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Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us
"Gibbs, lead attorney for Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's parents, recounts the legal case to keep her alive and her last days. Discusses background information on the U.S. judiciary process and value of life issues"--Provided by publisher.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
April 3, 2015
Every single one of us has a terminal body. Some of us just have healthier terminal bodies. And some of us--like my newborn son--need substantial assistance to do something as simple as eating.
I don't expect the state of Iowa to order the withholding of nutrition to my son. But that is what the state of Florida--or, rather, one unchecked judge in Florida--ordered for someone else who could not feed herself: Terri Schiavo.
David Gibbs represented Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, in the later stages of that tragic event in our nation's history. His account of that event, Fighting for Dear Life, brings to heart and mind again the maddening outcome, which has already seemingly faded so quickly from our nation's conscience. As Gibbs tells it, it is his story of:
Why I fought for Terri.
Why I'd do it again.
And why I'd fight for you too.
Gibbs can't tell us why Terri Schiavo had to die. No human can. But Gibbs does tell us that Ms. Schiavo had minimal cognition; that her parents loved her and wanted nothing more than to care for her; that her husband had broken his marriage vows; that he refused to allow her to see the outside world or to allow the outside world see her; that he did not spend a dime of the medical malpractice judgment on her rehabilitation, despite telling the jury he would do so; that the only evidence of her supposed wish to die was her husband's and his family's hearsay statements, that the judicial system failed her, and that she died a painful, unnecessary death.
Few real life stories have such distinct Good Guys (Gibbs, the Schindlers, Ms. Schiavo herself, Governor Jeb Bush, President Bush, the Florida legislature, and the U.S. Congress) and Bad Guys (Michael Schiavo, George Felos, Judges George Greer and James Whittemore) as this one. If you care about life issues, and on the pro-life side, you will clinch your fists all over again.
Especially appreciated is the final five chapters, which are essentially a written sermon explaining the global importance of what we allowed to happen to Terri Schiavo. One can hope that Ms. Schiavo's story as told in Fighting for Dear Life will revive all of us again to a culture of life.
I don't expect the state of Iowa to order the withholding of nutrition to my son. But that is what the state of Florida--or, rather, one unchecked judge in Florida--ordered for someone else who could not feed herself: Terri Schiavo.
David Gibbs represented Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, in the later stages of that tragic event in our nation's history. His account of that event, Fighting for Dear Life, brings to heart and mind again the maddening outcome, which has already seemingly faded so quickly from our nation's conscience. As Gibbs tells it, it is his story of:
Why I fought for Terri.
Why I'd do it again.
And why I'd fight for you too.
Gibbs can't tell us why Terri Schiavo had to die. No human can. But Gibbs does tell us that Ms. Schiavo had minimal cognition; that her parents loved her and wanted nothing more than to care for her; that her husband had broken his marriage vows; that he refused to allow her to see the outside world or to allow the outside world see her; that he did not spend a dime of the medical malpractice judgment on her rehabilitation, despite telling the jury he would do so; that the only evidence of her supposed wish to die was her husband's and his family's hearsay statements, that the judicial system failed her, and that she died a painful, unnecessary death.
Few real life stories have such distinct Good Guys (Gibbs, the Schindlers, Ms. Schiavo herself, Governor Jeb Bush, President Bush, the Florida legislature, and the U.S. Congress) and Bad Guys (Michael Schiavo, George Felos, Judges George Greer and James Whittemore) as this one. If you care about life issues, and on the pro-life side, you will clinch your fists all over again.
Especially appreciated is the final five chapters, which are essentially a written sermon explaining the global importance of what we allowed to happen to Terri Schiavo. One can hope that Ms. Schiavo's story as told in Fighting for Dear Life will revive all of us again to a culture of life.
November 18, 2013
I appreciate the personal reasons Mr. Gibbs has for choosing the cases in which he fights for as an attorney, including that of Terri Schiavo's parents. That said, his personal religious and political beliefs riddled this book far more than it should have. We're not talking just for this case. We're talking everything from abortion to the right to die laws in a few states and everything in between.
Please, Mr. Gibbs, quit trying to preach to the reader. Stick to the story. While you're at it, stick to being an attorney. Being a writer isn't your strong suit.
Please, Mr. Gibbs, quit trying to preach to the reader. Stick to the story. While you're at it, stick to being an attorney. Being a writer isn't your strong suit.
March 30, 2013
This is a book everyone should read! Yes, its sad, yes, you'll cry. (But all of us SHOULD weep for the incredible wrong that was done to Terri S. and her family). And- think very hard about the callous passivity much of our American moral culture has acquired.
