My lead-in to this page from my Paul's Dialog page is as follows:

3/21/07
Terri Schiavo two years ago.
Did you feel the courts and the media got it right? Or did you feel they perpetrated a monstrous perversion of justice? For an analysis of the 15 year record of the case and the court's, media's and husband's malfeasance, go to my page on Terri. Because of a proprietary concern, I focus on The Christian Science Monitor in particular, in dealing with the media treatment, and point to the question, How could the Monitor's reporting and investigatory methods have gone so far awry that their reporting came not even close to the fundamental facts and justice issues in the case? You might also look at my related wake up quote on judge ordered torture

April 2005, updated February 2007
Paul Kautz

What is truth? What is justice?
The Christian Science Monitor's egregious reporting of theTerri Schiavo case
in the week before her death

For a newspaper founded for the reasons Mary Baker Eddy founded The Christian Science Monitor, the questions above should be fundamental and paramount. Let me apply this criterion to the Monitor's reporting regarding Terri Schiavo in the week prior to Easter 2005.

The Monitor had front page articles on the Terri Schiavo dispute for five days in a row, March 21-25, due, one suspects, to the immense outpouring of concern on the part of a very substantial part of the American public, including me, together with efforts to rectify perceived injustice, and of course, rebuttals by those of opposing view. All five articles, involving five different reporters, almost totally ignored the fundamental reasons and facts for the massive concern. It appeared to those who were deeply disturbed and concerned that there had been a complete and monstrous perversion of justice and a thorough going misrepresentation of the facts of Terri's case for at least the previous five years, and substantially for the seven years prior to that. The Monitor articles had nothing to say about injustice, and continued and aided the misrepresentation of the facts, in effect perpetuated lies, and by doing so, abetted the injustice, the judicial murder of an innocent but disabled woman, who was aware and not vegetative, and did not want to die, let alone by an agonizing, long-drawn-out, court-imposed process.

Does not this suggest there is something drastically wrong with the Monitor's method of gathering and reporting the news? If they can get the facts and issues so wrong in this case, what assurance that they get them right in other cases? Will not inadequate investigation based on poor fact determination methods yield poor results in most any case? But then, they're running with the pack, the mainstream media, and so who is to cry wolf? But did Mrs. Eddy establish the Monitor to run with the pack, or to lead in a better direction?

Without a grounding in justice (as against mere legality) and a basis in fact, the Monitor articles became a mere exercise in sophistry, which is not the purpose for which Mrs. Eddy founded the Monitor.

Let me lay in the basic facts which a host of ordinary good-hearted people had been able to get at and feel to have been disregarded by the courts involved, and misrepresented by a large part of the major news reporting media (including the Monitor), resulting in an ongoing and tragic perversion of justice and causing the husband/guardian, the primary judge involved, and the husband's lead lawyer all to appear to be moral monsters.

1. Legality does not constitute justice.

2. In February 1990 Terri collapsed and suffered brain damage due to lack of oxygen. The reasons for her collapse were never convincingly explained, and still suggest strong possibilities of physical abuse by Michael, her husband. For more detail, go here, (but consider reading through these 12 points before looking at the additional detail.)

3. A year after her collapse, while in a rehabilitation center, hardly a place for a person in PVS, or "persistent vegetative state," as has been widely alleged about Terri from the time of her collapse, a bone scan was ordered because of severe pain during physical therapy, and revealed an apparent history of severe physical trauma to ribs, vertabra, joints, knees, ankles. No follow-up action was taken. The report was not discovered by the parents or the public until eleven years later. Terri had had no known history of trauma prior to her marriage in 1984. Go here for more detail.

4. When recommended to move her to a different rehabilitation center for advanced therapy, her husband/guardian instead moved her to a nursing home, and some years later, to a hospice (end of life institution--but Terri was nowhere near the end of her life, until food and water were denied her by court order).

5. A year and a half after her collapse, Terri was awarded $250,000 and $1.4 million first in a malpractice settlement and then in a trial. Her husband was awarded $600,000--total: $2 1/4 million. In the trial he apparently promised to use awarded funds for her rehabilitation. See timelines for 1990-2005 here and here.

6. In the thirteen and a half years between the receipt of the 2 1/4 million dollars and her court ordered death, Terri received no rehabilitation, minimal care, and denial of care which combined, can only be termed inhumane, and additionally illegal. All evidences indicate that the husband/guardian single-mindedly sought her death, first through denial of normal therapeutic care, and failing in that, through denial of food and water. It was at the beginning of this period that the parents began their long, unavailing protest, more specifically when it became apparent that in spite of the substantial funds awarded in large part for her rehabilitation, all rehabilitative activity had not only been discontinued, but prohibited by the 'caring' husband.

7. In 1997 husband requests and a judge approves death for Terri by withholding of water and food. A higher court appoints a guardian ad litem to investigate. When ad litem recommends rehabilitation instead of death, ad litem is dismissed and his recommendations ignored.

8. Judge Greer comes on the case approximately year 2000 and concludes that Terri should die by denial of water and food, 1. because he allows testimony only from doctors who diagnose her as PVS, 2. because the husband alleges a conversation in which Terri is supposed to have said she would not want to be kept alive if severely impaired, 3. because of the defence attorney's malfeasance, or at the least gross incompetence, which compromised all subsequent appeals, 4. because of an influence not readily apparent until after Terri's death. The husband's lead attorney (who has received $400,000 of the award money) is a prominent advocate of euthanasia. Husband did not mention the alleged conversation until seven years after the money awards, at which time he conveniently remembered it. An ex-girlfriend of husband indicated that he lied about the conversation. In any event, all Judge Greer's actions from the time he came on the case give the appearance of being directed to the objective of obtaining Terri's death by withholding of water and food, and by excluding from his court any evidence or considerations which would speak for rehabilitation, normal therapeutic treatment, adherence to law, including laws governing guardianship, or for life.

9. Several nurses who have cared for Terri over the years have testified under oath to her awareness and responsiveness, about her desire to live, about the inhumaneness of the husband's orders regarding her care, about his expressed hatred for her, about her manifest fear when he is in the room with her.

10. Those concerned about Terri have felt that all the convincing evidence in the case indicated Terri was conscious and aware, not PVS, throughout the 15 year period (except for a brief period of coma immediately following her collapse), although having limited ability to communicate or move her body (see excerpts and the full 2002 report of an examination mandated by the 2nd District Court of Appeal). But for thirteen plus years she was denied any rehabilitation to improve her ability to communicate, or for example, to improve her ability to swallow food and water without the aid of a feeding tube. One is tempted to believe that this denial, together with the autopsy with only the husband approved doctor present and the subsequent immediate cremation, was to assure neither she nor her remains would ever be able to make any accusation about her husband's role in her collapse 15 years before. With regard to the feeding tube, it is worthy of note that it was only required at mealtimes, and was apparently not really needed then, since she was able to swallow. See also the excerpts from nurse Heidi Law.

Consider the following excerpt from an article by Fr. Michael Reilly the same week as the Monitor articles, 3/24:

Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for working with people just like Terri examined her on three separate occasions, spending more than ten hours with Terri. [This occurred in 2002--his complete report is here].

He concluded that he "and others I know have treated many patients worse than Terri, and have seen them regain independence and dignity."

"It's time to help Terri instead of just warehousing her," Dr. Hammesfahr said. "She would have benefited from treatment years ago, but it is not too late to start now."

Dr. Hammesfahr is not alone. He is joined by 14 medical professionals, including 6 neurologists who believe that Terri is not in a persistent vegetative state and could be rehabilitated.

11. Those concerned for Terri wonder where is the justice in allowing to continue as guardian one whose only and compelling interest and motivation is to get her dead, one who has demonstrated his unfitness to be guardian by denying her any rehabilitation or even normal humane care in the 13 1/2 years since the money awards were granted, one who will benefit financially by hundreds of thousands of dollars by her death, and for year after year disregarded the state mandated requirements for guardians.

12. All convincing evidence indicates Terri was and had been conscious and aware. To deny a conscious and aware person both water and food until death occurs is to torture that person to death. It is something no caring person would do even to a dog, nor would the state do it to a person found guilty of the most horrendous crimes. To us who have been deeply saddened by the treatment of Terri by the courts, it is no less than legalized torture and legalized murder. In the week before her death, she made attempts to communicate her desire to live, but the judge was unwilling to consider this. In the last days of her life, she was given morphine to lessen the pain she was experiencing. If she had been PVS, what need would there have been for morphine? If death by thirst and starvation is a compassionate means for execution, what need would there be for morphine?

What has our nation come to, to condone such horrors?

