SoCal businessman offers $1 million in bid to keep Terri Schiavo alive

Posted on Thu, Mar. 10, 2005


SoCal businessman offers $1 million in bid to keep Terri Schiavo alive

Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - A San Diego-area businessman on Thursday offered $1 million to Terri Schiavo's husband in an attempt to keep the brain-damaged Florida woman alive.

Robert Herring said he would pay Michael Schiavo the money if he transfers the legal right to decide his wife's medical treatment to her parents, who oppose removing a feeding tube keeping the woman alive. The offer will remain on the table until Monday, Herring said in a statement released by high-profile attorney Gloria Allred.

Michael Schiavo has obtained a court order to remove the feeding tube March 18 and Herring said he felt "compelled to act" before then in hopes of preventing her from dying. He adding that he has had no personal contact with Michael Schiavo or Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and was not affiliated with any organization involved in the case.

"I believe very strongly that there are medical advances happening around the globe that very shortly could have a positive impact on Terri's condition. I have seen miraculous recoveries occur through the use of stem cells in patients suffering a variety of conditions," Herring said.

more...
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/11104168.htm

She left no written instructions that asked that she be taken off nutrition and hydration. The court has sentenced her to death based on hearsay.

Her cerebral cortex is gone. How is someone without a brain going to experience the pain of starvation, Mrs. Science?

... but then again... it's not like it hasn't been pointed out dozens and dozens of times before. People only hear what they want to hear, and they ignore the rest.

force an entirely unnatural life onto her?

and fail to understand. Those of us who have, know what the condition of this woman is and has been for the past fourteen years. After her husband had a hands on experience with those in similar siturations, able to review medical reports, able to understand brain scans, was when he admitted to himself that his wife was indeed not anything more than a physical body being kept going by formula.

Those, incredibly, who have not had any hands on experience, believe she is smiling when those who have experience instantly recognize that as not a smile but a neurological grimace. Those who have no experience, incredibly refuse to believe the diagnosis and the prognosis of medical doctors, whose experience is far beyond those who think this woman is smiling. These are the same people who believe a statue cries blood, and who believe sincerely in the multitudes of ridiculous Christian urban legends that are sent out along the web. I

The legal question has been duly decided after many attempts on the part of the parents and Sam Seder's interview with the Ambassador, {forgot his name} an obvious Christian born again fundamentalist, proves the utter misplaced interest in this case by people who would hope to keep ths woman's body alive out of religious concerns, while at the same time, being so cruel and fanatic, as to disown and then throw their own teenage daughter out of the house because she is gay.

She's dead. She won't feel a thing when they disconnect the tube. SHE CAN'T - SHE'S NOT THERE ANYMORE.

again on her own, even though she doesn't have a brain that is capable of thinking!

if another billionaire will come forward offering to buy brains for the impaired among us whose current brains haven't been able to figure out what NO CEREBRAL CORTEX means. :shrug:

that he can spend quality time with her 24/7.

This man is living with another woman and has children with her. I am not against assisted suicide, but in this case, I think Micheal Schiavo is just interested in her life insurance. If the whole family decides to remove her feeding tube, then more power to them, it should have been done years ago, but why should Micheal Schiavo's decision count more than Teri's Schiavo's parents? This man is only her husband in name. They should have had a divorce a long time ago. Shame on Jeb Bush and his lot for making this family tragedy into an example.

Her husband is her next of kin.

but it just doesn't feel right either way. There's no hope for Teri Schiavo, but can you imagine another person making the decision for your kid? As outsiders, we will never know their family secrets.

their family secrets, thanks to her idiotic parents.

Maybe her parents are just leting the prolife nuts using her as an example. Maybe her parents are too attached to her to let her go. Maybe Teri Schiavo and Michael Schiavo weren't that close to begin with. Maybe Teri Schiavo didn't mind living as a shell or maybe she didn't want to live like this at all. Maybe Michael Schiavo really loved her or maybe he didn't give a crap about her at all. We don't know any of it for sure and that is why I am not comfortable with the judgement when the family fail to reach a concensus.

She has no cerebral cortex. There is no chance of recovery. Her parents are ignoring the facts. I can't blame them for being emotionally attached to her, but the person laying in that bed is no longer their daughter. She died a long time ago.

