Terri Schiavo Still Responsive Despite Three Days of Starvation

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Mar 21, 2005   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Terri Schiavo Still Responsive Despite Three Days of Starvation Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 21, 2005

Pinellas Park, FL (LifeNews.com) — Terri Schiavo is still responsive and in good spirits despite being deprived of food and water for three days, her parents said on Monday. She is also looking forward to receiving nutrition and seemed pleased to hear President Bush signed a bill helping her do that.

Terri’s father joked around with Terri in an early Monday morning visit and told her to get ready for him to take her to breakfast, he told news outlets in an interview.

"I told her if she was ready, to take a ride to get some breakfast, and she gave a great smile," Bob Schindler said outside Woodside Hospice where Terri lives.

Schindler said Terri is beginning to show signs of the effects of the dehydration on her body. He told the Associated Press that Terri appears to be tired, but eventually responded to his teasing by making a face at him.

"It tells us she’s still with us,” he said.

Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri’s sister, also participated in the visit and told Terri news of the president signing a bill on her behalf allowing her parents to take their case to prevent her starvation to federal courts.

"She seemed to be very pleased, and we’re pleased," Bob Schindler said of telling Terri the news, according to a report by the French Press Agency.

Meanwhile, the Family Research Council says it has obtained an exclusive audiotape from Terri’s hospice room of her interacting with her family on Friday afternoon two hours following the removal of her feeding tube.

"This authentic audio file is disturbing to hear, but it is certainly testimony that Terri Schiavo is NOT in a ‘persistent vegetative state,’" FRC president Tony Perkins said.

The pro-life group says the audio file is located on its web site, but the site was unresponsive at press time.

Just before representatives of her estranged husband Michael removed her feeding tube Friday afternoon, Terri Schiavo reportedly told an attorney for her parents that she wanted to live.

Barbara Weller, one of the attorneys for Terri’s parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told reporters about her visit with Terri on Friday.

"Terri, if you would just say, ‘I want to live,’ all of this will be over," she told the disabled woman.

Weller said Terri desperately tried to repeat Weller’s words.

"’I waaaaannt …,’ Schiavo allegedly said. Weller described it as a prolonged yell that was loud enough that police stationed nearby entered the hospice room.

"She just started yelling, ‘I waaaannt, I waaaannt,’" Weller explained.

At that point, police removed Weller from Terri’s hospice room and, later, her feeding tube was removed.

Related web sites:
Terri’s parents – https://www.terrisfight.org
Family Research Council – https://www.frc.org