What has the Monitor come to, to ignore and misrepresent these underlying facts, indeed, to not have sufficient respect for either justice or truth to investigate sufficiently to gain even a rudimentary awareness of the facts? Five articles! Five reporters, plus additional contributing writers, not to mention editors, publishers, church officials!

Instead of regarding justice or truth or even Terri herself as of any value in Monitor journalism, the five articles deal instead with the affair as a political cause celebre (article 1), the alleged jockeying for position of the political parties (article 2), doubting whether the legislative and executive branches have any legitimate role in rectifying injustice in the courts (article 3), opinions on end-of-life care, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide-- none of which applied to Terri (article 4), and whether the ethical issues (which as distorted by the media didn't apply to Terri either) are merely a matter of opinion (article 5).

Apparently, Terri as a person didn't have any value. Did any of the articles show any interest in, or concern for, Terri herself? No. Is it because everybody at the Monitor and the church swallowed the big lie that she was PVS, plus the many other lies about her? But mightn't someone there have thought to ask why such a host of people, including the President and the leaders of both houses of Congress, would become so concerned about a single person if that person was truly in a persistent vegetative state? The answer to that question, of course, is that she so obviously wasn't, and that therefore all the actions of the courts involved, and all the media support of those actions, based on that lie and the associated lies, were a total outrage and a monstrous perversion of justice.

The headlines on 3/31/05 were that Terri is dead. The whole nation should mourn that our nation has stooped to condone judge ordered murder, and not only murder but murder by torture, and that our courts with media support have deified process and falsehood, and abandoned justice and truth as having any standing or value in our legal system.

Christian Scientists should mourn that our Leader-established Christian Science Monitor has, in this controversy which has convulsed our nation, preferred sophistry and falsehood based on inadequate investigation, to justice and truth. Five front page articles on the subject of Terri Schiavo in the week preceding Easter and her death, and all five were a testament to sophistry and falsehood! And the writers, editors, staff and officials of the church still appear unaware of any deficiency in what they did!

The crowning irony is that Terri was condemned to death and these articles were run in Easter week. In derision of the Christ? Should we call it the crucifixion of Terri? It took her longer to die by the court ordered means of execution than if she HAD been crucified! What has our country come to? Our church? The newspaper founded by our Leader? Does it merit the word Christian in its name?

The day after her death, an editorial from the Christian Science Board of Directors appeared, purporting to be compassionate, but oblivious or unacknowledging that there had been any injustice or falsehood, or that the Monitor had helped to murder an innocent woman. Since the Monitor aided, with the pack, in thwarting the parent's efforts to save their daughter's life, may they, the parents, be expected to view this editorial as compassionate? or hypocritical?

It is too late to save the life of Terri, or to save her the agony she suffered from the means chosen to execute her for the crime of being helpless before the court system, the main stream media, the special interests aligned against her, and the malevolence of her purported husband, his lawyer and the judge. But it is not too late for the Monitor to set the record straight or to make amends for its deficiencies to date in this case.

There are a multiplicity of questions or issues the Monitor could profitably pursue, because brought to the fore by Terri's death. Here are a few examples:

- I believe the 12 points set out above are factual. Should the Monitor find that they prove to be factual -- based upon an investigation of the available public record, and not merely on the opinions expressed in the mainstream media and on the grossly questionable findings in Judge Greer's court -- then wouldn't it be desirable to address the question: "How did the Monitor come to remain so completely ignorant of these points?"

- The implicit assumption that Terri was in a 'persistent vegetative state' ran throughout the five Monitor articles, and through much of the mainstream reporting on the case, and was one of the monstrous falsities on the basis of which she was executed by an agonizing means. This raises a number of questions which deserve to be investigated and aired.

- How could a county probate court judge legally conclude that a woman who was conscious and aware was in a persistent vegetative state?

- How could anyone viewing the photos of Terri frequently shown in the media, regard her as a vegetable, or vegetative, in other words, lacking all consciousness or awareness?

- Does not ordinary common sense tell us that the word vegetative must mean no consciousness, no awareness?

- Do not Florida's statutes define persistent vegetative state, in effect, as a person lacking consciousness or awareness?

- Is it a highly technical question as to whether a person is aware or not aware, conscious or unconscious? If so-called medical experts disagree as to whether a person is in a persistent vegetative state or not, i.e., conscious and aware or not, should not an execution of a person predicated upon that diagnosis, be indefinitely deferred until that difference is satisfactorily resolved? Why would anyone settle a doubt on the side of death immediately, which is irretrievable, unless that one or ones had a hidden agenda which demanded death regardless?

- If Terri could not have been vegetative 13 1/2 years ago when a rehabilitation center assessed her as progressing and recommended advanced therapy, why did so many, including the Monitor, allege that she had been vegetative for 15 years?

- In view of what has happened to Terri, it seems appropriate to ask some questions about the legal system in this country.

- It would also seem appropriate to ask why medical doctors and administrators, as well as professional so-called ethicists condone inflicting death on patients who are conscious and aware by a means so long drawn out and agonizing as death by dehydration and starvation that it can only be called torture, and a means of death that society would refuse to inflict on animals or convicted murderers.

* * * * *

The husband used the law as a screen within which to mistreat and ultimately to torture his wife to death by total deprivation of any water or food for a period of thirteen days. The parents sought help from the courts for a period of 13 1/2 years to restrain the demonstrated malevolence of the husband, but the courts, behind a screen of falsehood, legal process, and judge fiat as to what evidence could be considered and the extent to which state laws could be flouted, supported and implemented that malevolence, that death by extended torture. Note: denying a conscious, aware person of all water and all food until that person is dead, a process taking up to two weeks, can only be deemed to be torture by any intelligent person who takes the time to consider what it would be like to go without a drop of moisture or a crumb of food for even a day, let alone for two weeks or until one is dead. Consider: police were stationed outside her hospice to ensure that not a drop of water could possibly reach Terri. In actual practice, the so-called care givers may give pain killing drugs (as they did in Terri's case) to ease the pain of this so-called painless death, so that in the end it may be arguable whether the victim dies from dehydration, starvation, or from an excess of pain killing drugs. Aren't our 'caring' and 'humane' so-called justice and care-giving systems lovely?

* * * * *

Specifically, what did the Monitor articles communicate?

3/21 article.
Why Schiavo is a cause celebre

Paragraph 1. The words "prolong the life" indicate a bias that this is simply a question whether Terri should live a little longer or less long rather than a question whether Terri should be allowed to live or be compelled to die--be tortured to death by judicial fiat.

Par 2 says the real issue is not justice for Terri, but "a culture of life" political agenda for Republicans and the political war over judicial nominations and activist judges.

Par 3 says the real issue is also "a highly charged mix of religion and politics."

Par 4 says Congress is "overreaching"; does not even consider whether Congress may be desperately trying to avert gross injustice.

Par 5. "...when doctors removed the feeding tube from a brain-damaged woman..." [Ho hum. Apparently an everyday occurrence. No need for context. If she's brain damaged, she must not be a real person.]

Par 7. "Mrs. Schiavo has been diagnosed by doctors as 'in a persistent vegetative state' for the past 15 years." [No apparent awareness on the part of the reporter that this diagnosis was by the court selected doctors, that a significant number of other doctors with impressive experience in the field and time actually spent with Terri have contradicted this diagnosis, nor that the jury that awarded substantial funds for rehabilitation therapy for Terri 13 1/2 years ago could not have regarded her as a vegetable, nor that once the awards were granted, any subsequent therapy for Terri was denied by her so-called guardian/husband. How can the Monitor reporters be so ignorant of the underlying facts of the case?]

Par 8. "For many conservative activists, the Schiavo case is a proxy for expanding a pro-life agenda..." [This view implies expediency if not dishonesty on the part of 'conservative activists'. The view goes beyond, and is not confirmed by, the quote from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, which concludes the paragraph. Will we hear anything about the liberal activists? I doubt it, but why not, since theirs is the hidden agenda that won.]

Par 9. "Physician lawmakers in both the House and Senate disputed the attending physician claims" re a PVS diagnosis. [Unstated are the facts that 1. long prior to the court selected physician diagnosis of PVS, were many reputable physician findings to the contrary, and 2. that the so-called 'attending,' or in more accurate words 'court and husband selected,' physicians have actually spent very little time with Terri, some of them no time at all.]

Par 10. A bias free paragraph. Hurray.

Par 11. Goes back to a jaundiced view of the Republican motivation.

Par 12 and 13. Re Democrat party views.

