by
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 26, 2005
Clearwater,
FL (LifeNews.com) -- The family of Terri Schiavo is upset by an
Associated Press news report that appeared in hundreds of newspapers
on Thursday and Friday.
Bob and Mary Schindler say the report makes it appear that eating disorders caused Terri's collapse in 1990 when she did not have such problems. They say other evidence shows physical abuse could have been the cause.
Written by reporter Vickie Chachere, the AP news story says the "lost lesson" in the Terri Schiavo controversy is combating eating disorders.
"It is a twist lost on no one close to the case: A woman who is said to have struggled with an eating disorder is now in the middle of a court battle over whether her feeding tube should be removed so that she can starve to death," Chachere writes.
In a statement released Friday, Schindler spokeswoman Pamela Hennessy says "there was never a determination by any court nor the Florida Department of Health that Terri Schiavo ever suffered from any eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia or compulsive behavior that would lead to a heart failure at the age of 26."
Though Michael, Terri's estranged husband, accused Terri's general practitioner of ignoring a supposed eating disorder, Florida's Department of Health cleared him of wrongdoing or negligence in the case.
"Chachere cites not one medical document that would affirm her careless contention that Terri Schiavo was an irresponsible dieter or a compulsive victim of an eating disorder," Hennessy said.
Terri's family wants Chachere to produce any documents corroborating her story's contentions. They also want media outlets to stop ignoring a bone scan conducted in September 1991, about a year and a half after Terri's February 1990 collapse.
The bone scan revealed physical trauma and possible abuse as well as broken bones throughout Terri's body.
"Neither the law enforcement agencies nor the media or press have made any effort to investigate why Terri Schiavo's body was seemingly broken by battery," Hennessy said.
Terri's father Bob responded to the AP story and called it a "slanderous accusation against my daughter with no basis in fact."
"Certain
members of the press are leading a personal crusade to kill Terri,"
he concluded.