April 18, 2014
Vultures Preying on Tragedy
Terri Schiavo was not "disabled." She was brain dead. That's just the tip of the iceberg in this pile of journalistic malpractice. David Gibbs is staunchly religious (hardly surprising) and a devoted Christian. So why does he violate the 9th commandment so blatantly? Why lie about Terri's blindness? Is it just to make a quick buck? Is it to promote an anti-choice agenda that will likely lead to living wills and enduring powers of attorney being disregarded forever? Probably a mix of both. Even by saying that all human life is of "eternal worth" in his introduction, he is being deceptive. No all-loving deity would threaten anyone with eternal torture for any reason. Period. No marginally loving deity would do so either.
Three years after Schiavo's heart finally stopped beating, Gibbs and his toady DeMoss release this diatribe against choice and genuine compassion. Let's get some facts down. Terri was only dehydrated to death because Florida law did now allow for any more compassionate methods. So if he plans to wax invective against anyone, he should start with his own side. Terri was brain dead and any "responses" (including the infamous balloon video) were entirely random. Her brain stem was maintaining her sleep/wake cycles and breathing, but nothing more. There was no "Terri" remaining in her body.
Michael Schiavo laboured for five years to help Terri recover. He had accepted the hard truth - Terri was never coming back. Then the buzzards showed up. Seeing an opportunity for their cause, right-to-lifers circled the wagons and campaigned for Terri's "protection," calling her husband a murderer and likening him to the leaders and architects of the Third Reich. Utter nonsense. They would have a case if Terri was minimally conscious, but she was not. Like the wingnuts on The American View, they ignored the medical evidence presented at the autopsy. It's impossible to argue with people like these who are unwilling to face reality and concoct their own "facts" from whole cloth.
Terri Schiavo was not "disabled." She was brain dead. That's just the tip of the iceberg in this pile of journalistic malpractice. David Gibbs is staunchly religious (hardly surprising) and a devoted Christian. So why does he violate the 9th commandment so blatantly? Why lie about Terri's blindness? Is it just to make a quick buck? Is it to promote an anti-choice agenda that will likely lead to living wills and enduring powers of attorney being disregarded forever? Probably a mix of both. Even by saying that all human life is of "eternal worth" in his introduction, he is being deceptive. No all-loving deity would threaten anyone with eternal torture for any reason. Period. No marginally loving deity would do so either.
Three years after Schiavo's heart finally stopped beating, Gibbs and his toady DeMoss release this diatribe against choice and genuine compassion. Let's get some facts down. Terri was only dehydrated to death because Florida law did now allow for any more compassionate methods. So if he plans to wax invective against anyone, he should start with his own side. Terri was brain dead and any "responses" (including the infamous balloon video) were entirely random. Her brain stem was maintaining her sleep/wake cycles and breathing, but nothing more. There was no "Terri" remaining in her body.
Michael Schiavo laboured for five years to help Terri recover. He had accepted the hard truth - Terri was never coming back. Then the buzzards showed up. Seeing an opportunity for their cause, right-to-lifers circled the wagons and campaigned for Terri's "protection," calling her husband a murderer and likening him to the leaders and architects of the Third Reich. Utter nonsense. They would have a case if Terri was minimally conscious, but she was not. Like the wingnuts on The American View, they ignored the medical evidence presented at the autopsy. It's impossible to argue with people like these who are unwilling to face reality and concoct their own "facts" from whole cloth.
April 20, 2013
Not much in to books like this, but I saw this at the library and decided to check it out. WOW. It reminded me, once again, that what we see/hear in the media is not always truthful or factual. This story was/is just sad all around and, if you read it, you will still have your opinion if what happened was right or wrong.......but it was a good, thought provoking read.
October 1, 2009
Not necessarily the best written book, however, the story is amazing.
I think every American needs to read this book to discover what really happened...
I think every American needs to read this book to discover what really happened...
June 13, 2017
I was very compelled by Terri Schiavo's case, but not by the writing of this book. Too much repetition.
April 15, 2012
heavy read. Heart-wrenching. Makes you think about a lot of difficult things and challenges you to plan for the future
July 11, 2012
The book was compelling but so very heart wrenching.
February 21, 2013
No one will ever know the truth of what really happened
June 18, 2023
The Terri Schiavo case is fresh in my memory. I was in my final year of my Bachelor of Social Work at University, and my practicum was in an interim care/personal care home. The residents were mostly elderly with dementia, Parkinson's, or Alzheimers, but there was one younger resident that haunted me. He didn't look very old at all, seemed to grow more disabled as time went on, and his wife came to see him pretty much every day. I found out he had Huntington's and was in his 40's. His wife stayed devoted to his care even when she could no longer care for him at home.
That terrified me, especially as they said he was still cognizant of what was going on around him. A relatively young man, locked in his own body, powerless, living with senior citizens (sometimes twice his age) in a personal care home? It sounded like hell. I wasn't sure what I would do if I had that disease, if I'd want to live, or how I would handle seeing a loved one go through that. All I know is that it depressed and disturbed me to no end, and his wife coming to see him every day was bittersweet.