Par 14 says the case has been extensively litigated and is a "right-to-die" case. The former is only partially true, the latter is false. While the case has frequently been in Judge Greer's court, he has never consented to reexamine his original findings in the case or to consider additional evidence. Nor have reviewing courts looked at any other than the evidence Greer originally admitted to his court or his findings based on that limited evidence. As for its being a right-to-die case, it would more aptly be described as a torture and murder by judicial fiat case. It is a right-to-cause-an-unwanted-spouse-to-die case. The right of a faithless husband and guardian in name only, to cause his wife who is helpless and a threat to him as long as she lives, to die by a horrible means for an aware person, by judicial order based on two lies: 1. that she is PVS which she isn't and has never been, and 2. the alleged recollection by the faithless and vindictive husband years after her collapse that she once said she wouldn't want to be kept alive if severely impaired, and disregarding the fact that she presently wants to live, and could communicate that if allowed to.

Par 16 says the action in Congress is political grandstanding.

So what does Article 1 tell us? That the Monitor sees the case only as politics, and does not see any issues of failure of justice or falsification of truth. Also, that the Monitor itself is, unwittingly we hope, a party to the misrepresentation of the facts, and that the person being tortured to death doesn't really figure in the case at all. The political cartoon in this issue confirms the view that it's just a matter of Congress butting into "people's private personal matters" like husbands torturing their wives to death with the help of lawyers and judges and the media..

2nd article, 3/22
The politics of a life in the balance

Par 1 says the 3/21 action of the US House of Representatives is about politics.

Par 2 says the law in question is of doubtful constitutionality, and is about "the 'culture of life' that is central to the religious conservative ethos." [Since the words 'religious conservative' have become somewhat of a pejorative, it could be asked, why use such a term? But beyond that, do not good hearted people in general become deeply concerned when gross injustice and falsification of fact are manifested? And wouldn't good hearted people in general lean toward a culture of life rather than toward a culture of death? And doesn't using the phrase 'culture of life' in this context throw together into one pot the very distinctly different issues of abortion and of putting the disabled out of their alleged misery?]

Par 3 says Bush rushed back to Washington strictly for political reasons, not for any concern for Terri individually, nor for any willingness to help to rectify injustice. [Why is it so easy for the Monitor to so knowingly ascribe unworthy motivation?]

Par 4. Cites a poll to indicate House members who voted for the law may incur some political cost. But consider how one of the questions in the poll was worded:

As you may know, a woman in Florida named Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her parents and her husband disagree on whether or not she should be kept on life support. In cases like this who do you think should have final say, (the parents) or (the spouse)?

It's a question loaded--worded in such a way as--to yield the answer desired. Which inethical polls do all the time. How is this question loaded? Well, she has never been on life support--she simply uses a feeding tube to eat and drink (and she doesn't really need that). And to say she has no consciousness is the big lie. And as to her condition being irreversible, for 13 1/2 years her so-called guardian/spouse has denied to her therapy which holds promise of improving her condition, including an ability to swallow water and food without the aid of the feeding tube. Consider: she swallows her own saliva. See excerpts below.

Par 5. About polls regarding people in PVS. [What has that to do with Terri since she isn't PVS? Other than to continue the big lie about her, and to convey it as being undisputed fact.]

The next three paragraphs are tainted by the same reasoning based on falsities.

In par 9, the reporter speaks of Senate majority leader Frist as condemning a memo "calling the Schiavo situation 'a great political issue,'" but describes this as sensitivity to charges of politicization, rather than possibly recognition by Frist that the issue is to correct injustice, not to benefit politically at the expense of an unfortunate woman. [Once again the question: why is the Monitor so quick to ascribe unworthy motivation?]

Par 10. More political rumination, but no concern that Terri is at that moment many days into the agonizing process of being judicially compelled to die, against her will, over a period of a couple of weeks, with conscious awareness, by thirsting and starving to death. Meanwhile pagan hypocrites like the so-called husband's main lawyer, who has been enriched by the process to the tune of four hundred thousand dollars plus, enthuse that it is beautiful to watch the death process proceed. Why would the church and Monitor reporters, editors, staff and officials give credence to such perverts, instead of to the thousands of good hearted people of all faiths who have so visibly expressed their deeply felt concern, and who have not, after all found it so difficult to arrive at the true and abominable facts of the case, while the Monitor reporters have not found it worthwhile to do even cursory investigation. The founder of the Monitor says in her Church Manual, "By his works he shall be judged,--and justified or condemned."

Par 11 notes "that the issue has dominated public attention from ... power corridors of Washington to dinner tables around the country," but the reporter has not investigated sufficiently to discern that there is a sense of injustice, indeed, of justice perverted, involved. Yes, and also a sense of falsification of truth, and that these are what has driven the described domination of public attention.

Par 11 also notes that in "the Schiavo case, ... there was no living will ...," but fails to make the connection that that being the case, Terri is being put to death in spite of her presently communicated wishes to live, strictly on the say so of a husband shown to be malevolent by his actions regarding her during the last 13 1/2 years, not so shown of course by his public words, or his carefully crafted public image.

In the next paragraphs, a series of quotes from interviews.

Par 13 includes this fragment from an interview: "...I'm willing to take the word of the medical community that she has no brain function other than instinctual..." [The unaddressed question here is, "What medical community?" The few doctors selected by the husband and Judge Greer and alone accepted for consideration in his court, Dr. Hammesfahr quoted above together with the 14 others of like view, or -- who? Part of the big lie regarding Terri is that there is consensus of medical view that she is in PVS. There isn't a consensus, and she isn't PVS. Incidentally, in this paragraph, the religious right is once again demonized.]

The next three paragraphs (14-16) relate to a doctor of philosophy candidate. His views continue to misrepresent the truth regarding Terri, probably not by conscious intent on his part, but in all likelihood, because he has been misled by the mainstream media, including the Monitor.

"What makes life worth living?" he asks. [In application to Terri, the implication is that her life isn't worth living, and therefore Judge Greer, a county probate judge, has the right to condemn her to die by lack of food and water, even though she, actually, would like to live. Is that a path the Monitor truly would like to see our nation go down? Whereby any county probate judge anywhere can pronounce sentence of death on any person with sufficient disability that the judge deems him or her unworthy of continued life, such death sentence to be accomplished by an inhumane means that we would refuse to apply to animals or condemned murderers, but we deem ok for a person with disability? Do we truly want to follow in the path Hitler pioneered?]

Our aspiring doctor of philosophy says, "In this situation, you have a person who, as far as we can tell, isn't capable of having a relationship." [But the fact of the matter is that she has relationships with various family members and some friends--within the severely limited extent to which the husband who wants her dead has allowed her to have visitors. His rules don't even allow her to leave her room or go outside in beautiful weather. Such truths have been concealed by the big lie perpetrated by the husband, the judge, the euthanasianist lawyer, and a large part of the major news media, including the Monitor. One of the tragedies of this series of five articles, is that throughout, the articles give implied credence to those who tell the lies and want Terri dead, and implied suspicion to those who tell the truth and want her to have the opportunity for life and rehabilitative therapy, which last has been denied her for thirteen plus years.]

He says, "Were our lives intended to be lived in this kind of vegetative state?" [But Terri is not in a vegetative state. He also raises the question of technology. But a feeding tube is far from high technology, she only used it at mealtimes, and there is strong evidence she didn't really need it. See further excerpts below.]

Par 17-23. Five more interviewees, pro and con, with some degree of ambivalence of view, giving an impression of limited knowledge of the underlying facts.

3rd article, 3/23
Who speaks for Terri Schiavo?

First 3 paragraphs simply say both sides in the dispute say they are acting for Terri's best interests, but both can't be right. [True.]

But par 4 claims that what Terri wants is unknowable, and that is part of the big lie, which the reporters (two on this article), have not investigated deeply enough to determine. Terri has been denied therapy to enable her to redevelop her communication ability, and that is a part of the vast injustice which her husband and the courts have perpetrated upon her, and of which these reporters appear oblivious. But even with her limited communication ability, it is obvious to those seeking justice for Terri that she has communicated the desire for help and for life. So here is more perpetuation of the lie by the Monitor, probably unintended. But the reporters and the Monitor are responsible nevertheless, because it reflects the casualness of their investigation and incapacity of their analysis.

Par 5 is about how to characterize the case and the types of groups for and against. But those questions are ultimately irrelevant until the basic issues are put in context. Those basic issues are the falsification of the truth about Terri, and consequently the massive and continuing injustice being done to her by her husband/guardian and the courts.

Par's 6 & 7 are semantic ways of looking at the case, but somewhat irrelevant because flowing from mistaken views based on the lies being promulgated. Shouldn't the Monitor be distinguishing lies from truth, injustice from purported justice, malfeasance masquerading as virtue?

Par 8 says analysts say "the Schiavo case has increasingly divided the country," but then leaves it there. [Without having investigated the underlying facts in the case, it would be difficult to speak constructively about the division of opinion in the country. The one side is trying desperately to correct the lies and avert the monumental wrong about to be consummated by a gravely mistaken court system, taken up with process and mere legality, rather than with truth and justice. The other side is made up of a number of components, perceptive investigation of which could make for some worthwhile reportage.]