I honestly believe her husband is the one playing with a full deck here, regardless of what his 'motives' are. Her parents are not paying attention to the fact that her brain is mush. Did you see the xrays someone posted here? Her brain is mostly water. For God's sake, let her go. It is just cruel to keep her 'alive' any longer.

to drop her case against Clinton. Paula wanted the money, though, but he turned out to be a fake. I remember her big grin as she fingered the $1M check.

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Why does everyone and Adam's nephew think this is their business?

As IF!

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if he's so certain she'll come out of it.

on this story.

Congratulations!!

or does reading make there brains hurt.

Terri's cerebral cortex has atrophied and been replaced with spinal
fluid. The infantryman had an intact cerebral cortex.

or does reading make there brains hurt.

Wealth TV
Herring Broadcasting, Inc. launched the “Wealth TV” network on June 1, 2004. WealthTV is a lifestyles and entertainment network designed to have broad appeal, providing a behind the scenes look into how the wealthy achieved and enjoy their success.

How is this even a debate? SHE'S DEAD. Her body just lives on due to medical intervention.

help. even towards people who have survived horrible accidents and are deep in debt in medical bills.

... for advances in medical science that would allow some to "grow a new brain." It's right-wing self-interest in action. :evilgrin:

instead of keeping a brain dead mass of human tissue alive.

Right wingers only care about the fetus and the brain dead. The rest of us can suffer.

as long as he's tossing money around.

are paying her medical bills while her parents are asking for donations to pay her legal bills

He seems to put a lot of hope in stem cells.

Even if there's no hope for Terri with stem cells at this time... is he trying to change fundies' minds about stem cells? Or soften their stance against stem cell research?

Just being devil's advocate. If I were in a position similar to Terri, I would hope my wishes to die with dignity were respected.

where is it in the Dem handbook that it says
wanting someone to be able to stay alive = "pro-life?
-anti abortion is a different issue completely.
sometimes I wonder about people who profess to know the "truth".

jeez !

What a jerk!
:eyes:

1 - Gratuitous promise, couldn't be enforced.
or
2 - Impossible to transfer medical power of attorney for money.

But if the husband was to go for the offer, he would be tarred as a money hungry opportunist, which is what the right-wing wants to do anyway. So, it is probably a trick.

If he wants to donate that kind of money, I'm sure he could find a worthy cause in his own community that might actually help some people.

When you become a millionaire, you can donate to whatever causes you deem worthy.

It's gone. But it is disgusting how her right wing parents choose to keep her alive. Neither of the parents showed much interest in visiting her until the right wing showed up wishing her to be used as a poster child for pro life movement. Her parents and their backers sicken me.

Normal brain scan:




Terri Schiavo's brain scan on 11/13/2000:



The dark blue spaces are voids filled with spinal fluid. The light blue spaces are remnant brain tissue floating in the spinal fluid. And her brain has continued to deteriorate since then.

but I've never seen them, Thanks for posting the photo's.

I saw a special on tv a while back -- a girl who was actually "missing" half of her brain-literally half her head was "hollow"-
Amazing story.

she learned to function normally-
completely normally.
seems circuits can re-route themselves out of necessity.

Sure it's best to have ALL your brain ,
but your "mind" is not your "brain.

That the woman has no cerebral cortex left, right? You can suffer all sorts of brain damage and have your 'mind' survive, as there is lots of redundancy built in, but you cannot lose the entire component that contains the 'mind' or 'self awareness' or 'consciousness' or whatever you want to call it.

Terri has been reduced to a reflex-only entity.

I really didnt think he would. They offered him $700,000 once before.

pretty sick to want someone dead bad enough to turn down a million-
or is the book deal even greener?

Sorry, Bob, but you should read a newspaper. Stem cell research ain't gonna help her with the current administration. Maybe in California, but definitely not in Florida.

Sold to the freeper, one suffering woman. Nothing like auctioning off sick and infirmed.

:puke:

The GOP is screaming as to is he nuts. One mil can buy a lot. You think her husband cared about other things? The GOP can't comprehend that. Money is everything to them.

don't know that her cerebral cortex is gone. There's so much misinformation and propaganda floating around.

Her cerebral cortex (the brain) is completely gone. It is now spinal fluid. It is disgusting she's being used as a poster child for the right to life.

