Book: Michael Schiavo nearly gave up fight to end wife's life

[sabra]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060328/APN/603280753

Book: Michael Schiavo nearly gave up fight to end wife's life
Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. -- Michael Schiavo made a last-minute decision to give up on his fight to remove his brain-damaged wife's feeding tube last year as he was hounded by protesters and getting death threats, but his attorney talked him out of it, Schiavo said in a book about the end-of-life case that captivated the nation.

On March 16, the day before Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed for the last time, Schiavo's longtime fiance, Jodi Centonze, persuaded him "to walk away from Terri," he said in the book released Monday and titled "Terri: The Truth." She was worried about the safety of their two children. He called his attorney, George Felos, to deliver the news.

"(Felos) reminded me that we had to realize that it wasn't just about Terri anymore," Schiavo wrote. "It was about the rest of the people who didn't want the government telling us how we could die and when we were allowed to decide that we didn't want further medical treatment. And it was about who has the right to make decisions between a husband and wife."

...

In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Schiavo said it didn't take much for Felos to persuade him that he needed to see it through.

"It was bigger than I ever dreamed it would become," he said. "But my parents raised me to be a fighter and go out and do what I believe in. And I was there to do what Terri wanted, and I wasn't going to give it up."

[Zhade]

1. Even the best of us can doubt and stumble.

I have nothing but resepct for this honest, courageous man. He did the right thing by not giving up on Terri's wishes.

[THUNDER HANDS]

2. he has a book out too?

i think the family has a book out also.

I will not be reading either of them.

[booley]

3. Good for him

The Theo-Cons always think they can get thier way by intimidation and bullying. And when they get away with it, they think they can go even further.

The best way to stop them is to not them intimidate you.

[soothsayer]

4. I saw that piece of human garbage on the view today. I hate that

schnook.

[LostinVA]

5. Excuse me? Why would you call such a steadfast, courageous man

a piece of garbage? Maybe you should direct your invective toward Mrs. Schiavo's family, the real people who defiled her life and memory.

Any facts? Or just the Religious Right's lies and memes?

[MUAD_DIB]

6. I would never want to be left in the state that she was.

In this whole mess the only person that wasn't suffering was Terri.

She had been gone for some time.


The living have to learn how to let go of the dead.

[superconnected]

7. I totally agree.

he flip flopped on her wishes.

I'm glad she got laid to rest. But I don't like this guys motives.

[FredScuttle]

8. Which wishes were those?

The one she expressed to him that she never wanted to be left in a vegetative state? The one which was upheld by countless hearings before the state?

This man will get no rest because the smear campaign against him did its job too well.

[superconnected]

9. do you have a recording of those wishes?

Take a look at the timeline for her.

He got 1.3 million in mal practice money over her, and then decided she didn't want to live after he refused to share the money with her parents and they had a falling out. Before that, while she was still in a persistent vegetative state, he was desperately trying to see that she did live.

http://www.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/timeline.htm

All anyone knows is what he's saying. He's flipflopped on his stance. You certianly do not know the truth of what Ms Shiavo said to her husband, or didn't say, anymore than anyone else.

Stick to the facts please.

[LostinVA]

12. You absolutely don't have the facts... seriously

If the threads from last year are still around, those are excellent sources for the FACTS. He never got one cent of that money. Not one cent. It was administered and controlled by the court. He tried everything he could, went to California for experimental therapy, got a nursing degree... everything. The COURT decided she should have the tube pulled, not Michael. The COURT and it's teams of doctors. Her parents loved him until he refused to give them some of their daughter;s money... money that was spent long ago on her care.

What you are saying are RW LIES... they were disproven well over a year ago.

Incredible this is still circulating. Seriously, you honestly don't know the truth of the matter.... these quite seriously are total and complete lies....

SCrew it. I'm not arguing this crap again... I don't disprove extreme RW crazy-ass lies.

[LostinVA]

10. He NEVER flip-flopped... that was the point

Anything else you've ever heard has been proven to be an outright lie. He had no ulterior motives at all... geez, a year later, and the lies are STILL churning out...

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[superconnected]

15. Excuse me. Calling me a freeper is uncalled for.

Simply because you do not agree with someone, does not mean you have to sink to name calling.

Being skeptical of someones word is not some right only the freepers hold.

[LostinVA]

14. And, screw you for calling me a liar -- seriously how dare you

[superconnected]

16. I believe you, yourself, brought in the term, "lies"

when you claimed anything I might say, in my skepticism over the husband, must be lies I picked up from the freepers. I retorted the only lies, were coming from the likes of yourself, in acting like you actually "know".

I believe my statement justly followed, your introduction of the term - lies.

[FredScuttle]

17. You are the one peddling freeper lies

You are only correct that none of us truly knows the truth. However, 16 trial judgements in favor of Michael's version of what happens tends to make me convinced that he has the truth on his side. I mean, it's not as if he decided all on his own the events of the last decade and a half of this poor woman's life...the courts sided with him and the physicians finally managed to convince him that his wife's condition was irreversable.

Shame on you.

[LostinVA]

18. Thank you n/t

[FredScuttle]

19. Can't believe we're shooting down this bullshit all over again

I can't even imagine what this poor man has to deal with daily. I hope there's a special place in hell for those nutjobs who smeared him in the most ugly, inhuman manner last year.

[LostinVA]

21. I know -- wasn't this proven here a year ago?

I've had to use Ignore, I was becoming so infuriated... nice to know that I'M the one lying, not Mrs. Schiavo's family or those RW sociopathic freaks.

Poor Michael SChiavo...

Again -- thanks.

[osaMABUSh]

20. BTW - "Wealth TV" keeps showing the Terrii Schiavo Story

over and over again. Wealth TV is an HD network that came with my HD cable. They almost never show any news in this network. It's mostly about which jet to buy or where spend your millons on vacation. This network doesn't have an agenda, do they?