Par 9 speaks about right-to-die cases [not applicable to Terri], and lawyers with a right-to-life perspective and their frequent lack of legal standing.

Par 10 says that's the importance of Congress's Schiavo law. It describes what the law did.

Par 11 describes what the Florida courts have done and the failure of the parents to convince them differently. [Is it the parent's fault that the court system trumps justice with process and with the flaunting of avoidance of what the law requires?]

Par 12 cites the dangers some see in the fed action--undermining finality of state court action and interfering in private medical affairs. [Why should anyone have any right to interfere with a judge's ability to murder whom he wishes, including wives of husbands who need to be rid of them?]

Par 13: Felos' (so-called husband's euthanasianist lawyer) viewpoint in brief.

Par 14: Parents lawyers' view: Terri's right to be free from state backed intervention to end her life, plus her RC moral obligation to continue to receive food and water, "even though" through a feeding tube.

Par 15: Bopp of National Legal Center for the Medically Dependent and Disabled: "She has never made what should be a legally cognizable decision to starve herself to death. ... a terribly conflicted husband ... and we should be very skeptical of anything he says." ['Conflicted' meaning multiple conflicts of interest.]

Par 16: parents' view re husband's unfitness as guardian.

Par 17: Bopp that the congress action is necessary.

Par 18: Garrow of Emory Univ. disagrees: "... most thoroughly reviewed & litigated death in Amer history." Says the Fla. courts have properly found that Terri wants to end her life. [Manifest untruths.]

Par 19: Garrow: the action has helped the right-to-die movement. [If 'right to die' means euthanasia, he's correct.]

Par 20: Garrow: Congress miscalculated. "...Americans ... want to be able to make these decisions for themselves." [But of course Terri is not being allowed to make this decision for herself, when it is self-evident from the real evidence that she wants to live. Congress' miscalculation was of the media support of falsity and injustice, and their ability to sway public opinion in that direction.]

Par. 21: Bopp: the case is shining a light on the starvation practice. [Would that there were more adequate light on this pagan, inhumane practice. How can the Monitor be so oblivious?]

Par 22: Meisel of the Univ. of Pittsburgh sees the debate as a setback for right-to-die. "There has been a period of legal development since 1975 ... to terminate life support--incl feeding tubes--for a person in a PVS. This ... will call that into question in doctors' minds." [More theorizing based on the big lie.]

4th article, 3/24.
Around the dinner table, talk of end-of-life care

Par 1. For individual Americans, what would they do? The issues described as end-of-life care, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide. [None of which should apply to Terri, except that she was probably used as a test precedent for euthanasia.]

Par 2. Longer life spans, medical advances, AIDS and Alzheimer's (treatable but incurable) tied in. [None are applicable.]

Par 3. Hospice treatment, living wills, human will and cognizance, what defines a family, quality of life.

Par. 4. On quality of life. [Being made to thirst and starve to death is real quality?]

Par 5-8. Two snapshots outside a Kroger store. 1. doing a living will because doesn't "want somebody hooking me up to a machine", 2. "It's God's purpose ... not for us to decide." More irrelevancies.

Par 9. ABC poll again: 63% support removal of life support. [In all likelihood, based on slanted facts in the question. And why don't they call it by its real name--dehydrating some one to death.]

Par 10. Polling also consistently shows majority supports doctor assisted suicide when incurable and desired, per Newport of Gallup. Although AMA opposed, 57% of doctors: ethical when incurable suffering. [Inapplicable to Terri.]

Par 11-12. Fisher, a doctor: agrees, "But the manner [in Schiavo] is disturbing. I hate to think of someone starving to death. But if they don't want to suffer any more, they should be allowed to die." [Not applicable to Terri. And factually, lack of liquid is more excruciating than lack of food.]

Par 13. About living wills or "durable power of attorney for health care." [But not made applicable to Terri insofar as without either in her case, where's the case for executing her?]

Par 14. Increased interest in how to end one's life and a quote from Humphry, founder of the Hemlock Society. [But Terri did not want to end her life. And neither did Humphry's wife either, if I recall correctly.]

Par 15. Humphry on thousands a year being disconnected from life support systems, and medical ethicists in hospitals. [But food and water is not life support; it is fundamental care without which any other kind of care, even the most rudimental, is pointless.]

Par 16. Beyond Schiavo: euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Par 17. On Oregon's "death with dignity act."

Par 18. On euthanasia: outlawed in US, legal in Netherlands and Belgium.

Par 19-23. Views of 2 people, neither liking the starving to death method, and one: "where there's doubt, the choice should lie with life." [Just a bit of sanity?]

Par 24-26. Rep. Baird: ambivalent, but voted for the bill.

5th article, 3/25.
World divided on ethics of Terri Schiavo case

Par 1. Misleading.

Par 2. "... so-called mercy killing." [Where's the mercy in dehydrating a conscious, aware person that wants to live?]

Par 3. "... doctors are turning off thousands of life-support machines every day behind curtains of ambiguity and confusion, lacking clear legal guidelines." [Terri was on no machines. Husband even denied her dental care or prevention of infection. Still she lived. He couldn't quite seem to get her dead, until the media, including the Monitor, pitched in and helped him.]

Par 4. Euthanasia in Europe.

Par 5. Poor countries without sophisticated machines. [A tube is a machine?]

Par 6. A misleading comment.

Par 7-8. In the world's largest hospital, in S Arica, AIDS is much more pressing. A specialist there: "A lot of resources would be going to maintain a patient like Schiavo..." [Not true.] "...you only have these luxuries where death is a rare thing." [Misleading. Schiavo was not about expense, it was about not being willing to let her live. Parents wanted to take her home and feed her and love her without payment. Hubby and courts and media were not willing to let her live.]

Par 9-10. More comments about African values.

Par 11. The Schiavo twists and turns unfathomable outside US. [What's unfathomable is the resistance to ordinary decency.]

Par 12-13. For family, not courts, in Brazil and France.

Par 14-17. Australia: People mostly go by doctors rec's, but courts ambiguous when get involved. Case of a 75 yr old man in a coma. Another in a heroin induced coma. Recent guidelines ambiguous.

Par 18-19. About India.

Par 20-22. In most Muslim countries, euthanasia is abhorrent. [In the US, it's illegal, but that didn't stop it in the case of Terri.] But a number of modern Islamic scholars, perceiving the feeding tube as a form of useless treatment, would probably decide TS's case in favor of her husband.

Par 23. Russia and an inapplicable case.

Par 24-25. Bland case in Britain. "..a case matching Schiavo's.." [Not true. Feeding tube, yes. PVS, no.]

Par 26. Wyatt case in Britain. Brain damaged baby needing oxygen mask to breathe. [Relevance to Terri? ]

Par 27-31. French case and new law re terminally ill.
30. Comment by Metro.
31. Mirabel: "Doctors have a duty to switch off machines in some circumstances... Respirators can honestly be seen as unreasonable treatment, but feeding is not the same." [A rare bit of common sense.]

Par 32. "...Spanish legislation passed 3 yrs ago, under which Schiavo's doctors would not be allowed to stop feeding her artificially unless she had personally left written instructions to the contrary." Resulted from the case involved in the film 'The Sea Inside.'

33-35. More on the same.

Par 36-37. More Humphry comments (Hemlock Soc.)

Par 38. Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland re euthanasia and assisted suicide.

Par 39. Europe polls and the Catholic Church.

Par 40. Ambiguous Mirabel quote.

* * * * *
Life and Terri Schiavo
Editorial from the CSBoD, 4/1/05
(the day after Terri's death)

* * * * *
Terri's collapse

1. From his report to the Appeals court:

HPI: [history of present illness]

Ms Schiavo was in her usual state of good health until 2/25/90, when her husband reported that he was awakened from sleep approximately 6 Am by her falling.  He reports that she was unresponsive.

Paramedics were called, and aggressive resuscitation was performed with 7 defibrillations en route.

In the Emergency Room, a possible diagnosis of heart attack was briefly entertained, but then dismissed after blood chemistries and serial EKG's did not show evidence of a heart attack.  Similarly, a pulmonary or lung cause of the disorder was ruled out in the Emergency Room after normal blood gases and Chest X-Rays were obtained. The possibility of toxic shock syndrome was also entertained.  The diagnosis of the cause of her condition was unknown. Her admission laboratory studies showed low potassium level, markedly elevated glucose level, and a normal toxic screen without evidence of diet pills or amphetamines.

