Money Grab

I missed this last week, but I think it's worth noting, especially for all those who believed that Michael Schiavo and his Right to Kill team cared about Terri's wishes and that they were driven by their desire to see to it that what she wanted was carried out. There were supposedly no motives behind their efforts other than love and devotion for Terri. Certainly not money.

At BlogsforTerri, Richard posted the following:

May 25, 2005

Michael got Terri's estate awarded to him by Greer on THE DAY TERRI DIED.

A few short hours later...The mourning husband, so destroyed and inconsolable....went straight for the money.

Terri Schiavo's Estranged Husband Granted Estate on Day She Dies
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 23, 2005

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's estranged husband Michael wasted no time in pursuing what was left of Terri's estate after she passed away on March 31. The disabled woman died after suffering from a painful 13 day starvation and dehydration.Terri died just after 9:00 a.m. on the morning of the 31st and court papers filed with Circuit Court Judge George Greer show Michael's attorneys filed the estate request just hours later.

By 1:35 p.m., Greer had ruled in Michael's favor to receive Terri's estate.
However, the Empire Journal newspaper reports that Greer's estate order had one major flaw. It erroneously declared Michael Schiavo, not Terri, died that day.

"Not only have the bar associations of West Pasco, Clearwater and St. Petersburg lauded Greer for his alleged professionalism in the case, but Greer claims to be a stickler for the law," the Empire Journal wrote regarding the matter.

"However, in the Schiavo case not only couldn't Greer get the name of the decedent right, but he had the wrong date of death too," the newspaper wrote. "So much for professionalism."

Michael claimed -- years after Terri's collapse and only after their estate was awarded a $1.4 million medical malpractice judgment -- that he remembered a supposed conversation where Terri indicated she didn't want extra measures taken to prolong her life.

However, a good friend of Terri's vividly remembers watching a television program with Terri about a woman who was in a coma for years. Terri was upset when she told a joke about the woman and said there was no way doctors or lawyers could know the woman's wishes.

"Where there is life, there is hope," Terri told her friend.

The money was supposed to be used to take care of Terri, but much of it was used for Michael's legal bills and her parents say Terri has never received appropriate medical care or rehabilitative therapy.