The Schiavo case was discussed at work among staff. Staff I knew were mainly nurses and social workers. I vividly remember our manager saying, "I told my husband if I ever end up like Terri Schiavo, don't let me..end my life". and she was a born-again Christian.
I wasn't sure how I felt about the case, it was hard to know what was true and what was fiction. I'm in Canada, and the bombastic , tabloid-style American journalism left me confused about what was really going on. I think it did for a lot of people. There were protestors holding plastic spoons saying "let Terri's mother feed her". Teenagers with "life" on red duct tape stretched over their mouths. Others that were saying the Schindlers (Terri's family of origin) were completely delusional, that Terri was in an irreversible state of PVS,and they simply couldn't let go. Religious fanatics, right to die activists, they all clashed and had something to say, to weigh in on the case.
The Gibbs book didn't make my stance any clearer, but it did raise a lot of questions for me. I've read Michael Schiavo's book, and the book the Schindlers wrote. They are stark in their differences and in comparison. I will save my opinions of those for other books.
Gibbs is a self-professed , devout, conservative Christian, and this admittedly gave me some bias about the book. I know he is/was a lawyer, intelligent, reasonable, but I couldn't help but wonder if his religious beliefs about the right to life at all costs clouded his judgment of Terri's functioning and outcome.
That said, this book, like the Schindlers' book, raised some important and disturbing questions and thoughts for me:
Why did Michael Schiavo want so much to stay married to Terri, when he had (understandably) moved on with Jodi Centonze and had 2 children? He said it was so her right to die wishes would be followed. I didn't know that when Michael first pursued a malpractice suit against Terri's doctors, this never came up. He pledged to look after Terri forever, and the idea that she didn't want to be kept alive never surfaced. You'd think it would have. I don't know if as time went on and it was obvious Terri wasn't going to recover that he changed his tune, but why weren't her alleged wishes not to be kept alive not mentioned in those hearings?
Why did Micheal refuse to relinquish care to the Schindlers when they promised he could keep all the lawsuit funds and any funds from Terri's estate, he could be as involved or not involved as he wanted..if he'd only give guardianship to them so they could give Terri rehabilitation and let her live?That baffled me. Again, he said it was because Terri wouldn't want to live in such a state. But that never came up before, and the Schindlers claimed she had never said that, in fact , had expressed the opposite when discussing the Quinlan case.
Why did Michael not allow Terri out of her room? She couldn't even go to the front desk, and carollers at Christmas couldn't sing in her doorway. She had no stimulation, no pictures on the walls. She was perfectly able to go to her family for visits, go to the mall, but he didn't permit that. The woman wasn't even permitted outside. Why not? He claimed privacy reasons, but Terri wasn't famous when he put the kibosh on anything remotely rehabilitative or to make her life more comfortable. Yes, he believed she was completely non responsive, but what would it hurt to let her go outside? or to go home for Christmas? It sounds cruel and unusual to lock up a severely disabled woman for years like she was in a jail cell.
Why did Michael place her in a hospice, when she wasn't dying?
Was Terri actually as responsive and reactive as her family,some medical professionals, and the family's lawyers say she was? I admit, I was skeptical. I know how easily some people see responses when they are really non-purposeful reflexes, because they so desperately want to see their loved one improve. If Terri wasn't responsive and had no higher brain function..why didn't Michael allow more testing be done on her? Or professionals to officially assess her? Wouldn't it have proved his point?
Terri, unlike how she was sometimes described, wasn't on life support. She was on a feeding tube, that was it. Florida law changed so that a feeding tube could be considered a medical intervention to prolong life, life support equipment, when previously it wasn't. Terri was otherwise quite healthy, other than the effects of her brain injury and being cooped up with no rebab for 10 years. Her CNA's and nurses said they weren't even allowed to do passive range of motion with her and stretch her body. Michael's orders. Why in the world would he be against that?
Judge Greer also perplexed me. Why did he not meet Terri? Why did he refuse a new hearing? He seemed like he had his mind made up that Michael was right before anything else transpired. Why wasn't Terri ever given an attourney, or Michael's guardianship questioned when the staff at Terri's home had serious concerns and complaints about his aggression and inappropriate comments?
So many questions.
The religious right in this, however , put me off. Operation Rescue, Rush Limbaugh,. Glenn Beck, and other pundits that spoke out against the case I find repugnant. I have no use for their right wing rhetoric and it seemed like they were using Terri and the family's suffering to push their own agenda. I am also no fan of the Bush family. I think that the President and his brother, Governor Jeb, were wrong to try to override the courts. I didn't think that was how the justice system worked in America. I agreed that Terri needed a fresh, unbiased trial. But I don't think in a democratic society the President and numerous senators should be allowed to steamroll the court and push judges into changing their minds. That's turning advocacy into a dictatorship.