 The abnormal potassium level and sugar level were found on admission to the Emergency Room and were successfully corrected by the hospital staff over the next several days.  The patient had a difficult hospital course with the development of poorly controlled seizures and prolonged coma state requiring, for a time, ventilator support.  However, the staff noted improvement, and it was recommended by several physicians that she be discharged to an intensive rehabilitation center.

The examination

... The neck exam was abnormal. She had severe limitation of range of motion in the flexion, and to a lesser degree in extension. Indeed, I was able to pick up her entire torso and head and neck area with pressure on the back of her neck... These findings of cervical spasm and limitation of range of motion are consistent with a neck injury.

Spinal Exam: The patient's exam from a spinal perspective is abnormal. The degree of limitation of range of motion, and of spasms in her neck, is consistent with a neck injury.

Interestingly, I have seen this pattern of mixed brain (cerebral) and spinal cord findings in a patient once before, a patient who was asphyxiated. ...

Alertness:  The patient was alert throughout essentially the entire exam. ...

Coma patients cannot direct their gaze to specific things and maintain their gaze on those things regardless of head motion or motion of the object. She can do these things. ...

Impression

The patient is not in coma.

She is alert and responsive to her environment.   She responds to specific people best.

She tries to please others by doing activities for which she gets verbal praise.

She responds negatively to poor tone of voice. 

She responds to music.

She differentiates sounds from voices.

She differentiates specific people's voices from others.

She differentiates music from stray sound.

She attempts to verbalize.

She has voluntary control over multiple extremities

She is partially blind. ...

She can feel pain. ...

She can communicate. ...

ENT [ear, nose and throat]

The patient can clearly swallow, and is able to swallow approximately 2 liters of water per day (the daily amount of saliva generated) .  Water is one of the most difficult things for people to swallow.  It is unlikely that she currently needs the feeding tube. ...

2. Excerpts from a January 7, 2004, Highway 2 Health Internet broadcast interview (from notes by Margaret Juneman):

Terri was admitted into the emergency room with a very, very stiff neck consistent with brand new injury to her neck. Dr. Hammesfahr had seen the combination of injuries Terri suffered (spinal cord injury, brain injury, and neck injury) one other time. That was in an attempted strangulation case. A police report was sent to homicide. There was no follow-up; no investigation by police. Dr. Hammesfahr said Terri's situation is unique. He consistently sees wrong things happen to Terri.

3. From an interview with Hannity & Colmes:

ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Doctor Hammesfahr, I read the medical report. There was a report that when she came into the E.R., she had a rigid neck. Is that consistent with a neck injury?

HAMMESFAHR: Absolutely, yes, it is. They also did X-rays at the emergency room and the X-rays showed straightening of the normal spinal curvature, which is very typical of a new neck injury. ... Right now we have a woman who had a collapse with no known cause. No evidence of infection, heart attack, respiratory failure or anything. The only thing found in the emergency room is a damaged neck.

* * * * *
Bone scan report

From BlogsForTerri: (snippets of the report):

...There are an extensive number of focal abnormal areas of nuclide accumulation of intense type. These include, multiple bilateral ribs, the costovertebral aspects of several of the thoracic vestebral bodies, the L1 vestebral body, both sacrolliac joints, the distal right femoral diaphysis, both knees, and both ankles, right greater than left.

... Correlative radiographs are obtained of the lumbar spine and of the right femur which reveal compression fracture, minor, superior end plate of L1 and shaggy irregular periosteal ossification along the distal femoral diaphysis and metaphysis primarily ventrally. The patient has a history of trauma, most likely the femoral periosteal reaction reflects a response to a subperiosteal hemorrhage and the activity in L1 correlates perfectly with the compression fracture which is presumably traumatic.

... The presumption is that the other multiple areas of abnormal activity also relate to previous trauma...

The significance of the bone scan report is that Teri has no known history of trauma, unless it occurred while living with Michael.

Excerpts from Hammesfahr broadcast interview:

Terri's bone scan revealed Terri was a victim of multiple traumas - doctors were mandated to report it -- [but didn't]. There was no history of trauma prior to her marrying Michael. The fractures had to happen after marrying him. First lumbar vertebra fracture is common when thrown against a table.

* * * * *
Years long court-allowed, inhumane treatment

Heidi Law affidavit, 9/1/03. Heidi was a certified nursing assistant at Palm Gardens, 3/97 to mid summer 97. Excerpts:

"Michael ordered that Terri receive no rehabilitation or range of motion therapy. ... I & Olga would give Terri range of motion anyway, but we knew we were endangering our jobs by doing so. ... Terri had very definite likes and dislikes ... Every day Terri was gotten up after lunch and sat in a chair all afternoon. When Terri was in bed she very much preferred to lie on her right side and look out the window. ... Initially she clammed up with me, the way she would with anyone she didn't know or was not familiar or comfortable with. It took about the the 4th or 5th time taking care of her alone, without Olga, that Terri became relaxed and cooperative and non-resistant with me. ... At least 3 times during my 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 once saw her gag. On 3 or 4 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. On one occasion Michael Schiavo arrived with his girlfriend, and they entered Terri's room together.  I heard Michael tell his girlfriend that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state and was dying.  After they left, Olga told me that Terri was extremely agitated and upset, and wouldn't react to anyone.  When she was upset, which was usually the case after Michael was there, she would withdraw for hours.  We were convinced that he was abusing her, and probably saying cruel, terrible things to her because she would be so upset when he left. In the past, I have taken care of comatose patients, including those in PVS. While it is true that those patients will flinch or make sounds occasionally, they don't do it as a conscious reaction to someone on a constant basis who is taking care of them, the way I saw Terri do. I witnessed a priest visiting Terri a couple of times.  Terri would become quiet when he prayed with her.  She couldn't bow her head because of her stiff neck, but she would still try. ... The Palm Gardens staff, myself included were just amazed that a 'do not resuscitate' order had been placed on Terri's chart, considering her age and her obvious cognitive awareness of her surroundings. ... During the time I cared for Terri, she formed words. I have heard her say 'mommy' from time to time, and 'momma', and she also said 'help me' a number of times. She would frequently make noises like she was trying to talk. Other staff members talked about her verbalizations. ... I was told by supervisory staff that Michael was Terri's legal guardian, and that it didn't matter what the parents or the doctors or nurses wanted, just do what Michael told you to do or you will lose your job.  Michael would override the orders of the doctors and nurses to make sure Terri got no treatment.  Among the things that Terri was deprived of by Michael's orders were any kind of testing, dental care or stimulation.  I was ordered by my supervisors to limit my time with Terri.  I recall telling my supervisor that Terri seemed abnormally warm to the touch.  I was told to pull her covers down, rather than to take her temperature.  As far as I know, Terri never left her room.  The only stimulation she had was looking out the window and watching things, and the radio, which Michael insisted be left on one particular station.  She had a television, and there was a sign below it saying not to change the channel.  This was because of Michael's orders. ...when Terri would get a UTI [urinary tract infection] or was sick, Michael's mood would improve."

Carla Iyer affidavit. Carla was employed at Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center from April 1995 to July 1996, while Terri Schiavo was a patient there. The affidavit is brief, and the whole is worth reading. Same regarding the affidavit by Carolyn Johnson.

Further excerpts from Hammesfahr broadcast interview, 1/7/04:

At first, Terri had physical therapy, rehabilitation, and speech therapy. Electrodes were planted in her brain stem. A month or two later, she was more responsive. She got better with rehabilitation. She spoke appropriately at times, saying such things as, "I am hungry."

When electrodes are implanted, there needs to be follow up because the electrodes could be the source of possible infection and hydrocephalus. If there is no follow up, one is risking further injury. No follow-up was given. 

Dr. Hammesfahr said he never has seen so many people and institutions fail someone in so many ways.

Judge Greer would not allow an eye examination, even though she is legally blind. She can only see objects 12 to 18 inches away.

[ Lisa's note : Terri would be more responsive with eyeglasses. Of course such increased responsiveness would conflict with the judge's "finding" that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, so Terri is not permitted any help with her visual difficulties.] [Lisa is Lisa Ruby of Liberty to the Captives web site.]

She is isolated even though her condition demands sensory input. 

[ Lisa's note: Michael Schiavo's insistence upon Terri being (illegally) kept in isolation is all for the purpose of making her appear as "vegetative" as they possibly can. Even with such outrageous abuse, Terri is still much too responsive for the euthanasia planners' comfort level. ]

Terri's medical records, which are legal documents, were falsified. Detailed records of Terri's responsiveness were thrown away. Nurses who were not even on duty wrote fraudulent reports as though they had been caring for Terri.

[ Lisa's note : Truth is an enemy when a "persistent vegetative state" agenda is being imposed on a person who is not in such a state.] 

Why is it that Terri has to prove herself worthy of living? This is against the law in Florida. She is not in a persistent vegetative state. She is not terminal, even though she has been (illegally) in a hospice.

