Michael Schiavo: Judging a Life to be Worthless

Matt Lauer's interview with Michael Schiavo and his new wife aired tonight on Dateline.

I was rather surprised at Lauer's questioning. I expected him to go even easier on Schiavo than he did.

Although it was mostly softball stuff and he was sympathetic to Schiavo, there were a few moments when Lauer actually challenged him.

One instance--Transcript

Lauer: Take me through the final hour or so of Teri's life.

This is a sloppy transcript. NBC misspells TERRI'S name several times.
Schiavo: It was really peaceful, Matt. As night fell, we had a candle going. And there were some flowers in the room and some soft music.

That's the exact same choice of words that Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, used last year when he kept announcing to the press how beautiful Terri's dying was. "Peaceful," "flowers," and "soft music."

Dying of dehydration is horrible. There aren't enough flowers or soft music in the world to change the fact that Schiavo was subjecting Terri to a death that dogs in Florida are protected from experiencing. Florida law demands that animals are euthanized more humanely.
Lauer: Did you talk to her?

Schiavo: I caressed her head, caressed her arms, and told her it was okay.

Lauer: Okay to go?

Schiavo: Uh-huh. And about 7 a.m., we got a phone call that her brother and sister wanted to come in and see her. So we left the room. And I'd say, about quarter of nine, they came and said, "If you wanna see Teri, you got to come now."

But there would be one more ugly family face-off. Terri's brother bobby was still at the hospice telling the police officer providing security that he wanted to come back to Terri's room for a final goodbye. Bobby Schindler said he just wanted to say goodbye to his sister, and Michael said no.

Schiavo: I had seconds to go say goodbye to my wife. I didn't have time to sit there and say, "Bobby, are you gonna come in here and you're gonna behave? You're not going to sit there and get all crazy on me? Bobby, are we going to have to bring a cop in here to watch you?" I didn't have time for that, Matt. I had time to say goodbye to my wife.

Lauer: I have to tell you, it was the hardest thing for me to come to terms with. I thought to myself, these two families have gone at each other for 15 years.

Schiavo: But Matt, this man, her brother—

Lauer: I know. But I thought, at the moment that she would slip away from this earth, why couldn't these two families take one deep breath together? And then say, "We'll disagree in five minutes. But let's usher her out together.”

Schiavo: I didn't want a police officer standing over her head— not when she died. I didn't want the animosity. I didn't want the feelings. I didn't want the aura that, you know, Bobby and I, you know, we hate each other.

Lauer: Do you think, Michael, in that last minute, Bobby's in the hallway... he wants to come in, her brother. You're walking into the room. Did you stop and think, "What would Teri want?" Would she want her brother or sister--

Schiavo: I'm sure Terri would want the families to get along and be happy. But it didn't happen. I had to get to Teri. I had seconds then. Seconds. I got into her room, and I could see that she'd changed, like that.

I went around to the side of the bed. I knelt next to her. I lifted her up in my arms, just like the night it happened (crying). I told her I loved her; and she died.

Now this is a little strange. I've read tons of transcripts of interviews and I can't remember a single instance when it was noted that an individual was crying or when comments about an individual's demeanor were included.

This reminded me of reading a play, with the author inserting stage directions and emotions.

It's true. Schiavo's eyes did well up during the interview. It was quite a performance.

I do think the fact that his tears were mentioned in the transcript indicates that NBC is making an editorial judgment and relaying his words sympathetically rather than providing a straight transcript.
Lauer: Did you love her still, at that moment?

Schiavo: I love her right now.

In the end, according to the autopsy report, Terri died at the age of 41 of "marked dehydration."

And despite the hope of the Schindlers, and the now famous video they said showed that their daughter was responsive — the medical examiner said Terri suffered severe, damage to her brain including the area responsible for sight. And "no amount of treatment or rehabilitation would have reversed it."

This part about Terri's condition being "irreversible" really bugs me.

So what? Her condition could not be reversed. So what?

Does that mean that she deserved to be dehydrated for thirteen days in order to kill her?

Terri was on no artificial life support. She was fed via a tube, but she needed no assistance to breath. She was not terminally ill. She wasn't on the verge of death. She only needed minimal care, meaning food and water, to survive. Providing minimal care is considered morally obligatory by the Catholic Church. Even via a tube, this is not seen as extraordinary means to prolong life.

