Inclusion Daily Express -- No Abuse Found In Schiavo Records

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No Abuse Found In Schiavo Records
By Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily Express
April 18, 2005

TAMPA, FLORIDA--Investigation records released Friday by the Florida Department of Children and Families show no evidence that Terri Schiavo was abused or exploited by either her husband or her parents, several news sources reported.

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer ordered the state to release the records after news organizations requested the information.

DCF investigated 89 complaints between 2001 and late 2004, most alleging that Terri's husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, had abused or exploited his wife. Those included allegations that he neglected her dental care, skin care, withheld therapies and treatment, that he verbally abused her, and that he caused her original brain injury in 1990.

One of the complaints suggested that Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, were using their website to sell video tapes of Terri.

Investigators found nothing to substantiate any of the claims, several news sources reported.

Terri died on March 31 from dehydration and starvation 13 days after her feeding tube had been removed under Greer's order. Terri's husband had filed for permission to have her feeding tube withdrawn after convincing the court that his wife would not have wanted to be kept alive in what some doctors described as a "persistent vegetative state".

Terri's parents fought unsuccessfully through the courts all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and to the U.S. Congress to keep their daughter alive. They argued that Terri was alert and responsive, and that she might have recovered some abilities through rehabilitative therapies.

The results of her autopsy are expected within weeks.

Dozens of disability groups supported Terri's parents in the court battles, arguing that letting Terri starve and dehydrate to death would send the wrong message, that the lives of people with certain disabilities are "not worth living".

Related:
"Media Gets Access to Schiavo Records" (Associated Press)
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/04-15-2005/44f5000c2507716b.html
"Floridians Polled on Schiavo Intervention" (Associated Press)
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/632/04-14-2005/0a83000faeddae8c.html
"Terri Schiavo's Right To Live" (Inclusion Daily Express)
http://www.inclusiondaily.com/news/advocacy/schiavo01.htm

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