Terri Schiavo Autopsy is Out

It wasn't about money. A fundamentalist Christian group offered him a million dollars to walk away and he refused. It was about a faithful husband carrying out the wishes of his wife no matter how difficult everyone else tried to make it for him to do so.

If I become a brain dead vegetable there will be nothing precious or sacred about my life. Forcing me to continue to live it would be selfish beyond comprehension and downright cruel.

Money? He spent all his money. He is broke so there was no motive.
I never forgot what her parents offered him. I feel that was nice of them but the fact is he loved her and wanted to do what she wished. My wife and I have talked about this, her parents are LIVE AT ALL COST. My wife and I are let me go. So this could happen one day………Well we have living wills now so maybe it will not. Then again they may come back and say I forced her to sign it so I could kill her.


The money is all gone. All of it. So it’s a moot point.



I feel for them too. I feel more for the woman that was there dead but could not rest. I would let my child rest in peace, that is what makes me a “Loving Father”.

Well, I say again, that I really don't know what I would do if it were one of my children and in all honesty, hope I never have to find out.

But, ummm, Chip?? whats your definition of faithful? By my definition, her husband wasn't faithful because he was living with another woman and had children by her.

Rose, too bad she didn't have the hindsight to do that.

You know, on another level this makes me wonder about the type of person she was. I mean there are such conflicting stories about her and what she wanted. Her husband says she didn't want to be on life support, her parents say she did. Her friends say the husband was abusive. But it makes me wonder if she was a "sympathy seeker" or "people pleaser." I know we all know the type. They will say whatever someone else wants to hear or tell someone an incident that happened that is slightly exaggerated just to gain sympathy. Is that how everyone that is close to her has such different views and opinions of her wishes? Yes I went out on a limb but it was just something that I've kinda wondered.

I am talking about life insurance that would have been received after she died. The media reported that all of that is gone too?

Faithful is standing by your wife to see that her wishes are carried out. It isn't being a martyr and denying yourself a life when it is no longer possible to have one as originally intended. If I ever ended up in that state and was married I would want my spouse to make a new life for herself. Her only obligation to me at that point would be to make sure the plug gets pulled.

Yes he dipped in to it to take care of her. The media has come out and said he is out of money. They have said mor then once he has gotten all the money he would get over this.

It seems strage to me that so many religious groups were trying desperately to keep her from moving on and going to "heaven".

Shouldn't they have been accepting that it was time for the soul to be cut loose from the mortal coil and transcend to a higher, blissful state? Did they honestly think she was going to make a sudden, miraculous recovery?

She never spoke up in court no, but the whole trial thing established that Michael did indeed express her wishes that she told him.

Now, you may not believe him, but legally, her wishes were expressed.

I felt it was more from revenge than saving face.

The fact that everyone who raises the above 'fact' is convienently ignoring is that he was offered money to divorce her and release custody to the parents. Quite a lot of money too.

As far as the hefty life insurance policy ... unless this imaginary policy existed before her injury, there is no policy. No insurance company in the entire world would insure someone in a state like hers for any serious money.

Again, you only say this because you choose not to believe Michaels testimony.

No, they would rather paste their own feelings about a situation they know nothing about on Terry's tragedy. They would rather ignore what her husbands stated her wishes were, claiming he must be lying. Whether it's because he wants money (that isn't there) or he hates her and wants her dead (when he could have divorced her at ANY time).

Yes, exactly. It is not that I dont believe him, it is way beyond him. I don't think that someone should be able to say "well so and so told me they wanted this...", there should be a legal document signed, notorized etc. If I say, Red Mars told me that in the event of death, I should have everything they own; would that stand up in court? When it comes to life and death, I am not willing to take the word of a person, I want something concrete.

I feel that being on machine that artifically make you breath is different than being given nourishment. If your organs are functioning but you can't feed yourself, I dont think you should be allowed to slowly starve to death just because people *think* you dont feel pain. They used to think fetuses didnt feel pain becuse their nerves weren't sophicated enough to feel it but recently that has been found not to be the case.

But it's NOT beyond him, he was her husband. Legally and in every way the person who would know her wishes the best.

