Terri is not brain-dead, and she is not in a Persistent Vegetative State (PVS). Seven doctors have presented sworn affidavits stating as much, and the judge admitted in his written report that he only looked at one of them. Terri responds to her mother, her father, her siblings, her friends, and her nurses; but when her husband comes in, she closes up. Try
this page, which links to a video showing Terri during one of her examinations to determine her mental state. The doctor performing the examination later testified that Terri wasn't really following his instructions; she just "looked like" she was.
The immediate issue is that Terri has normal physical functions, except that she has lost the ability to swallow. She requires a gastrotomy for her nutrition and hydration (a "feeding tube"). Several doctors have indicated that Terri is an excellent candidate for therapy to help her regain the ability to swallow; but Michael Schiavo and the courts have refused to even allow a trial period to see if she would benefit.
Regarding the money,
it's not Michael's. The money was awarded to
Terri and put in trust for her medical treatment in a malpractice lawsuit in 1993. The money wasn't even the problem: immediately after the trust was established, Michael instructed the care facility not to treat a potentially fatal infection
and gave Do Not Resuscitate orders for his wife. The facility refused and notified the family. After a court battle, Michael simply moved Terri to a new facility without telling the family and repeated the move. Oh, and Terri has no will--if she dies, her husband would receive everything in the fund.
Regarding his fitness for guardianship, evidence was presented (and summarily rejected in a bench ruling) demonstrating multiple breaches of Florida guardianship statutes (as many as one dozen in a single guardianship report). Second, there's a definite conflict of interest when Michael has been engaged to another woman for seven years (while his wife is still living), has one child already and another on the way, and only needs his wife to die so they can officially marry. Does anyone else see a problem with appointing this man to control his wife's medical care?
[ October 15, 2003, 22:44: Message edited by: Krsqk ]