A few months ago, I became aware of the very disturbing situation involving a woman in Florida named Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Terri collapsed under mysterious circumstances in 1991 when her heart stopped, depriving her brain of oxygen for several minutes. Although Terri has severe brain damage, she is NOT brain dead. Most news reports state that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state, however this diagnosis is disputed by many doctors.  Her body functions normally on it's own - she requires no artificial life support. She only required a feeding tube for nutrition and hydration. And it's possible that she could be taught to swallow, so that even this would not be necessary. Her husband refuses to even allow tests to be done to see if she can swallow.

Her husband wants to have the feeding tube removed, and let her die a slow and painful death of dehydration and starvation. While Terri has no living will, or any type of written document that expresses what her wishes would be in this situation, Michael Schiavo claims that after watching "some movie on TV", Terri made the comment that she "wouldn't want to live that way".  He "remembered" this so-called wish of hers only after receiving a $1 million plus medical malpractice lawsuit - of which most of the proceeds were to be used for Terri's care and rehabilitation.  Should Terri die, any money left in this fund would go to him as the surviving spouse.

After receiving the proceeds from the malpractice lawsuit, Michael Schiavo STOPPED ALL REHABILITATION TREATMENT.  Not even basic range of motion therapy is allowed.  Within weeks of receiving this money, he put a "Do Not Resuscitate" order in her medical records.   At one point shortly after receiving the money, he ordered her doctors NOT to treat a life-threatening infection.  He has severely restricted her visitors, keeping her isolated from the outside world.  He even cut off visitation rights of her priest.   When her wheelchair broke, he wouldn't allow it to be repaired, so she can't even be taken outside to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  He has refused to allow gynecological exams - he won't even allow her teeth to be cleaned (and I quote: "Her teeth are fine - she doesn't use them to eat").   No flowers or cards or gifts are allowed in Terri's room.  Terri has been living in a hospice (even though she is NOT dying) for over 3 years.  In the meantime, her "loving husband" has been living with another woman since 1995, and now has two children with her.  And perhaps most disturbing of all are the mysterious circumstances of her collapse.  A bone scan that was taken a year after her collapse shows severe trauma and broken bones, the cause of which has never been investigated.

Her parents, along with her brother and sister, have been fighting tirelessly to keep her husband from removing Terri's feeding tube.  They want to take Terri home, care for her, and get her the rehabilitation therapy that she has been denied for 10 years.  Terri is NOT PVS.  She responds to her parents, and to others.  You can see this for yourself in this video.  You can see more videos at  http://www.terrisfight.org.  Terri's parents believe that Terri does not want to die, but wants a chance to live - and a chance at the therapy she has been denied.

Unbelievably, Florida District Judge George Greer (with the blessings of the Florida appeals court) has no problem in sentencing Terri to death based on hearsay evidence from a spouse that has everything to gain from her death.  She has actually had her feeding tube removed twice. The first time another judge ordered it reinserted, and the last time, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida legislature stepped in to have it re-inserted. Terri's husband continues to work relentlessly to have Terri killed. And Terri's parents, and thousands of Terri supporters are working tirelessly to keep him from succeeding.

This is NOT a right-to-die case. Terri is NOT dying. Terri is disabled, and for the past 10 years, she has been denied the necessary treatment and rehabilitation that could help her condition improve.

As I learned more about the Terri Schiavo case, I became aware of many more cases of incapacitated people who had had their feeding tubes removed, and was shocked to find out that this is a routine practice, usually done secretly, unknown to anyone other than the families and doctors involved. Generally it involves people who have been diagnosed as being in a Persistent Vegetative State. The problem with this is that PVS is misdiagnosed more than 40% of the time. Yet doctors will tell the families that there is no hope for recovery, and, essentially, they are "better off dead". Oftentimes the family will allow the tube to be removed because the doctor says it is the best thing to do. Other times there are other motivating factors, such as the guardian standing to gain from life insurance or the inheritance of the patient's assets, or simply because the patient is burdensome or "inconvenient".  In certain states, "right to die" laws make it very easy to put to death disabled or inconvenient family members.

I have put together this website so that others would be aware of the "culture of death" that has been taking over our country throughout the past few decades. Unfortunately, there are many more victims that we will never know about.  My hope is to bring awareness of the damage to our society that is being done by this de-valuation of human life.

Please read through these articles - SEE WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON - and help fight the culture of death that is permeating our society.

And please visit www.terrisfight.org to learn the truth about Terri Schindler-Schiavo.