Are you saying that if no legal document exists the spouse should have no rights to determine a persons desires? Who else? Why would a parents desires weigh more than a spouses? Or childrens? Or next door neighbor? Like it or not, your closest relative has that legal right, in this case, it was Michael.



It sounds like you can't get away from the idea that he was after something material, even though a mountain of evidence says he would have come out far far better financially if he had divorced her years ago.

It's all where you personally draw the line. Others would disagree with you claiming at least it's LIFE!! This is just where you drew the line in your sand.

Legally hear say does not hold up in court. In a Case of a sick person wishes it falls on the Spouse if there is no Spouse then parents. Not to say what you wanted but what do to. The only reason it came to what he said what she wanted was the fact of her parents stating she would not want it. They stated that as a Catholic she would not want to killed like that. Now my family are all catholic and we have talked about it. The Funny thing is before this case the Catholic doctoring was ANY things that take and keep you alive is not life. That meant feeding tubs. So if you asked for that not to be used it was not committing suicide and not a Sin. I have seen and talked to some Priest that still believe that and I have seen some saying the other way around. So if it is not left up to hear say what should it be left up to? Her husband?


Really a moot point. I for one don’t care if I am on a life support system or a feeding tube in a vegetative state I say let me go. I can see her saying that. I can see her husband wanting it that way.

I think we should alway err on the side of life since death is so completely final.




People are missing the big picture here. The real lesson to be learned here is that your life only has the value that other people place on it. 170 years ago I would have been 3/5ths human in this country, because that is the value that was placed on me as a human, as property I would have been valued at X amount of dollars. Thanks to technology we are back to that same place. A life is only worth what another person values it at. Are you a deformed fetus? Well your life is only worth what the Drs and your parents say it is, if they feel you have no value, you are just medical waste. It doesn matter if you could be the next Steven Hawking, you are worthless because you are not perfect. Are you in an accident, like say Christopher Reeve and it costs 400K to keep you alive each year, someone else can decide "hey, thats too much damn money" and now your life has no value, even if you can add something to the world and society.



The Terri Schiavo case sets a dangerous precident as to what life is worth in this country and opens the doors for the disabled to more undervalued than they currently are today. I don't think many people can fully see the turn this will make in society right now, but when it is too late, many people may realize we are headed down the wrong path.

I really don't think he was after anything financial. I never cared about that aspect of the case.

My opinion is simple. If someone does not have a legal written document stating their wishes about life or death, you err on the side of life. It is a simple concept and I have stated it over and over. I think the rights of the individual are greater than the wishes of the family, or spouse. Death is final, there is no going back, if a mistake is made there is no way to correct it.


My wishes personally are clearly outlined as I personally don't like many things about Western Medicine and my mother would do any and everything to keep me alive. I want no surgeries of any sort (I don't want to be cut), no chemo, no sort of required daily medicaton to keep me alive, no life support of any kind, and no feeding tubes. Those are my wishes, most people wouldn't mind a little surgery if it kept them alive, I would rather die than be cut by a knife. That is my choice, I don't want anyone making those choices for me, spouse or parent. My rights as a human over shadows their rights and selfish needs to keep me alive. If I had never laid out my wishes, I would want to kept alive, since death is final and there is no going back. I would also not want the burden of choosing to keep me alive left to anyone I love because that is an unreasonable burden to place on someone you care about.

Christians will tell you death is not final.
I agree that life over death in most cases but in cases like hers should we keep her shell alive for 70 years? Really when do you sane enough is enough?



Hawking is alive and his mind is not only hole but one of the most brilliant minds around. She was brain dead with only a 1/2 a brain left in her body. Reeve was alive and able to speak and he had a brain left. Come one apples and oranges here.


I can see were this helped put us. Right to death. If you feel you want to go with dignity then you should have that right. Right now you are not given that right. You are told No life even with out dignity is better then death. Who is any one to tell me how I should live or die?

Many people here keep bringing that up.


How pays for it? I mean who should in the long run pay to keep people alive like this?


This is you and I say good for you. I for one feel my wife should make the call. My wife feels I should make the call. There is a point were it should be called. I know my wife would only make the call when there is no other means. I would only make the call after there is nothing else for my wife.