(If the judge were to order a swallowing test, strict care would be needed to ensure Terri were not sedated to the point she could not swallow. ) [Statements in parentheses were by Mararet Juneman]

[ Lisa's note : Excellent point. Terri could be sedated at times it is "crucial" for her to appear as "vegetative" as possible, such as during examinations.

(This is not about letting her die because she is not dying. This is about deliberately killing her: Murder.)

[ Lisa's note: This is about seeking to murder Terri Schiavo, but it is more. It is a crucial test to see how much euthanasia conditioning the American people have already succumbed to. The euthanasia planners have broken laws, manipulated Terri's care and records to cause her to appear as "vegetative" as possible, and aided and abetted Michael in committing felonies, in order to try to have a targeted individual killed.

Notes by the interviewer in the above broadcast interview:

WILLIAM HAMMESFAHR, MD was interviewed Wednesday night on Highway2health.net by Ron Panzer, President of Hospice Patients Alliance. Dr. Hammesfahr is board certified in neurology and pain management. He has spent many hours directly with Terri Schiavo and reviewed the medical records directly. Dr. Hammesfahr unequivocally stated that Terri is absolutely NOT in a persistent vegetative state and definitely responds to instructions from those around her, that she makes choices and shows decision-making ability in how she responds. 

Dr. Hammesfahr stated that the medical record was in a state of shambles when it was given, that it was out of order by date and that much of the medical record was never given to the Schindlers or Dr. Hammesfahr! NEVER! Dr. Hammesfahr stated that there are notes in the medical record by nurses who were NOT working at the time they stated they were caring for Terri. Also, Dr. Hammesfahr stated that parts of the medical record were completely missing! Dr. Hammesfahr explained that Terri's blood sugar level upon admission to the hospital was about 400 (373). When asked why it would be that high, since Terri was NOT and is not a diabetic, Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that the emergency medical technicians who arrived by ambulance probably gave Terri D-5-W, a dextrose in water solution. Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that EMTs would check a patient's blood glucose level as part of their routine, when assessing a patient like Terri who had collapsed. The only reason they would give D-5-W would likely be that they discovered upon testing Terri, that her blood sugar was LOW at the time of the collapse. Since Terri was not HYPO-glycemic and was not diabetic, a POSSIBLE explanation for Terri having LOW blood sugar at the time of her collapse is that she may have been injected with insulin. 

Noted, of course, was the sworn AFFIDAVIT/testimony of a nurse who cared for Terri later on in the early 1990s, that Terri was found shaking, pale and agitated after a visit by Michael Schiavo. In that nurse's affidavit, the nurse stated that she found a vial of insulin in Terri's PRIVATE room. Since Terri did not have diabetes, there would be no reason for a vial of insulin to be in the garbage can in her room at the nursing home. Dr. Hammesfahr and I agreed that we had never seen any nurse or physician bring a vial of insulin into a patient's room when administering insulin. The standard of practice is to prepare a medication beforehand at the nurse's station, note what medication is given in the medication administration record, and then bring the syringe with the insulin in it to the patient, but NOT the vial. 

That a vial of insulin was found in Terri's room is not normal practice even if Terri were getting insulin, but she was NOT and never was on insulin! Dr. Hammesfahr explained that, although Michael Schiavo admits to "shaking Terri up" Terri's injuries and condition are not explainable due to anyone shaking her head ... that her clinical condition would have been different if that was the sole cause of her brain injury. Dr. Hammesfahr stated that the type of injury and clinical condition Terri had at the time of her collapse could be explained by a possible strangulation attempt and/or an insulin injection combined with some form of attack or trauma. 

Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that no police investigation was done to look into Terri's condition, even after a bone scan (13 months after her collapse) revealed multiple TRAUMA and broken bones. Dr. Hammesfahr stated that the broken bones could NOT be explained by any form of bone disease, that these were ABSOLUTELY broken bones and that it must have been done through trauma, injury to her. Dr. Hammesfahr said that other physicians had also come to the same conclusion. Dr. Hammesfahr stated that Michael Schiavo kept these bone scans and other medical records secret for over a DECADE. [They were only released in 2002!] 

Dr. Hammesfahr revealed that not only has Terri NEVER had a heart attack as widely reported in the major media, she also NEVER even had a cardiac arrest (her heart never stopped)! [she had arhythmias of the heart but not a "stopped heart."] He explained that Terri's injuries were multiple and showed injury TO her. He stated that Terri had marked injury to her neck which still exists today, and that he has only seen a similar injury, with spinal cord involvement as well as brain injury, in one case where a patient had been strangled. He stated that Terri had an L-1 injury to her spine, which he stated is common among persons being thrown against a table, for example. Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that Terri could talk and was improving in the very first year when she was getting some rehabilitation (BEFORE Michael got the money), and that the medical records confirm, that after Michael got the money, rehabilitation was completely stopped! 

Dr. Hammesfahr revealed that in the early years, Terri had had a very small device surgically implanted into her brain to provide therapeutic very low dosages of electrical stimulation to the brain, which could help Terri, and which DID help Terri when it was first started. However, after Michael got the money, Michael did not allow further attempts to help Terri in this way. In addition, Dr. Hammesfahr explained that the device (or any device) implanted, would normally be carefully monitored so that no infection would occur and no harm come to the patient. However, in Terri's case that was not done and has not been done. 

Dr. Hammesfahr revealed that Terri has at least 75% functional brain tissue and that the stories circulating in the media about a head full of fluid "only" are totally false. He has had patients with less brain function doing much more than Terri is doing, and Dr. Hammesfahr believes that Terri is being kept to a lower level of function by her being denied opportunities to do anything, have any rehabilitation, and that her improvement is being sabotaged by her being kept in isolation, with very few visitors or other input. Dr. Hammesfahr revealed that Larry King had suggested to Michael Schiavo that he let Mr. King's news crew go in to film Terri, to settle once and for all what Terri's condition is, and that Michael REFUSED!

Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that Terri has been sedated at various periods of time and that the sedation of Terri would make Terri less responsive, especially during an examination by physicians who would try to see what her condition was. He explained that physician assessments of Terri made when she was sedated would necessarily NOT be accurate, that they would UNDERestimate her level of cognition and abilities. Dr. Hammesfahr also revealed that Terri suffers from some hydrocephalus, or fluid buildup in the brain. This is a serious condition that must be treated to avoid further damage to the brain. Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that Michael has NOT allowed Terri to be treated for her hydrocephalus. [This is in violation of Florida guardian laws]

Dr. Hammesfahr, whose field is neurology, explained that an EEG (electro-encephalograph reading) test which did not show much brain activity was BOGUS! because it was done after Terri had been transported to a facility for the testing and Terri had been restless at the time, moving around quite a bit. Muscular movement during an EEG produces readings on the EEG which must be filtered out. Dr. Hammesfahr explained that by "filtering out" the EEG activity Terri had due to the muscular movements, those filtering that activity out had also filtered out Terri's brain activity. In other words, the EEG done was worthless because it was not properly done and several doctors have agreed with that. 

Dr. Hammesfahr pointed out that Terri was also tested with balloons to see if she would follow the balloon with her eyes and head when instructed to do so. Dr. Hammesfahr pointed out that Terri did follow the balloons when instructed, and that she did so, even though turning her head far enough to the side caused her pain. He pointed out that reflex actions are usually to avoid pain, but in Terri's case she turned her head into painful positions in order to follow the instructions of the physician testing her. Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that several experts in neurology agree that Terri could improve, can improve and that everything that should be done for her is NOT being done. In fact, Dr. Hammesfahr confirmed that the isolation and deliberate removal of all stimulation from Terri is harming Terri, depriving her of the input and stimulation which would help her reach a higher cognitive level and ability. He stated that Terri should be getting much exposure to sights, sounds and other forms of rehabilitation. 

Dr. Hammesfahr explained that Dr. Ronald Cranford (who testified for Michael Schiavo and George Felos' side - the right to die agenda) ... that Dr. Cranford was NOT a neurologist and was not an expert in the field. Also, that Dr. Cranford spent less than ONE hour with Terri totally! Yet the court relied on Dr. Cranford's testimony, rather than several other neurologists, including Dr. Hammesfahr. [The court was not gathering information in order to rule based on fact, it was simply following an agenda.] 

Dr. Hammesfahr explained that as a physician and a person, he is outraged at the mistreatment Terri is receiving and that the denial of rehabilitation for Terri violates the standards of medical practice!

* * * * *
The Scientology connection

There appear to be numerous indications of such a connection, and this connection explains many things in Terri's case that otherwise seem unexplainable.

