Originally Posted - July 18, 2006

return home

I read the July 5 column, "Drum the Culprits Out", written by Stephen Goldstein of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, I can't say that I am surprised to read that Mr. Schiavo continues to disparage my family; however I am very surprised that Mr. Goldstein would choose to print these slanderous statements about my family without verifying whether or not they are true.

It is also amazes me how disingenuous Mr. Schiavo portrays my sister Terri's situation and that he has now created a platform to use this dishonesty to exploit her life and death.

Mr. Schiavo needs to be reminded that it was not just the 'Republicans' and the 'radical right' that were 'having their way' when it came to supporting my family's efforts to stop Terri from this brutal death from occurring.

I often wonder why Mr. Schiavo, and most in the popular media for that matter, have conveniently forgotten that there were more than 20 local and national disability organizations that were supporting my family's efforts to keep Terri alive. These are hardly the type of organizations that anyone would go so far as to label 'radical right'. Incidentally, it might be worth knowing that the number of disability organizations involved in my sister's case outnumbered the number of so-called radical right that were also supporting my family.

Even more is that Mr. Schiavo is not being honest regarding the Republicans in Terri's case either. He needs to be reminded that when Congress decided to involve themselves in Terri's situation there was not one Democratic Senator that objected to the passage of 'Terri's Law', and almost half of the House Democrats that voted were in favor of passing Terri's Law.

The following is from Democratic Senator Tom Harkin and what he said in a press conference held on March 18, 2005 regarding the involvement of Congress in Terri's situation.

"Where there is a genuine dispute as to what the desires of the incapacitated person really are, then there ought to be at the end some review by a federal court outside of state jurisdiction. You might say, 'Why a federal court?' State courts vary in their evidentiary proceedings and in their process -- fifty different ones. . . . Every review of that, up through the state courts, is basically on the procedure, not upon the first facts. In a case like this, where someone is incapacitated and their life support can be taken away, it seems to me that it is appropriate -- where there is a dispute, as there is in this case -- that a federal court come in, like we do in habeas corpus situations, and review it and make another determination."

And although it was a Republican Governor that tried to help Terri, ultimately it was because of the labors of Republican State Senator Jim King and nine other Republican State Senators that voted against any legislation from being passed in the final days of my sister life in the hopes of stopping Terri from being starved and dehydrated to death.

Finally, before you continue to so willingly endorse Mr. Schiavo's new book, it should interest you to read the following story: (http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/060206ConvincingFraud.html). The contradiction, errors, and dishonesty that have been written by Mr. Schiavo in his book, "Terri: The Truth" is egregious. Equally as disturbing is that you and many in the ill-informed media continue to give Mr. Schiavo a free pass when it comes to his veracity in asserting a variety of conflicting specifics and statements that can easily be disputed by reading court documents or referring to his previous interviews. Incidentally, this article only touches on some of his blatant inaccuracies.

I would like to believe that in order to maintain their personal integrity, it is incumbent upon professional journalists such as Mr. Goldstein to assure their readers that any facts they publish have been thoroughly researched and validated. Unfortunately, this basic principle has been continually overlooked by the mainstream media, thereby endorsing Mr. Schiavo's blatant inaccuracies.

Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Schindler Schiavo, is the spokesperson for the Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, Center for Health Care Ethics Inc. in St. Petersburg, Fla., an organization dedicated to ensuring the rights of disabled, elderly and vulnerable citizens against care ration, euthanasia and medical killing.
www.terrisfight.org

EDITOR'S NOTE: The above letter to the editor about Mr. Goldstein's column was submitted to the Sun-Sentinel by Bobby Schindler. What was published in that newspaper on July 17 was heavily edited. The above article is the original version as submitted. 7-18-06

© 2006 North Country Gazette