This is the real heart of the matter. No one wants to pay for it. So what is a life worth? Where do we draw the line? Abortions are only $350, should anything that costs more than $350 make your life to damn expensive to keep? People can have 7 babies at once by choice through exploitation of medicine, and run up hospital bills in the millions and that is ok, because those children have value because they are wanted, but the children that aren't wanted have no value. Personally I dont want to pay higher medical premiums because some woman decides she wants to be a German Shepard and give birth to a litter, but yet I am forced to because we all pay for these "miracle babies" because someone wants them. So again, your life is only worth the value someone else places on it, not the value of the life itself.


I am the only person that sees a problem with this?

I'm not Christian, those values don't apply to me. Shhh. Don't tell my mother.





It is not apples to oranges, you are looking at this simply. I am looking at a bigger picture. I am talking about the overall value of life. I am trying to drive home the point that life is not about how much the individual values their life, but the value that society places on that life, including relatives. If I am ill should the same measure be applied to me as they are applied to Bill Gates? Afterall I have less of a life long earning potential and probably less of an impact on society in general. If resources are limited will we soon create a system to decide the value of a life and then use that system to allocate medical resources? Afterall, healthcare is expensive and there is only so much to go around. This case is a slippery slope. It is about more than a brain dead chick with selfish parents and a shady husband.

First this topic is not the same as Abortion and any one that relates the two has no idea what they are talking about.
Second $350 for a abortion? Try $1,000 my friend’s wife just had one, she has cancer and she made the call because to stop treatment would mean her death and most likely the child’s too in the long run, she has uteral cancer. Her incerance didn’t cover it and she didn’t have the Grand, my wife and I gave her the money.
Third I agree with you there is a problem with the “German Shepard” problem we have. Thing is my problem is not that she had that # of children. My problem is I thing artificial insemination is a problem. I also feel drugs to keep a woman from losing a child is a problem (I am only alive today because my mother took meds to keep me). We have millions of unwanted children in the world. We have a over population in most parts of the world. Lets stop having babies if you can’t have them naturally and go get a child that is unwanted and care for that. If your anti-abortion and pro adoption then get off your ass and start adopting and when there is not one child looking for a home we can talk about the abortion thing, till then shut up about abortions.


You keep talking about value of life and seeing this as a problem. It is really not about value of a person, its about the value of life. I for one find no value in having a body alive when the mind is nolonger there. You also find this to be true after all you have a living will to help that out. So why are you fighting it? If life is so good and you should not put value on life like that then why do you do it to your self?



Did I say you were? I said that Christians feel there is more, I could have said 10000 other faiths too. Thing is every one has there idea of what life and death is don’t push your idea of it on us.
Oh and I told my P’s I am a pagan and they tried to give me shit. I shut them down so fast and made them look stupid. So now we leave that topic alone.


See your not talking about “value of live” you are talking about the $ of health care and life. To are not the same. Value does not = $$$$. Value is more then that. In this case Values is more about how a person is living or not living. She was gone her body was kept alive not for her Value of life but because the parents Value of Grief. People here in the US keep asking for a Social health care yet in the US we have the best healthier care in the world, people with money and live in Social Health care counties come here for treatment. Thing is I would spend every last penny of I had to keep my family alive I would even sell my soul and body to keep them alive. Thing is if there is no real Value in the life then why keep it alive. Thing is this was never really about Value of Money but the Value of life. Many people would have paid to keep her alive, not out of there hart but because of this Moral Life is Best thing that some of the Fundamentalist have gotten in to. (Some Fundamentalist were for the husbands rights because of some bible statement that she was his and he can chose and all.) Thing is her life had no value for her any more. Her value only had what others put on it. That is the major problem here. She had no value but what others put on her, she was dead. I have value, I am alive. She had none she was dead. The value I am talking about is not what others put on to her or me. Not of $$$$$$$$$. But of value of life. Spend time watching some one die and you will understand Value of life. This was shell was not it. I think Her head stone really said it. Date of birth, Date of death (day she collapsed) date at peace (day her body went).