Terri's plight should have stayed private, and in true American fashion, it turned into a 3-ring circus, reminiscent of the OJ Simpson trial. Every nut on either side seemed to be clamouring for the spotlight. The "movement" grew so big they seemed to forget, ironically, about Terri.
Many years later, I was a social worker at a facility for individuals with severe and complex intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. I'd venture to say 98%, maybe more, were tube fed. Tube feeding is not aggressive or mysterious, it is simply a way to feed someone who can't safely swallow, via a simple tube in the stomach capped with a G-tube/peg that gets hooked up to an IV-type bag filled with formula.
Most of the residents were non-verbal, many seemingly non responsive. Some were born disabled, others became that way through devastating accidents. All needed round the clock care. Many were palliative and had life-limiting illnesses. A simple cold could kill one of them easily with their fragile respiratory systems.
But these residents all went to school or to a day program. They had sensory activities, went to a cottage on site, went for vacations, visited with relatives. They celebrated holidays. They had lives.
I struggled with the age-old question of when life begins and ends when working with these clients, but I learned something incredibly valuable: we were always taught to speak to the client as if they understood us, whether we knew they could or not. We didn't barge into rooms and always knocked, even if the person couldn't verbally admit us. We were strongly directed to treat the clients with dignity. Many of them surprised me. One boy that I thought was non-responsive would purposefully smile when his favourite cartoons were on, and get visibly upset when they were turned off. Every time. Another little girl who was said to have brain-stem function only got to know my voice, was visibly soothed by her favourite music and agitated when her parents had to leave.
I learned there is a wide spectrum of what we call consciousness, and life. People would ask me if working there was depressing. I said it was at times, but that was our problem. The clients there didn't seem depressed at all. It was us that were sad, not then.
Since then, with the changing face of health care and disability, these clients have pretty much all been discharged to the community, still with round the clock care. Many have flourished.
I can remember on a couple occasions when clients' feeding tubes were discontinued..when they were actively dying. A palliative care doctor explained that when someone is in the dying process, and in this case, comatose, the receptors for hunger and thirst shut down, so does the need for nourishment, so they pass peacefully.
Terri was not actively dying when her feeding tube was discontinued. Nor was she comatose. Whether or not she could feel pain on a cognitive level is unknown, but the description of how she died: her face and eyes hollowed out and haunted, her breathing rapid, her mouth and tongue dried,was horrifying. I take whatever the former priest Frank Pavone says with a saltmine, so I didn't believe his description of Terri's death when I first read of it. Then I read the family and lawyer accounts,and they were the same. All say Terri suffered for 13 days , dying a horrible death of dehydration. Removal of nourishment when someone is comatose and dying is one thing-but Terri wasn't, so it's not accurate to compare the two.
I thought Michael booting out the Schindlers when Terri was close to death was reprehensible. He had private time with her. could he not stand to be in the same room with them as Terri died? Put the differences aside? The Schindlers were also rushed out after Terri's death and not allowed to spend much time saying goodbye. That is incredibly cruel, and unnecessary.
If Terri was truly minimally conscious, the idea of a severely disabled person having their nourishment cut off because they are severely disabled is barbaric. We're just now beginning to learn more about the brain and how it works. Cases like Terry Wallis and Sarah Scantlin, people that woke up after 20 odd years in a coma, still disabled, but able to speak and remember things going on while they were comatose haunts me. What if Terri knew what was going on?
I agree that someone needs to be let go when the time comes, and that there also comes a time when someone is disabled or elderly to the point where CPR would do more harm than good. I had the terrible experience when my mom had a massive stroke of having to put her on comfort care when it was evident that she was going to die at any time, that there was unequivocally no hope of recovery whatsoever. The neurologist told me that even if she were placed on life support (and she wasn't, she was breathing on her own and had a nasal-gastric feeding tube, not considered aggressive life support), it would just prolong her dying.I loved my mother dearly, we were very close, and it broke my heart to let her go, but I knew then and know now that it was right. I was there when she died, and she simply slipped away from one breath to the next. If someone can have a "good" death, she had it.
But had my mother been in a state like Terri's, I don't know what I would have done. Like any loved one, I would have sought out any avenue for recovery, like Michael did at first. I don't know what I would want if left in that situation myself. If I were vegetative, with only brain stem function, I wouldn't want to live. The idea of being in a minimally conscicous or "locked in" state also sounds like sheer hell. But, unlike Terri, I can make my wishes known.