Actions had to be taken to kill her. Nutrition and hydration had to be withheld.

What was her crime that a court would determine that she should receive such a cruel and unusual form of punishment? She was disabled -- nothing more. An innocent woman was killed, though she had no living will and there was tremendous dispute about her wishes.

I think the fact that this medical examiner concluded that "no amount of treatment or rehabilitation would have reversed" her condition is COMPLETELY irrelevant.

What does this say about our society?

If an individual is disabled, does that mean that person should be dehydrated to death?

If an individual is incapable of feeding oneself, does that mean that person is not fit to live?
But the medical examiner was skeptical that Terri was bulimic and could not conclusively determine just what caused her collapse 16 years ago.

This is a fact that is so often dismissed. Bulimia was unlikely. The autopsy didn't answer why Terri collapsed. That has not been determined.
Lauer (at Terri Schiavo’s grave site): How often do you come to her grave?

Schiavo: I try to get out here at least two or three times a month.
I drive by a lot though.

On this day, approaching the one year anniversary of Terri's death, someone had left a crucifix by her grave, a grave marked with three dates: her birth date, the date of her collapse, and her death, with a final note from Michael: "I kept my promise."

Lauer: Why was it so important to put that in there?

Schiavo: It was from me to her — it had nothing to do with anybody else. It was very important for me.

Lauer: Do you ever come here Michael and wonder how she feels about this promise, so many years afterwards? Do you think it was it as important to her as it was to you?

Schiavo: Definitely, definitely. She's up there praising me right now… and saying thank you.

Although the camera showed the grave marker, Lauer only discussed the "I kept my promise" part with Schiavo.

That "promise" line is all about his warped world, not Terri. Exactly what promise is he talking about anyway? It can't have anything to do with the promises he made to her on their wedding day. Schiavo broke those vows long, long ago, when he committed adultery and had two children. Is he referring to his promise to have her dehydrated to death? If he means his promise to kill her and torture her family, he did do that. Still, it's unseemly and the sign of a sick sense of self to put up a memorial to his "promise" at her grave.

Lauer said that the grave was "marked with three dates: her birth date, the date of her collapse, and her death."

However, Lauer didn't make it clear to viewers that the date of Terri's collapse, February 25, 1990, was cited on the marker as "DEPARTED THIS EARTH."

Lauer left out the fact that Schiavo had the gall to cast in bronze his proclamation that Terri was no longer here as of 1990.



That's so sick and so self-serving.

Did Nancy Reagan have a separate date etched on President Reagan's marker, stating when he no longer recognized her, or when he could no longer speak?

Who distinguishes between the date of death and the date when an individual becomes brain-injured due to accident or disease? People don't have a marker engraved with things like, "Born on 00/00/00," "Comatose on 00/00/00," and "At peace on 00/00/00."

No decent person does.

"Departed this earth"?

I'd like to see Terri's death certificate. Did the physician certify that Terri died on February 25, 1990, or March 31, 2005?

Every time Terri's family visits her grave, Michael Schiavo will be tormenting them.

Does Schiavo really believe Terri would have wanted him to cause her parents so much pain?

Does he think it was Terri's wishes, that each time her family would visit her grave, they would be confronted with such a contemptible display?

Michael Schiavo went so far as to defy the court order requiring him to notify the Schindlers of his burial plans for Terri IN ADVANCE of the service.

He didn't.

Because of Michael Schiavo, the Schindlers were unable to prevent their beloved Terri from being murdered; and now they are even powerless to provide her with a grave marker that honors her memory in a respectful, loving way.

Michael Schiavo used Terri's grave to erect a monument to himself.

His new book attempts to achieve that same end.
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Read Father Frank Pavone's open letter to Michael Schiavo. Father Pavone is the national director of Priests for Life and served as a spokesman and aided the Schindlers spiritually during Terri's ordeal.

He writes to Schiavo:
Your actions offend us. Not only have you killed Terri and deeply wounded her family, but you have disgraced our nation, betrayed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and undermined the principles that hold us together as a civilized society. You have offended those who struggle on a daily basis to care for loved ones who are dying, and who sometimes have to make the very legitimate decision to discontinue futile treatment. You have offended them by trying to confuse Terri's circumstances with theirs. Terri's case was not one of judging treatment to be worthless -- which is sometimes the case; rather, it was about judging a life to be worthless, which is never the case.