the size of what they term as normal, other physicians have said that the size of the brain is not indicative of whether a person is cognitive or not. Numerous physicians and neurologists stated following the release of the autopsy report that the dehydration would have caused the brain to shrink and the size of the brain at death was not indicative of the size of her brain before the feeding tube was removed.

Thogmartin contradicted himself during the press conference at one point saying that Terri would not have been able to eat or drink orally but later emphatically stated that she had sustained an anoxic brain injury and with the feeding tube removed, she would have been able to eat and drink by mouth. Judge George Greer had refused to allow Terri to be fed and hydrated orally.

Thogmartin also expressed what seemed to be a great displeasure with Felos, saying that after Felos released Thogmartin's name to the press that the phone lines to the ME's office were clogged and prevented him and his office from doing their job. Felos tried to maintain that it was Michael's decision to have the autopsy performed, and Schiavo seemed intent during his book promotion to perpetuate that fallacy but Thogmartin again stressed at the outset of the press conference that the involvement of his office in the Schiavo case was mandated by law and was not because of any request by Schiavo.

Thogmartin’s statements and autopsy report also substantiate that Schiavo continues to be less than forthcoming about what really happened the night of Terri’s collapse. Although he told Matt Lauer during his Sunday night (March 25) interview aired on Dateline that he had heard the “thud” about 5 p.m, he had told Larry King a prior interview that it was 4:30 p.m. Michael Schiavo simply cannot keep his stories straight.

And if he’s so adamant that he’s innocent of any wrongdoing, that he did not abuse Terri in any way, why has he not taken a polygraph test----a lie detector test?

George Greer found Michael Schiavo’s self-serving hearsay testimony that he distinctly remembered Terri saying on a train ride in the early 80’s that she wouldn’t want to be kept alive “if she became a burden”, but he seems to have a huge problem remembering facts and details of an incident that would impact the rest of his life. The one thing that remains a constant is that time the 911 call was received from him summoning assistance for Terri was at 5:40 a.m., either 40 minutes after he found her or 70 minutes, depending on what version he’s telling on what day and to whom.

Following the autopsy last June, the attorney who represented Florida’s Gov. Jeb Bush during the 2003 attempt by the Governor and Florida Legislature to save Terri’s by the passage of Terri’s Law, said that “the sad reality is that the facts and circumstances surrounding Terri’s death were never properly investigated in the first place.

Attorney Ken Connor had appeared on Fox TV’s “On The Record” last year to address his former client’s request for an investigation into the Terri Schiavo case based on discrepancies which exist in the summoning of emergency medical services by Michael Schiavo for his wife who had collapsed at their home on Feb.25, 1990.

Terri’s Law was ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case.

Connor also emphasized that the medical examiner’s report says a subtle form of trauma which could have involved a blow to the chest cannot be ruled out.

In asking the Pinellas-Pasco County state attorney’s office to investigate the matter, Bush said that Thogmartin couldn’t really determine what caused Terri Schiavo to lapse into a coma. Bush, who had spoken with Thogmartin the day prior to the release of the autopsy report on June 15, said that Thogmartin had told him that it appeared there had been a difference of “close to an hour between when she fell that morning early in the morning and when the 911 call took place and the fire rescue emergency personnel came”.

Schiavo continues to maintain that he was vindicated after an investigation. No investigation was ever conducted. After Gov. Bush asked the state attorney’s office and Bernie McCabe to conduct an investigation due to the discrepancies, McCabe continued to refuse to do so.

In responding to Felos’ assertion that if Michael hadn’t called for assistance immediately, that Terri would have died on the spot, Connor said that there is “some evidence to suggest that even before he called 911, Michael called Terri’s father who told him that he needed to get off the phone and call 911. It’s a curious thing that we have this gap, this unexplained gap, that Michael would call not the emergency medical people in the first instance, but rather Terri’s dad and then of course, you know the family pointed to changes in Michael’s behavior after he got his hands on the money that called into question his motives”.

“I don’t know what the real situation is”, Connor said, “but I think it is fair to say that these circumstances beg for further investigation, and I think that Michael Schiavo would welcome vindication of any potential cloud that may otherwise be present here”.

There has been no such investigation but Schiavo is unjustifiably claiming vindication. With the passage of a year since Terri’s death, the need for an impartial investigation of the entire matter has only intensified, not receded, particularly in view of Michael Schiavo’s recent revelations in his book, his statements in public interviews, and the actions by FDLE commissioner Tunnell.

In addressing the issue that the medical examiner said that there was no abuse, no injury and no toxins in Terri’s system, Connor said “that there are a “number of drugs and toxins which would not have come out on the kind of screen that was done by the people at the hospital. Remember, there was no suspicion at the beginning that there was anything amiss surrounding Terri’s death. In addition, the report says that it can’t rule out a subtle form of trauma which would have involved a blow to the chest that would have disturbed the heart’s rhythm, and would have provoked an arrhythmia, that would have provoked a collapse and produced the kind of situation from which Terri suffered, but would leave absolutely no findings in the autopsy”.

Connor said that the Governor has said the circumstances “beg for further investigation. And I would think that Michael would welcome the investigation as a form of vindication as far as that’s concerned. All the Governor wants to ensure is that “we get to the bottom of this and that truth is discerned here”.

But Bernie McCabe and others, including high ranking officials at the Florida Department of Investigation, have done everything possible to stymie and block the long overdue and warranted investigation.