The line between life and death has blurred with advanced medical technology. I don't think we should aggressively delay natural death when it is imminent. There comes a time when treatment is futile and makes things worse. We need better palliative care, and better resources for the disabled.
I think the courts needed a better evaluation of Terri, and that wasn't allowed, which I find very strange. In a literal life or death situation, the very least she could have had was her own attourney, a new guradian ad litium, and a fresh hearing.
My heart goes out to the Schindlers. I can't imagine how they felt and still do. I also think of how incredibly hard this must have been for Michael, but in that same thought are the allegations he was a controlling, abusive spouse and he refused any stimulation or socialization for Terri. I hope for her sake those things weren't true.
Gibbs' extreme patriotism (calling America a "moral authority" made me want to wretch) and support of republicans, right-wing pundits and religious leaders, and the Bush administration, definitely put me at odds with him. He got very preachy and boastful about America near the end of the book.
Otherwise, this book was compelling and a good read. A disturbing read.
I think we have much to learn about the brain, that disabled people, even severe, shouldn't be "warehoused", and that all avenues of recovery and purpose should be sought before ending a life.
That terrified me, especially as they said he was still cognizant of what was going on around him. A relatively young man, locked in his own body, powerless, living with senior citizens (sometimes twice his age) in a personal care home? It sounded like hell. I wasn't sure what I would do if I had that disease, if I'd want to live, or how I would handle seeing a loved one go through that. All I know is that it depressed and disturbed me to no end, and his wife coming to see him every day was bittersweet.
The Schiavo case was discussed at work among staff. Staff I knew were mainly nurses and social workers. I vividly remember our manager saying, "I told my husband if I ever end up like Terri Schiavo, don't let me..end my life". and she was a born-again Christian.
I wasn't sure how I felt about the case, it was hard to know what was true and what was fiction. I'm in Canada, and the bombastic , tabloid-style American journalism left me confused about what was really going on. I think it did for a lot of people. There were protestors holding plastic spoons saying "let Terri's mother feed her". Teenagers with "life" on red duct tape stretched over their mouths. Others that were saying the Schindlers (Terri's family of origin) were completely delusional, that Terri was in an irreversible state of PVS,and they simply couldn't let go. Religious fanatics, right to die activists, they all clashed and had something to say, to weigh in on the case.
The Gibbs book didn't make my stance any clearer, but it did raise a lot of questions for me. I've read Michael Schiavo's book, and the book the Schindlers wrote. They are stark in their differences and in comparison. I will save my opinions of those for other books.
Gibbs is a self-professed , devout, conservative Christian, and this admittedly gave me some bias about the book. I know he is/was a lawyer, intelligent, reasonable, but I couldn't help but wonder if his religious beliefs about the right to life at all costs clouded his judgment of Terri's functioning and outcome.
That said, this book, like the Schindlers' book, raised some important and disturbing questions and thoughts for me:
Why did Michael Schiavo want so much to stay married to Terri, when he had (understandably) moved on with Jodi Centonze and had 2 children? He said it was so her right to die wishes would be followed. I didn't know that when Michael first pursued a malpractice suit against Terri's doctors, this never came up. He pledged to look after Terri forever, and the idea that she didn't want to be kept alive never surfaced. You'd think it would have. I don't know if as time went on and it was obvious Terri wasn't going to recover that he changed his tune, but why weren't her alleged wishes not to be kept alive not mentioned in those hearings?
Why did Micheal refuse to relinquish care to the Schindlers when they promised he could keep all the lawsuit funds and any funds from Terri's estate, he could be as involved or not involved as he wanted..if he'd only give guardianship to them so they could give Terri rehabilitation and let her live?That baffled me. Again, he said it was because Terri wouldn't want to live in such a state. But that never came up before, and the Schindlers claimed she had never said that, in fact , had expressed the opposite when discussing the Quinlan case.
Why did Michael not allow Terri out of her room? She couldn't even go to the front desk, and carollers at Christmas couldn't sing in her doorway. She had no stimulation, no pictures on the walls. She was perfectly able to go to her family for visits, go to the mall, but he didn't permit that. The woman wasn't even permitted outside. Why not? He claimed privacy reasons, but Terri wasn't famous when he put the kibosh on anything remotely rehabilitative or to make her life more comfortable. Yes, he believed she was completely non responsive, but what would it hurt to let her go outside? or to go home for Christmas? It sounds cruel and unusual to lock up a severely disabled woman for years like she was in a jail cell.
Why did Michael place her in a hospice, when she wasn't dying?
Was Terri actually as responsive and reactive as her family,some medical professionals, and the family's lawyers say she was? I admit, I was skeptical. I know how easily some people see responses when they are really non-purposeful reflexes, because they so desperately want to see their loved one improve. If Terri wasn't responsive and had no higher brain function..why didn't Michael allow more testing be done on her? Or professionals to officially assess her? Wouldn't it have proved his point?