The 'Liberty to the Captives' web site lists 59 articles on different aspects of the connection. I will append quotes from a few of these articles below, together with the name of the article, and a reader if interested can then readily go to the context of those quotes, or to other of the 59 articles.

Scientology and Terri Schindler Schiavo: The Death Connection

Scientology is a network of corporations, individual entities, associations and companies composed of members who have dedicated themselves to promote, support, and defend the late L. Ron Hubbard's teachings and goals. The aims of the Scientology New World Order network include using their "spiritual technology" to structure society so that the able can prosper...

Do Scientologists, who favor death rather than disability, play a significant role in the Terri Schiavo case? I believe the answer is "Yes." Clearwater Florida, especially downtown Clearwater, is Scientology's worldwide spiritual headquarters and main training ground. The Flag Service Organization, located in Clearwater, provides the highest level of Scientology training and is the largest single Scientology "church" in the world! Scientology brochures claim that Clearwater Florida has the "largest community of Scientologists in the world."

Many Florida politicians and government officials have an accommodative relationship with Scientology.

Florida law mandates that Terri Schiavo receive rehabilitation to help her regain her abilities to the maximum extent possible, but the Pinellas County Court judges have consistently ruled against the law and in favor of Michael Schiavo's lawless agenda throughout the case. ...the judges in this Clearwater case are violating Florida guardian law statutes and permitting Michael to commit felonies in a years-long effort to accomplish a public euthanasia precedent.

Michael Schiavo does not necessarily have to be a Scientologist simply because he commits felonies regarding his guardianship duties. However, Michael's employment of Scientology tech against his incapable wife and his complete confidence that the Pinellas County Court system will protect him while he continually and flagrantly breaks Florida laws strongly suggest that he is involved in Scientology. The fact that he has never received any punishment for abusing, exploiting and neglecting a disabled adult indicates that someone or rather some organization which largely enjoys "above the law" status in  Clearwater Florida is pulling legal strings on his behalf —and has been doing so for years.

The fair game policy is used on anyone the Scientology organization deems an enemy:

ENEMY SP Order. Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.

Terri Schindler Schiavo, a woman that Scientologists consider to be a "wog" of the incapable kind, is definitely "fair game." She is not a Scientologist and she is legally married to a man who shares L. Ron Hubbard's philosophy in at least one crucial area: desiring death over disability. Michael Schiavo's illegal pursuit of Terri's death instead of her rehabilitation is also in line with L. Ron Hubbard's diabolical value system. 

Wog , a derogatory and racist term the cult co-opted from British slang, and now uses to derogate people outside of Scientology's purview.

Hubbard considered handicapped people, and especially mentally handicapped people to be degraded beings, suffering from their transgressions in earlier lifetimes.

THE "RULE OF TERRI'S CASE" has struck again. The term was coined by Pat Anderson, attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents Bob and Mary Schindler, who complained: "If following a legal procedure will likely result in Terri dying, it will be adhered to. But if a procedure could make that outcome more difficult to attain, it will not be followed."

Anderson's complaint has ample evidentiary support. For example, under Florida law, Terri should have a court-appointed guardian ad litem to exclusively represent her interests. But, Judge George Greer, of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, refused to allow one for Terri in the guardianship case ever since her first ad litem was dismissed after recommending that she not be dehydrated to death.

The "RULE OF TERRI'S CASE" is a declaration that Terri's case is being handled altogether differently from any other case in its category. Florida law has taken a backseat to the real power behind the rulings in this case!

Scientology, The Clearwater Bar Association, and Judge Greer

The Clearwater Bar Association is delighted with Judge Greer's performance in this particular case. They presented the John U. Bird award to the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit judge on Friday, May 14, 2004. This prestigious award, which is the Clearwater bar's highest honor for a judge, was granted to Judge Greer for the way he has handled himself while overseeing the Terri Schiavo case!

Robert Dickinson III, the outgoing president of the Clearwater Bar Association, cited Judge Greer's handling of the Terri Schiavo case in terms of "passing the test":

"Rarely is a person's mettle and faith tested in such a strenuous and public way as this gentleman's has been over the last few years," Robert Dickinson III said. "Rarely do mortals pass the test with such flying colors."

The Clearwater Bar Association lauded Judge Greer's consistent practice of upholding Scientology doctrines over and above Florida law! The "test" that Robert Dickenson III alluded to is the euthanasia test case.

Greer is "passing the test" with flying colors because he is permitting Michael Schiavo to abuse, exploit and neglect his disabled wife in defiance of the Florida statues. And the Clearwater Bar Association cheers.

Scientology Doctrine:  Michael Schiavo Removed Terri From Society

Michael Schiavo's determination to isolate his disabled wife from the world—and her family as much as possible— has perplexed and distressed most Americans because it is unnatural and cruel. It is not, however, out of the ordinary or improper in the sight of Scientologists, who follow the teachings of the founder—the  late L. Ron Hubbard. 

L. Ron Hubbard taught that disabled people ... should not be allowed to mix with society. His teachings... contain a doctrine about the deletion of people who are deemed "unworthy."

Hubbard's rationale for teaching his followers to reject the disabled is as follows:  "The only answers would seem to be the permanent quarantine of such persons from society to avoid the contagion of their insanities and the general turbulence which they bring into any order." 

Judge Greer and Attorney Gibbs: Death Order Doublespeak

Many of us are becoming aware that the elderly and incapacitated are being quietly eliminated in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices via the removal of their feeding tubes. Some are being denied regular food and water even though they have the ability to ingest it. These killings are being done "quietly" because withholding naturally ingested food and water is against the law in all 50 states. Presently no judge in the United States of America can cite any statute that renders him the authority to order the death of a person who is not a death-row inmate. Furthermore, there is no Florida law that states that an incapacitated person may be denied  regular food and water. To the contrary, the Florida statutes prohibit such an act.

Judge George W. Greer is well aware of that and has never issued a court order to withhold regular food and water... until now.

Death Order Doublespeak: Years of Preparation

...Judge Greer's Feb. 11, 2000 original order to remove Terri's feeding tube The phrase used ... was "artificial life support."

Next we'll look at Judge Greer's November 22, 2002 court order:

FURTHER ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Michael Schiavo, as Guardian of the Person of Theresa Marie Schiavo, shall withdraw or cause to be withdrawn the artificial life-support (hydration and nutrition tube) from Theresa Marie Schiavo at 3:00 p.m. on January 3, 2003.

The phrase in parentheses, "hydration and nutrition tube," was used to define artificial life-support. The general public was slowly being indoctrinated to the idea that artificial life-support now includes the simple feeding tube.

In the September 17, 2003 court order, the nutrition and hydration tube was not defined as "artificial life-support." The phrase "nutrition and hydration tube" stood alone.

It took years of media doublespeak and "court-ordered starvation" headlines to condition the public to believe that a judge has the authority to order the withholding of all forms of nourishment from a human being in the United States of America. Judge Greer finally did what the media and Terri's Law paved the way for him to do: He ordered the removal of Terri's nutrition and hydration:

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that absent a stay from the appellate courts, the guardian, Michael Schiavo, shall cause the removal of nutrition and hydration, from the Ward, THERESA SCHIAVO, at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2005.

Judge Greer does not have the authority to defy the Florida statutes and issue a legally valid order to remove Terri's regular food and water, which is included in the phrase, "nutrition and hydration." However, if the general public—especially the citizens of Clearwater, Florida—treats this order as though it was legal and carries it out, then not only will Terri die as a result of an illegal court order, but case law (law based on judicial precedent rather than statutes) would be established by this precedent.

Greer's New Order Deems Terri's Ability to Swallow Irrelevant

Judge Greer's February 25, 2005 order is not confined to people with feeding tubes, people on "artificial life support," or people receiving medical treatment. Judge Greer's order is not focused exclusively on the segment of the population that cannot swallow food and thus needs "assisted" nutrition and hydration. 

Rather, Judge George Greer's order is an unprecedented call for the withholding of all forms of food and water from Terri Schiavo! It is a matter of court record that Terri can swallow... Terri is being dehydrated because Judge Greer issued a BRAND NEW and Hemlock-Society-approved court order that is not confined to individuals who need feeding tubes to sustain their lives.  Judge Greer's February 25, 2005 order is not confined to people with feeding tubes, people on "artificial life support," or people receiving medical treatment. Judge Greer's order is not focused exclusively on the segment of the population that cannot swallow food and thus needs "assisted" nutrition and hydration. 

(It is no wonder Judge Greer refused to permit Terri to have a swallow test. Terri's ability to swallow is irrelevant when one reads the wording of his brand new court order!)

If Judge Greer's illegal order is carried out to the point of Terri's death, then case law would be achieved and the door would be opened for judges to withhold regular food and water from any person they choose to inflict this fate upon—whether he or she can swallow or not. 