To think that he, a total stranger, with no stake in this, and nothing emotionally invested in the situation, could just waltz in and change the outcome with a bribe.

Asshole. Crude, self-absorbed, rich Asshole!!!!


Is it just me, or does this whole thing stink of a right wing set up, and one last attempt at character assassination of Michael Schiavo?






:grr:

If you want to call somebody names, sling a few in the direction of the husband who wants to starve his wife to death so he can marry the woman he took up with after her illness.

I have no problem with him "moving on" when his wife is in no condition to be a wife to him but can't he spell d-i-v-o-r-c-e?

And don't forget to hurl a few epithets at the judge who has sentenced Terri Schiavo to death on the basis of hearsay testimony from a husband who's ready to remarry as soon as she dies.

:eyes:

If she'd ever written down her thoughts about end of life care, it would be an entirely different situation. As it is, it may be murder.

"If you want to call somebody names, sling a few in the direction of the husband who wants to starve his wife to death so he can marry the woman he took up with after her illness."

And just how do you know that he "wants to starve his wife to death..."?? The amount of utter projection here is amazing.

So quick to condemn someone who just might be carrying out his wife's wishes...sheesh.

There was testimony from other family members, not just Michael Schiavo, regarding her intent. Yes, it would be better if she had recorded her wishes, but the idea that Michael Schiavo wants to "kill" his wife so he can re-marry is a non-starter. Why wouldn't he divorce her if that's all he cared about?

onenote

I've no interest in hearing them.

peddle your dense molecular structure up a steep hill-
and when you get to the top you may realize intelligent people differ on issues
-it doesn't make them on the "bad" team if they disagree with "you"

with us or aginzt us eh?

what team was that you say you are on?

write on

If so, then what happens if, like Terri, you have not written a HC-POA and end up in a brain-dead persistent vegetative state? Who decides what your treatment is?

your guardian ad-litem can do what Michale Schiavo asked the court to do---determine what is in your best interests.

Here is a website that is non-partisan and has the court documents. Read the judges opinions.

www.abstractappeal.com

Once you accept that there is a right to die, a right to refuse medical treatment, you have to accept that the courts and Mr. Schiavo have acted in Terri's interest and that the opposition is sabatoging the right to die.

That doesn't coincide with my own.

You however offered neither one.

Your comments in a nutshell were: Slime the husband, Slime the judge, "It's murder"


Thanks for the pithy analysis.

Seems like I've heard these insights before.


Oh yeah, I have. From the wingnuts, ad nauseam.

These people are animating a corpse.
We're not talking about "end of life care" for a human being here.
We're talking about whether we should or should not stop animating a corpse.

Answer: We should.

Interesting. So her brain and memories and cognitive abilities will spontaneously regenerate after being dead for so many years? And all the doctors and x-rays are "hearsay evidence"? Based on what, your knee-jerk emotions?

until she is allowed to die. Otherwise her parents will become her medical guardians and she will be kept 'alive' for another decade or so.

Have it even occurred to you that he could be doing it because he thinks people like Terri could be helped by the new research?

The guy thinks Terri can be helped because of advances in research. For this, you called him an asshole. What exactly is your problem? I thought DU supported stem cell research. Or is DU opposing it now?

connection.
If Terry had lived in any other state it would be a non issue.

We have not heard the last from Jeb.

How low will the RW stoop to get publicity and fire up thier fundy base who no doubt feel kinship with the equally braindead Terry.

BBC
A US tycoon has offered $1m (£750,000) to the husband of a badly brain-damaged woman to stop him from removing her feeding-tube next week.

Robert Herring, a supporter of stem cell research, said he would pay Michael Schiavo if he gave up his right to decide his wife's medical treatment.

Terri Schiavo has been incapacitated since she collapsed at home in 1990.

Her parents, who want to keep her alive, have been locked in a bitter legal dispute with her husband.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4339033.stm

counter offer?

??

Can't tthey leave those people alone?

But he's not going to do that. He wants the free publicity to show what kind of a WHACK JOB he really is

This blows a huge hole in that theory. There is no money left and Michael Schiavo rejected the offer.

there have been other DU members claiming Michael Shiavo only cared for money also.

but this really does weaken their argument.