Terri, unlike how she was sometimes described, wasn't on life support. She was on a feeding tube, that was it. Florida law changed so that a feeding tube could be considered a medical intervention to prolong life, life support equipment, when previously it wasn't. Terri was otherwise quite healthy, other than the effects of her brain injury and being cooped up with no rebab for 10 years. Her CNA's and nurses said they weren't even allowed to do passive range of motion with her and stretch her body. Michael's orders. Why in the world would he be against that?
Judge Greer also perplexed me. Why did he not meet Terri? Why did he refuse a new hearing? He seemed like he had his mind made up that Michael was right before anything else transpired. Why wasn't Terri ever given an attourney, or Michael's guardianship questioned when the staff at Terri's home had serious concerns and complaints about his aggression and inappropriate comments?
So many questions.
The religious right in this, however , put me off. Operation Rescue, Rush Limbaugh,. Glenn Beck, and other pundits that spoke out against the case I find repugnant. I have no use for their right wing rhetoric and it seemed like they were using Terri and the family's suffering to push their own agenda. I am also no fan of the Bush family. I think that the President and his brother, Governor Jeb, were wrong to try to override the courts. I didn't think that was how the justice system worked in America. I agreed that Terri needed a fresh, unbiased trial. But I don't think in a democratic society the President and numerous senators should be allowed to steamroll the court and push judges into changing their minds. That's turning advocacy into a dictatorship.
Terri's plight should have stayed private, and in true American fashion, it turned into a 3-ring circus, reminiscent of the OJ Simpson trial. Every nut on either side seemed to be clamouring for the spotlight. The "movement" grew so big they seemed to forget, ironically, about Terri.
Many years later, I was a social worker at a facility for individuals with severe and complex intellectual, developmental, and physical disabilities. I'd venture to say 98%, maybe more, were tube fed. Tube feeding is not aggressive or mysterious, it is simply a way to feed someone who can't safely swallow, via a simple tube in the stomach capped with a G-tube/peg that gets hooked up to an IV-type bag filled with formula.
Most of the residents were non-verbal, many seemingly non responsive. Some were born disabled, others became that way through devastating accidents. All needed round the clock care. Many were palliative and had life-limiting illnesses. A simple cold could kill one of them easily with their fragile respiratory systems.
But these residents all went to school or to a day program. They had sensory activities, went to a cottage on site, went for vacations, visited with relatives. They celebrated holidays. They had lives.
I struggled with the age-old question of when life begins and ends when working with these clients, but I learned something incredibly valuable: we were always taught to speak to the client as if they understood us, whether we knew they could or not. We didn't barge into rooms and always knocked, even if the person couldn't verbally admit us. We were strongly directed to treat the clients with dignity. Many of them surprised me. One boy that I thought was non-responsive would purposefully smile when his favourite cartoons were on, and get visibly upset when they were turned off. Every time. Another little girl who was said to have brain-stem function only got to know my voice, was visibly soothed by her favourite music and agitated when her parents had to leave.
I learned there is a wide spectrum of what we call consciousness, and life. People would ask me if working there was depressing. I said it was at times, but that was our problem. The clients there didn't seem depressed at all. It was us that were sad, not then.
Since then, with the changing face of health care and disability, these clients have pretty much all been discharged to the community, still with round the clock care. Many have flourished.
I can remember on a couple occasions when clients' feeding tubes were discontinued..when they were actively dying. A palliative care doctor explained that when someone is in the dying process, and in this case, comatose, the receptors for hunger and thirst shut down, so does the need for nourishment, so they pass peacefully.
Terri was not actively dying when her feeding tube was discontinued. Nor was she comatose. Whether or not she could feel pain on a cognitive level is unknown, but the description of how she died: her face and eyes hollowed out and haunted, her breathing rapid, her mouth and tongue dried,was horrifying. I take whatever the former priest Frank Pavone says with a saltmine, so I didn't believe his description of Terri's death when I first read of it. Then I read the family and lawyer accounts,and they were the same. All say Terri suffered for 13 days , dying a horrible death of dehydration. Removal of nourishment when someone is comatose and dying is one thing-but Terri wasn't, so it's not accurate to compare the two.
I thought Michael booting out the Schindlers when Terri was close to death was reprehensible. He had private time with her. could he not stand to be in the same room with them as Terri died? Put the differences aside? The Schindlers were also rushed out after Terri's death and not allowed to spend much time saying goodbye. That is incredibly cruel, and unnecessary.
If Terri was truly minimally conscious, the idea of a severely disabled person having their nourishment cut off because they are severely disabled is barbaric. We're just now beginning to learn more about the brain and how it works. Cases like Terry Wallis and Sarah Scantlin, people that woke up after 20 odd years in a coma, still disabled, but able to speak and remember things going on while they were comatose haunts me. What if Terri knew what was going on?