The media is silent about Judge Greer's new order. They do not inform the public that Greer's new order does not call for the removal of medical treatment and thus has nothing to do with Terri's so-called wishes for the removal of medical treatment.

Dozens of people, including children, have been arrested for attempting to obey Florida law and bring a cup of water to Terri's bedside:

Two articles in the North Country Gazette website tell about "the attorney who allegedly committed the fatal error in the Schiavo case, the basis for the denial of all future appeals which sounded the death knell for Terri Schiavo..."

"Pamela A.M. Campbell who represented Mary and Bob Schindler Sr. during the January, 2000 trial which resulted in the initial verdict of their daughter's legalized homicide will be one of three lawyers honored [1/21/06] by the [St. Petersburg] Bar Foundation as 'lawyers who make a difference.'

"Many critics have charged that Campbell's inexperience and errors at the January, 2000 trial as well as Campbell's failure to do the proper pre-trial preparation and present expert medical witnesses cost Terri Schiavo her life. A review of the record and the relationships involved indicate that Campbell was ethically prohibited from even representing the Schindlers.

The article describes the multiple conflicts of interest by several lawyers and judges in the various judicial proceedings in Terri's long drawn out case.

The second article, "Political Payback" [9/28/06] lays in more detail.

" Pamela A.M. Campbell ... has been named to the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court by Gov. Jeb Bush where she will now sit alongside Judge George W. Greer, Schiavo executioner; Mark Shames, Schindler betrayer; and John Lenderman, brother of Martha Lenderman, George Felos compadré and fellow hospice board member. ...

"Although he [was] empowered to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate numerous allegations of wrongdoing in the Schiavo case, Gov. Jeb Bush ... steadfastly refused to do so. ...

"She not only lost the case at trial, but the egregious trial error that she committed, stating in her opening statement that ''We do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state",was the basis for the Schindlers to lose in every other court all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Once a case is tried and decision made on the merits, it is virtually impossible to have the decision reversed on appeal. Appellate courts review the merits of the case, not the credibility of the witness and thus when Greer ruled that Michael Schiavo's self-serving hearsay testimony was credible that Terri would not want to be kept alive, the die was cast for a denial at every appellate level."

"Campbell stated during her opening statement at trial that Terri was in a persistent vegetative state instead of presenting legal arguments and witnesses which would have shown that she was not PVS but rather in a minimally conscious state, alert of her surroundings and responsive.

"Campbell made virtually no attempt to impeach Michael Schiavo's testimony at trial or that of Scott and Joan Schiavo, to show the blatant discrepancies and false statements that Schiavo had made under oath previously nor did she attempt to block the self-serving hearsay testimony of Schiavo and his family members about Terri's purported death wish. Self-serving hearsay is inadmissible by law but Campbell never challenged it.

"During the trial, after Schiavo's brother Brian Schiavo had sat in the courtroom for three days, listening to the testimony of the other witnesses rather than being sequestered outside the courtroom, when Felos called Brian Schiavo to the witness stand, Campbell never objected. It was only after a public outcry by the people the in the courtroom that Brian Schiavo was prohibited from testifying on behalf of his brother.

"And when Felos harassed and badgered Mary Schindler on the witness stand, confusing her and eliciting conflicting testimony, Campbell never objected.

"Many of the alleged "facts" presented by Schiavo attorney George Felos at trial are in dispute but there was no opposition to their admission at trial by Campbell and virtually no attempts were made to impeach Schiavo's witnesses. Felos was allowed to enter testimony into the record for which no proper foundation had been laid, at times leading even Judge Greer to incredulously ask Campbell if she wasn't going to object.

"Although only medically qualified experts can render medical opinions at trial, Michael Schiavo freely testified to Terri's medical condition without being properly qualified but Campbell didn't object. Michael Schiavo was no expert medical witness.

"She didn't object to leading questions posed to Schiavo by Felos and consistently failed to object to hearsay testimony including Schiavo's testimony that none of the doctors had ever informed him about treatment options. Such hearsay is not admissible as the alleged doctors were not available for cross examination. On pages 45 and 46 of the trial testimony, Schiavo offers totally unqualified medical opinion to which Campbell never objected.

Q. Do you know of any treatment method or drug or thing that can be done which will improve Terri's condition?

A. No. I don't.

Q. Has any doctor informed you there is any treatment method, drug or thing that can be done to improve Terri's condition?

A. No.

The Fight Against Coercive Tactics web site has an article on Scientology's foolproof method of judge tampering. The steps, described in detail in the article, are: Step 1: Collect information necessary to blackmail the judge, Step 2: Reveal damaging information to the judge without putting Scientology at risk for tampering, Step 3: Entrapment.

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Autopsy report

The following appeared on NewsMax.com, Sunday, June 19, 2005, under the heading: "Doctor: Schiavo Autopsy Conclusions Flawed."

Dr. William Hammesfahr, nominated for a Nobel Prize for his work in medicine, has been recognized by agents for Medicare, the federal government, and others for new approaches to helping the brain injured.

Dr. Hammesfahr has been credited with helping patients with chronic brain injuries from many causes actually leave long-term disability and return to work.

Dr. Hammesfahr was identified as the first physician to restore deficits caused by stroke.

Dr. Hammesfahr has released the following statement in response to the autopsy report on Terri Schindler Schiavo:

We have seen a lot on the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo in recent days, that I feel needs to be addressed. To ignore these comments will allow future 'Terri Schiavo's' to die needlessly after the wishes of clinicians and family are ignored.

Considering that there were so many physicians and therapists who were willing to step forward to treat Terri Schiavo, from university based practitioners to those in private practice, it clearly shows that the mainstream medical community across the board, those involved in treating patients, knew that they could help Terri.

The record must be set straight. As we noted in the press, there was no heart attack, or evident reason for this to have happened (and certainly not of Terri's making). Unlike the constant drumbeat from the husband, his attorneys, and his doctors, the brain tissue was not dissolved, with a head of just spinal fluid. In fact, large areas were "relatively preserved."

The purpose of the therapies offered by so many, from major universities, brain injury centers, and from private practice physicians, is to improve and restore quality of life, and function, which the mainstream medical community clearly tried to get to her.

I have had a chance to look at Dr. Nelson's analysis of the brain tissue, and essentially, as a clinician, these are my thoughts.

The autopsy results confirmed my opinion and Dr. Maxfield's opinions, that the frontal areas of the brains, the areas that deal with awareness and cognition were relatively intact. To use Dr. Nelson's words, "relatively preserved." In fact, the relay areas from the frontal and front temporal regions of the brain, to the spinal cord and the brain stem, by way of the basal ganglia, were preserved, thus the evident responses which she was able to express to her family and to the clinicians seeing her or viewing her videotape. The Spect scan confirmed these areas were functional and not scar tissue, and that was apparently also confirmed on Dr. Nelson's review of the slides. Dr. Maxfield's estimates of retained brain weight were apparently accurate, although there may have been some loss of brain weight due to the last two weeks of dehydration.

Dr. Maxfield and myself both emphasized that she was a woman trapped in her body, similar to a child with cerebral palsy, and that was borne out by the autopsy, showing greater injury in the motor and visual centers of the brain. Obviously, the pathologists comments that she could not see were not borne out by reality, and thus his assessment must represent sampling error. The videotapes clearly showed her seeing, and even Dr. Cranford, for the husband, commented to her that, when she could see the balloon, she could follow it with her eyes as per his request.

That she could not swallow was obviously not borne out by the reality that she was swallowing her saliva, about 1.5 liters per day of liquid, and the clinical swallowing tests done by Dr. Young and Dr. Carpenter. Thus, there appears to be some limitations to the clinical accuracy of an autopsy in evaluating function.

With respect to the issue of trauma, that certainly does not appear to be answered adequately. Some of the types of trauma that are suspected were not adequately evaluated in this assessment. Interestingly, both myself and at least one neurologist for the husband testified to the presence of neck injuries. The issue of a forensic evaluation for trauma, is highly specialized. Hence the wish of the family to have observers which was refused by the examiner.

Ultimately, based on the clinical evidence and the autopsy results, an aware woman was killed. s/Dr. W. Hammesfahr

[Dr. Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1999. The nomination was for work started in 1994. In 2000, this work resulted in approval for the first patent in history granted for the treatment of neurological diseases including coma, stroke, brain injury, cerebral palsy, hypoxic injuries and other neurovascular disorders with medications that restore blood flow to the brain. It was extended to treat successfully disabilities including ADD, ADHD, dyslexia, Tourette's and autism as well as behaviorally and emotionally disturbed children, seizures and severe migraines.]

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If comments or questions, you can call or email Paul at
(978) 274 2148, or
paul@duncansbeemers.com