Not Dead Yet, Press Release

Not Dead Yet the resistance in Black Gothic Lettering

7521 Madison St * Forest Park, IL 60130 * Voice/TTY: 708-209-1500 * Fax: 708-209-1735 * TTY: 708-209-1826

Day One of the Current Fight for Terri Schiavo's Life:

In 1990, Terri Schiavo's heart suddenly stopped. Before she could be revived, her brain was damaged and she slipped into a comalike state. She is allegedly still in that state.

On Friday, October 11, 2002 the latest hearing began to determine the 38-year-old woman's fate. Her parents and their doctors say Terri is responsive and deserves to live. Her still husband, who just had a daughter by the woman to which he is already engaged, wants Terri to die.

In 1992 Terri received a $700,000 malpractice award Terri. It was meant to pay for her lifelong treatment and care. But very little of it is left because her husband, Michael, has been paying legal fees out of it in his fight to end her life. If she dies, he will receive whatever funds are left.

During this present hearing, there will be testimony from doctors who have examined Terri on orders from an appellate court. Circuit Judge George Greer will then determine if she could benefit from further treatment.

Each side chose two doctors and the fifth was picked by Greer. The physicians hired by the parents believe Terri can be helped. The doctors hired by her husband say no.

Mr. Schiavo, who is also her health care guardian, says Terri is brain dead and has no hope for improvement. He wants to remove her feeding tube and end her life. Her parents maintain that their daughter smiles, turns her head, vocalizes and tracks with her eyes. They say she would improve with treatment.

To date, the husband has refused such care as antibiotics, dental work, repairing a broken wheelchair so she could go outdoors and the delivery of flowers to her room.

"Her teeth are fine; she doesn't eat," Michael Schiavo has said. "Why take her to a gynecologist? She was supposed to die months ago. I don't want her room filled with flowers..."

The major issue involved in this round of the fight for her life is what is meant by "new" treatment. The hubby says it means untried, pointless care. The parents wants standard care that she hasn't gotten yet.

More examples:
She has not had physical, occupational, recreational or speech therapy of any kind in at least 4 years. Her teeth have not been cleaned during that time. She has not had a mammogram or pap smear in the same period. Her supervising doctor sees her a total of 30 minutes a year...ten minutes every four months.

When ordered by the court to give Terri a complete physical in preparation for the current hearing, a urinary tract infection was discovered and treated. No one knows when it started. Indeed, it may even be a continuation of the same kind of infection found six months ago that was never cured.

Having urinary tract infections and fecal matter in the same area were noted as reasons to let her die. Both without noting that catching such infections earlier and better caregiving might solve both problems.

The husband's doctors are maintaining that she does not feel pain from her untreated severe muscle contractures. Yet, she is still prescribed pain medication. When asked to explain, the lead doctor said Terri was given pain meds only to make the nurses feel better. Terri's increased moaning and crying was only primitive brain stem activity, but decreasing her agitation and noise making eased the nurses' distress.

Oh yeah, and when she smiles at her mother coming in the room, it's just primitive stem cell activity since she "has no brain now, just a spinal cord." Part of today doc's basis for that belief is that Terri does not smile at him the same way she smiles at her mother. Well, DUH!....

The doctor is a medical director of 5 local nursing homes, appears to have a business on the side doing planning for the estates of deceased people and is also a 20+ hour a week administrator in a Medicaid/Medicare program. His patient load is about 282 patients. Terri is one of his youngest. His specialty fields are internal medicine and geriatric medicine.

He admitted that there was no reason for Terri to be in a hospice setting as she is stable and not terminal. When asked if he had ever prescribed care to see if she could recover, he answered no. When asked why, he replied because she won't.

This all reminded me of the Willowbrook expose that Geraldo Rivera did a long time ago. The institution was not giving clothes to developmentally disabled residents and then held it against them that they didn't wear anything....

The hardest part of the day was watching videos of Terri. I thought, "That could have been me." Then I realized that WAS me until I divorced the hubby who blocking all MY effective medical care.

During one of them, a family doctor asked Terri to open her eyes as widely as she could. While she was doing this on tape, I looked around. EVERYBODY in the courtroom was doing the same widening action...including the husband, his attorney, the sheriffs and the judge himself.

When she successfully did so, the video doctor said, "Very Good!" And at that point, a huge flock of birds rose from the ground and flew up into the air in front of the window nearest the video screen. It is a moment I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

I was the only visibly disabled person there in the courtroom today. I think it made a big difference. I was the living representation of what Terri might become with proper care. I was a reminder of the dignity and respect she already deserves. At the very least, I certainly made them take note that the courtroom was inaccessible.

I am there as a representative for Not Dead Yet. If you can help the group keep a presence during this hearing, they need to hear from you now. Terri's life is on the line here. All of our lives are.

Rus Cooper-Dowda