I agree that someone needs to be let go when the time comes, and that there also comes a time when someone is disabled or elderly to the point where CPR would do more harm than good. I had the terrible experience when my mom had a massive stroke of having to put her on comfort care when it was evident that she was going to die at any time, that there was unequivocally no hope of recovery whatsoever. The neurologist told me that even if she were placed on life support (and she wasn't, she was breathing on her own and had a nasal-gastric feeding tube, not considered aggressive life support), it would just prolong her dying.I loved my mother dearly, we were very close, and it broke my heart to let her go, but I knew then and know now that it was right. I was there when she died, and she simply slipped away from one breath to the next. If someone can have a "good" death, she had it.
But had my mother been in a state like Terri's, I don't know what I would have done. Like any loved one, I would have sought out any avenue for recovery, like Michael did at first. I don't know what I would want if left in that situation myself. If I were vegetative, with only brain stem function, I wouldn't want to live. The idea of being in a minimally conscicous or "locked in" state also sounds like sheer hell. But, unlike Terri, I can make my wishes known.
The line between life and death has blurred with advanced medical technology. I don't think we should aggressively delay natural death when it is imminent. There comes a time when treatment is futile and makes things worse. We need better palliative care, and better resources for the disabled.
I think the courts needed a better evaluation of Terri, and that wasn't allowed, which I find very strange. In a literal life or death situation, the very least she could have had was her own attourney, a new guradian ad litium, and a fresh hearing.
My heart goes out to the Schindlers. I can't imagine how they felt and still do. I also think of how incredibly hard this must have been for Michael, but in that same thought are the allegations he was a controlling, abusive spouse and he refused any stimulation or socialization for Terri. I hope for her sake those things weren't true.
Gibbs' extreme patriotism (calling America a "moral authority" made me want to wretch) and support of republicans, right-wing pundits and religious leaders, and the Bush administration, definitely put me at odds with him. He got very preachy and boastful about America near the end of the book.
Otherwise, this book was compelling and a good read. A disturbing read.
I think we have much to learn about the brain, that disabled people, even severe, shouldn't be "warehoused", and that all avenues of recovery and purpose should be sought before ending a life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 21, 2015
A frightening story of a woman who, although she could understand conversation and respond with facial expressions, was deemed by her husband to be a vegetable and taken by his instruction off life support.
She died a horrible death from dehydration, much more painful than starvation.
If there is any lesson to be learned from this, it is that individuals should be able to write their living wills to give rights to people whom they trust rather than to people who automatically have these rights because they are spouses.
Legal relationships should not supersede a person's individual choice of end-of-life treatment, medical treatment, visitors, etc. Yes, maybe a person is required to pay for medical treatment of a spouse, and maybe that person no longer wishes to pay for it, but when a person wishes to remain alive, the spouse should not have the right to override those wishes, especially if there are others, such as parents, who are willing to pay the bills.
Read this book, if you have the courage. it is not an easy read.
She died a horrible death from dehydration, much more painful than starvation.
If there is any lesson to be learned from this, it is that individuals should be able to write their living wills to give rights to people whom they trust rather than to people who automatically have these rights because they are spouses.
Legal relationships should not supersede a person's individual choice of end-of-life treatment, medical treatment, visitors, etc. Yes, maybe a person is required to pay for medical treatment of a spouse, and maybe that person no longer wishes to pay for it, but when a person wishes to remain alive, the spouse should not have the right to override those wishes, especially if there are others, such as parents, who are willing to pay the bills.
Read this book, if you have the courage. it is not an easy read.
December 13, 2008
What a moving book! David Gibbs, the attorney who fought for Terri Schiavo's life, tells Terri's story, why he fought for her, and what a sad and sick thing it was that she was put to death. David Gibbs unlocks secrets that were kept concerning Terri's state of health, and tells the truth about everything that was lied about. I think I benefited from reading this book, and I'm proud of how God used Mr. Gibbs in Terri's life as well as her family's. I recommend it for ages 15+
April 4, 2016
I wouldn't want Terri's husband in my family!
I can't believe that a husband could be so unending cruel. I feel so bad for Terri's parents and the hell they had to go thru watching their daughter die for no reason. It is a heartbreaking story.
I can't believe that a husband could be so unending cruel. I feel so bad for Terri's parents and the hell they had to go thru watching their daughter die for no reason. It is a heartbreaking story.
August 30, 2008
Good book for those that are pro-life.
August 12, 2012
A book that will prompt thought about the issue of "pulling the plug" of people who are terminally ill and on life support. While it could be a tearjerker for some people, I would still recommend it.
September 2, 2012
Very one sided however it motivated me into research and then another book on the same case!