I'm a nurse in a sub-acute unit of a convalesnt hospital. We have a 40 year old woman who has been "brain-dead",after an auto accident, for 11 years now. There is NO brain activity, she's on a ventilator, tube feeding and morphine. The husband of this woman wanted to "pull the plug" on her right after the accident and the prognosis. That was her wish not to be kept alive under those conditions. But the RW, fundie, Duncan Hunter fellating parents took the husband to court and won power of attorney to keep her alive. "Jesus will come and heal her someday", they say.
They also express to the staff here that "Cindy just told me in her own way that she wants apple juice this time",(through her G-Tube)And "Cindy is telling us she needs suction(trachael)and pain meds... Its really pathetic. This poor woman just lies there, gaining weight due to metabolic problems, and let a ventilator breath for her while american flags, pictures of Aryan Jesus, Ronald Reagan and Alan Keyes hang on the walls and RW radio(Rush, Savage and Roger Hedgecock), play constantly.
This is a very sad situation and IMO this woman has ZERO quality of life.
I truly dont understand these people.

for 4 days after an auto accident - head trauma, brain swelling - During those 4 days I: heard & recognized voices (family, friends); had a stream of consciousness 'movie' playing out in my head, which incorporated medical procedures, temperature changes, smells, and people visting me; and had a 'mystical' revelation about my son's future. As a result, I completely understand 'brain dead'. Once the screen goes dark, the movie is over, friends 'n neighbors. No amount of electricity passing through any machines is going to power it up again. I have explained this 2 my children. That clinging 2 a 'miracle' yadda, yadda is denial and viciously cruel.

when I worked in a hospital, except the parents of the child were supporters of President Clinton so I'm guessing probably not RW's.
Is political affiliation the sole determining factor in parents wishes for their children?

I would say... the very same fundie assholes who want to keep people "alive" under these conditions would never allow them to be cured using stem cell therapy.

Similar to the hypocracy of those anti-abortion people who also don't approve of birth control. (I know that not all who are against abortions are also against birth control, but those who are I find particularly reprehensible).

helped by stem cell research? Do people here on DU believe in stem cell research or not? Isn't it possible the guy thinks there is hope for her?

for once again proving the attacks against him, coordinated by right-wing fundies, are all LIES.

How so-called Christians can continually LIE like they do is beyond me. Friggin' LIARS!

It truly is a disgusting situation, made that way by the Fundy RW.

and I'm shocked so many people here can't see that.

and I feel that this issue is way beyond the classic "stereotyping" political tendencies.

I think she can live, should live, and probably will live-
--so there!

I've been to every anti- Iraq invasion protest in Los Angeles-

my old D.U screen name is Auntee War-

I support animal rights-

I hate Chimp-

So face the facts that people disagree on this issue within "our" own realm.

In other words, you have no right to die? No right to refuse medical treatment?

Her brain is gone. SHE is gone. Let her go with dignity.

By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - A man fighting to have a feeding tube removed from his brain-damaged wife on Friday rejected a California businessman's offer to pay him $1 million to give up his right to decide her medical treatment.

Thursday's offer, which the husband's attorney labeled "offensive," came hours after a judge refused to let the state's social services agency intervene — a move that would have delayed next week's scheduled removal of the tube.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=9&u=/ap/20050312/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman

I'm so confused. Haven't the righties been telling us that the evil wicked Mr. Schiavo was just in it for the money? Help me out here.

I knew there would be some way to keep the narrative going.

"Of course he couldn't take the money in public. He'd look like the money-grubber we all know him to be."

"This proves he is un-American!"

Should her husband enforce her wishes or should the Bush admin and her parents who wish her to be a poster child for their political agenda force her to be kept alive without privacy and dignity.

That he was offered money for his wife in the first place?

Jeeez... let the woman die in dignity.

Maybe he wants to help her to live, instead of dying.
Anyhow, isn't stem cell research a good thing?

this is not the same topic as "Man offers $1M to Mr. Schiavo". The offer and the offer's rejection are not the same thing.

Good for him.

and for some reason many of them aren't responding to this thread.

$1m doesn't go very far in US healthcare these days.

cost of health care.

Randall Terri, Jeb Bush et al. a million bucks to crawl back under the rock whence they came.