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Terri
Schiavo Polls And Reporting Mislead Public
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2005
The
Following Statement Can Be Attributed To Nevada LIFE
President
Don Nelson
New
polls show that Americans overwhelmingly reject saving
Terri Schiavo’s life. At least they reject
saving her when presented with the media assumptions
about the case. The preambles to these polls,
along with the steady drumbeat of media reporting,
tell the public that Terri is in a persistent
vegetative state or brain dead, has no chance of
recovery and, is being kept alive by extreme life
support measures against her will. The Media
Research Center examined network news stories from
March 17-21. Not one questioned Mike Schiavo’s
credibility or put on a dissenting doctor. When
those assumptions are presented as true, it’s no
wonder the public believes her life should be ended.
But
these points are all hotly disputed and the results
would be far different if these facts were told.
1.
Michael Schiavo’s credibility is suspicious.
Mike Schiavo has two children with a common law wife
he’s lived with for ten years. Terri did not
leave any written indication that she would not want
to be fed by a feeding tube. Mike Schiavo
remembered Terri’s words that she would not to live
after he pleaded for millions of dollars in a
malpractice lawsuit to be able care for her the rest
of her life. No one but Schiavo and his brother
remember this. Terri’s friends and family swear
she’d never say this. We would not accept
hearsay evidence against an accused murderer from
anyone who stood to gain from his or her demise.
Mike Schiavo stopped all therapy for Terri after
winning that award and was allowed by Judge Greer to
use those funds for her therapy in legal fees to end
her life.
2.
Terri’s Reported Condition Is Flatly Contradicted By
Expert Doctors. Neurologist
Robert Cranford, who calls himself Dr. Death and
believes that Alzheimer’s patients should have no
constitutional rights, examined Terri for 45 minutes
and was the chief witness the court relied upon to
decide Terri is PVS. 45 minutes is not long
enough to judge PVS and 43 percent of those diagnoses
are incorrect. Cranford’s work has also been
called into question by his peers. His testimony
is flatly contradicted by Nobel Prize for Medicine
nominee neurologist William Hammesfar who examined
Terri for 10 hours and said she is not PVS, responds
to her environment, obeys commands and could be helped
tremendously by therapy including feeding herself.
33 other doctors have signed affidavits that she is
not PVS and would benefit from therapy.
3.
Terri’s Was Not Dying, Sick, Or In A Coma. She
Breathes On Her Own And Is Not On Extreme Live Support
Systems. Terri’s “extreme measures”
are a feeding tube. That’s it. Medical
experts have signed affidavits saying that the denial
of therapy and rehabilitation to Terri is abusive.
The
American people are the most caring people in history
and reject disposing of those who are unable to speak
for themselves. When these facts make their way into
the public, they will not support the killing of a
disabled woman by a man who is in no way qualified to
act for her best interests.
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