Read
April 9, 2012Absolutely a great book.
March 10, 2021
I have a lot of questions about this case. However, my biggest question is how this entire case was decided on one man’s hearsay personal opinion. Hardly any cases in the US would have been decided by this. It’s also sad that the judge decided on a slow painful death instead of life.
The fact that Michael was seeing another woman and had kids with her, it doesn’t make sense why he wouldn’t just give her to her parents. He probably felt too guilty, but that’s my opinion.
I thought it was a very good book, there was a lot of information about the case that I did not know due to main stream media.
The fact that Michael was seeing another woman and had kids with her, it doesn’t make sense why he wouldn’t just give her to her parents. He probably felt too guilty, but that’s my opinion.
I thought it was a very good book, there was a lot of information about the case that I did not know due to main stream media.
November 24, 2024
I really enjoyed reading about this heart breaking case. However, 2/3 was the case, family and legal dynamics, etc but the last 1/3 was too preachy. I’m a devout Christian ordained UMC minister who happens to work in a hospital. This story (written by the attorney of Terri Schiavo vilifies the medical professionals in some parts. That said, I have to realize this was in the 90’s and much has changed. Overall I’m “on the side” that Terri and her parents got a very raw deal. Gods judgement on Terri’s husband will be the last word.
May 4, 2025
I remember this playing out in real time, and how completely horrifying it was to follow. I can’t even begin to imagine how devastated and completely defeated her family must have felt. This was a very sad and dark day that makes no sense at all. No one should be starved to death! How barbaric for Terri and how gut wrenching for her family. Her so called “husband” should have lost all day once he moved on with his life and started a family with someone else. This was so wrong on so many levels. A very telling and informative read for sure.
June 11, 2022
Attorney David Gibbs painted not only a gruesome picture surrounding the beloved Terri Schiavo’s untimely death, but also one of an abandonment by the American people and her own husband.
The perfectly arranged convictions of not only Gibbs’ faith, but also raw scripture throughout this piece of non fiction was definitely appreciated.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about what euthanasia and medical procedures truly entail with both the medical AND legal fields!
The perfectly arranged convictions of not only Gibbs’ faith, but also raw scripture throughout this piece of non fiction was definitely appreciated.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking to learn more about what euthanasia and medical procedures truly entail with both the medical AND legal fields!
June 1, 2019
Told in a series of clunky flashbacks this is about a brain damaged woman who lives for a decade in peace. Then her husband decides to pull her feeding tube. Her family goes to GREAT lengths in efforts to save her from starvation, even getting legislation passed.
Ultimately a sad read, surreal scenes as POLICE GUARD THIS SICK WOMAN FROM GETTING...FOOD! Includes B/W images. RIP.
Ultimately a sad read, surreal scenes as POLICE GUARD THIS SICK WOMAN FROM GETTING...FOOD! Includes B/W images. RIP.
January 21, 2024
The author was the lawyer for Terri’s parents. He tried to save daughters life. The husband had the court remove her feeding tube. He said she was a vegetable but lawyer proved she was not.
“ if I write anymore I’ll spoil it for the readers but when done with book I had questions. Book made me mad, sickened, confused”.
“ if I write anymore I’ll spoil it for the readers but when done with book I had questions. Book made me mad, sickened, confused”.
June 23, 2022
It started off good but then got way to religious for me
August 30, 2015
I followed the Terri Schiavo case and wrote letters on her behalf when she was being killed ten years ago, and I was appalled that a beloved daughter and sister could be starved to death when loving parents wanted to care for her. This book includes a lot of behind-the-scenes details that make the situation even more horrific. Roe v. Wade was the first major turning point moving us from a culture of life to a culture of death. Terri Schiavo's cruel death ordered by a judge was, I believe, the second turning point. That case set a precedent that puts at risk all of us who are disabled, elderly, or otherwise deemed undesirable because someone decides our lives have no value. How can this happen in this country? I couldn't figure that out ten years ago, and that's a question that David Gibbs, one of the lawyers who fought valiantly for Terri's life and the author of this book, also asks.
August 19, 2015
Wow. We lived in Pinellas County during this time, and remember all the publicity.So happy to hear the story from the parents' point of view. So much is different from what was reported at the time. Great job, David Gibbs! I will be evaluating my Living Will this week. Highly recommend for all to read.
February 19, 2016
Fantastic
This book really opened my eyes on a spiritual and political level. A must read for every American. A very sad story and shock at how a Judge can play God.
This book really opened my eyes on a spiritual and political level. A must read for every American. A very sad story and shock at how a Judge can play God.
October 20, 2023
I'm not sure how to leave a review on this one. It was the most difficult book I've ever read, emotionally. It was an interesting read, well written, eye opening, and left me shocked & angry.
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