[Augusta Free Press] What about Terri Schiavo's rights?

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Title: What about Terri Schiavo's rights?

By Crystal Graham, 3/13/2005; 10:42:19 PM.

Guest View

June Hughes

Special to /The Augusta Free Press*/

What is so inconceivable to me about the Terri Schiavo case is that Michael Schiavo would be charged with animal cruelty if he starved a dog to death, as would the judge in this case.

If it's not OK to starve an animal, how is it OK to starve this human?

Where are her victim's rights?

Why doesn't her husband turn her care over to the parents, who are more than willing to take up her care?

Why doesn't the judge look at the videos of this woman which clearly show her reacting to various stimuli? A vegetable couldn't react that way! In the videos, Terri clearly reacts to music, watches the track of a balloon, responds to questions, to requests, and struggles to avoid a swab being placed in her mouth. The expression in her eyes, on her face, are not, in the opinion of anyone I know who has viewed these videos, the expressions of someone in a permanent vegetative state.

Why doesn't the testimony of nurses, doctors and friends of Terri Schiavo count in this case? There are 17 new pleas from very upstanding physicians asking that Terri be given new tests to determine her true state. Some of these 17 doctors are experts in the field of brain-damaged/ and comatose patients. Several do not agree that Terri Schiavo's case is hopeless.

Clearly there have been some questions regarding possible abuse of this disabled woman by her husband. Court transcripts of statements made by Michael Schiavo under oath, statements by concerned nursing staff, as well as a police report of a call to a nursing home following one of Mr. Schiavo's visits with his wife, can be viewed on-line, but none count for anything that might save this woman? We've all read about elder abuse cases with less evidence than this holding up in court, so what is wrong here?

The parents filed for their daughter's divorce from Michael Schiavo, since he has announced his engagement to his long-time girlfriend, apparently the mother of two of his children. What would Terri do if she were able to act on her own? Might we assume she would file for divorce on the grounds of adultery? The motion was denied, of course, since her guardian (Michael Schiavo) would have to approve of the divorce.

Mr. Schiavo has denied Terri's parents the right to visit her time and time again. He has denied her right to communion from her priest. He has admittedly denied her right to rehabilitation, to having her teeth brushed, to getting antibiotic treatment for a possibly life-threatening infection, even, it is stated, to having her draperies open so she can at least look outside. He has a court order that Terri is not to be filmed. Many years ago, from the witness stand, he admitted to having her wedding rings made into a ring for himself.

Roughly half of the money awarded to Terri from a malpractice suit, money earmarked for her care, has been spent on Michael Schiavo's attorneys' fees, fees incurred from his struggle to end his wife's life by starvation and dehydration ... something no state would allow a person to do to a dog.

June Hughes resides in Mountain Home, N.C.

The views expressed by op-ed writers do not necessarily reflect those of management of The Augusta Free Press.

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(Published 03-14-05

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