Home | Commentary | News | Forum | The Loft | Online Activist | State News | Resources | Classifieds Subscribe | Mobile | RSS | Contact
Breaking News -- Health care bill clears first Senate hurdle on party-line vote

       

Printer-Friendly Version

President Signs Law for Federal Review of Schiavo Case
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
March 21, 2005

Page 3 of 4

Before Congress took up the compromise version of the bill Michael Schiavo lashed out at lawmakers, telling CNN that "Congress has more important things to discuss."

Over the weekend, supporters of the Schindler family pointed out an inconsistency in Schiavo's comments during that televised appearance. Schiavo, who is also Terri's legal guardian, has maintained -- since shortly after receiving more than $1 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit on Teri's behalf -- that she had expressed a desire never to be kept alive by any type of life-prolonging medical intervention.

But speaking with CNN's Larry King Friday, Schiavo contradicted his previous statements.

"Do you understand how they (Terri's parents) feel?" King asked.

"Yes, I do. But this is not about them. It's about Terri," Schiavo responded. "And I've also said that in court. We didn't know what Terri wanted but this is what we want..."

Attorneys familiar with the case say that, had Schiavo made that statement under oath, he would be guilty of perjury. Schiavo has previously testified under oath, as have his brother and sister-in-law, that he had no doubt about his estranged wife's wishes concerning medical treatment.

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Pinellas County, Fla., Circuit Court Judge George Greer previously dismissed testimony from at least one eye witness to statements by Terri that contradict the claims of her husband and his relatives.

Diane Meyer, one of Terri's life-long friends, told Greer that Terri had expressed her disagreement with the decision of Karen Ann Quinlan's parents to remove their comatose daughter from life support in a highly publicized "right-to-die" case in the 1970s and 1980s.

"There was an incident when I told a poor joke about Karen Ann Quinlan. I remember distinctly because Terri never lost her temper with me. This time she did," Meyer testified in 2002. "She told me that she did not approve of what was going on or what happened in the Karen Ann Quinlan case."

Meyer told the court that the conversation had taken place, "in the summer of 1982."

Greer ruled that, because Meyer spoke of the conversation in the present tense, she must have been mistaken about the date. He deduced that the comments must have been made in the mid-1970s, when Terri would have been only 11 or 12 years old.

"The first quote involved a bad joke and used the verb 'is.' The second quote involved the response from Terri Schiavo, which used the word 'are,'" Greer wrote in his decision. "The court is mystified as to how these present tense verbs would have been used some six years after the death of Karen Ann Quinlan."

As a result, Greer ruled that the statement that she "would not want to be kept alive artificially" -- which Terri allegedly made in the presence of her husband, brother-in-law and brother-in-law's wife -- was Terri's only adult comment on the matter.

>> Continued -- Page 1 2 3 4

Copyright © 1998-2005 CNSNews.com - Cybercast News Service

       

 

++ Check out the GOPUSA home page for the latest information.

Last Updated:
Saturday 5:45 pm EST



Not a member? Click here.
Weekend Chat by Ohiowoman
Weekend Chat by Terri
Health care bill clears first Senate hurdle on party-line vote by oldjules
Health care bill clears first Senate hurdle on party-line vote by ReneeCA.
Discuss Issues in the Forum

Grassroots Survey Team
View recent survey results
Join the survey team!



GOPUSA Cartoons
Click here!

++ Action Alert: No more apologies....get to work!

++ Semper Fi - Now Just Die - Obama Pushes Euthanasia on Veterans

++ New Survey: Future of America's health care