When Michael Schiavo testified at the malpractice trial, he didn’t tell the jury that he was going to ask the court to remove his wife’s feeding tube as soon as they made any monetary award.

Schiavo had sued Joel Prawer, a general practitioner, in February, 1992, alleging that Prawer and Dr. Stephen Igel, a gynecologist, had failed to diagnose Terri’s alleged eating disorder. It was claimed that the doctors had failed to diagnose and treat the then 26-year-old woman for bulimia and that was what caused her collapse and resulted in the loss of oxygen and blood flow to her brain resulting in anoxic encephalopathy.

Following a jury trial in November, 1992, before Sixth Circuit Court Judge Philip Federico who was then chief judge of the circuit, a Clearwater jury returned a verdict in favor of Michael Schiavo for more than $6.8 million against Dr. Igel.

Dr. Prawer and his insurance company had settled the malpractice claim against him pretrial for $250,000 but the Florida Department of Health later cleared Dr. Prawer of any wrongdoing or negligence.

The Igel verdict was reduced when the jury ruled that there was contributory negligence on the part of Terri Schiavo. Based on testimony that the handicapped woman’s life expectancy was 50 more years, her husband and guardian was awarded $1.39 million for her future care and $610,400 for loss of consortium. Soon after receiving the money in 1993, he discontinued all therapy and rehabilitative services for her and directed that a do not resuscitate order be placed in her file.

He bought himself a gold Acura and made funeral arrangements for his wife with Moss Feaster Funeral Home in Pinellas County. On Feb. 14, 1993, he argued with her parents when they asked when he was going to use the money awarded for therapy for their daughter. He told them they would never see their daughter again.

The inscription that Michael Schiavo has placed on Terri’s gravestone says that she “departed this earth February 25, 1990”. If she “died” the night of her collapse as he alludes by the epitaph, did he commit an insurance fraud by bilking two insurance companies out of $2.25 million in 1992 when the Pinellas County medical examiner has ruled that Terri Schiavo did not suffer from bulimia and did not have a heart attack?

In that the jury award was based on a fallacy and now a proven fraud, aren’t Michael Schiavo and his attorneys liable to return the money to the insurance companies?

Schiavo had testified at both in pre-trial deposition and at trial that his wife felt pain, that she responded to voice stimulation. After he got the money, he stopped her therapy. There is no way of knowing to what degree of recovery Terri Schiavo could have attained had she been provided rehabilitation and therapy for the last 10 years of her life.

Schiavo and many other doctors testified under oath in 1992 that there was hope for recovery, of 50 more years of life, hence the multi-million dollar jury award. It appears that Michael Schiavo and his attorneys perpetrated a fraud on the court. http://www.nevin.net/1992_med-mal_ms_depo.htm and http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/forthelifeofterrischiavo/message/32

During an interview with Fox News’ Greta VanSusteren on Feb. 24, 2005, the 15th anniversary of Terri’s mysterious collapse, attorney Gary Fox told VanSustern that Terri’s injury was caused by bulimia which resulted in a heart attack stopping the flow of oxygen to the brain. However, there was no medical evidence of bulimia nor did the hospital records/enzymes substantiate Fox’s claim that Terri suffered a heart attack on Feb. 25, 1990.

In fact, Fox’s version of the events substantially differ from that of his client, the police report from that evening and later testimony by Michael Schiavo.

And the autopsy report prepared by Pinellas County medical examiner Thogmartin based on reports and records provided to him by attorney Gary Fox!
Based on the files and records provided by Fox which had been used to obtain a multi-million award using a medically unsupported claim of bulimia, the medical examiner boldly stated she was not bulimic and did not have a heart attack.

Who’s telling the truth?

At the press conference on June 15, Thogmartin stated that Terri was heavy as a teenager and after high school she did lose over 100 pounds. “No one observed Mrs. Schiavo taking diet pills, binging or purging or consuming laxatives and she apparently never confessed to her family or friends about having an eating disorder and furthermore, many of the signs and symptoms of bulimia nervosa are not reported to be present. After resuscitation from her initial cardiac arrest, the first blood draw at Human Hospital Northside which was her admitting hospital showed a low potassium level. Several other blood components were also at abnormal levels. Her low potassium level and the eating disorder it appeared to indicate were the focus of a malpractice suit filed by her husband. Witnesses at the malpractice trial offered no testimony to witness purging. Although they favored bulimia nervosa, they offered further possibilities for the low potassium level. Both plaintiff and defendants in the malpractice trial generally accepted the theory that her low potassium level was due to bulimia nervosa and therefore during the trial the veracity of this diagnosis was not challenged.

“Her low potassium level was the main piece of evidence purported to show that she had an eating disorder”, Thogmartin said……….”the main piece of evidence supporting a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa is suspect. If the diagnosis of bulimia is reduced to a mere possibility, then other etiologies for her collapse become more plausible”.

Thogmartin’s report also determined that Terri did not suffer a heart attack. Her “heart was anatomically normal without any areas of recent or previous infarction. Mutations associated with the heart defect known as Long QT Syndrome were not detected”.

Thogmartin acknowledged that many of the records and reports were missing in the case. In fact, according to the civil case docket on file at the office of the Pinellas County clerk of the court, on Nov. 10, 1992, the same day that the verdict was returned in the Igel malpractice case, the exhibits in the case were destroyed. 3-31-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette