Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo's Story (2023) Movie Script

(soft music)
(birds chirping)
..
(wind chimes ring)
(water fountain splashes)
- When I would go see her,
I used to stand by her door.
And if she was looking the
other way, I would stand there.
I'd say, "Terri, it's mommy."
She would turn right
around and look at me.
Okay, right at me.
And nobody believed me.
Well, that's their problem.
(opera music)
She was there.
She was, she could hear me.
She knew I loved her.
She wanted me to be there.
(opera music)
Hi, sweetie!
Hi!
It didn't matter what was wrong,
if she just laid there
for the rest of her life.
All I wanted to do was love
her and take care of her.
Hi, babe.
But then, everything changed.
- [Interviewer] You got
a letter in the mail.
Do you remember what
the letter said?
- Just that they want
to kill my daughter.
(dramatic cello music)
- [Reporter] The battle
over Terri Schiavo
has come to involve state
judges, federal judges,
the Supreme Court, the Congress,
and even the President
of the United States.
- [Elisabeth] You
have to understand
what the fear of death is.
What are you so afraid of?
Why do we feel so
negative and so helpless?
We are afraid of the unknown.
- [Speaker] God determines
when life begins
and when it ends,
not anybody else.
She's not a vegetable,
and she needs to be loved!
Why do you want to kill her?
- [Crowd] Let Terri
live! Let Terri live!
- [Reporter] Terri Schiavo,
a woman that most Americans
had never heard of,
now at the center of another
cultural debate in America.
- [Protestor] This is the
rise of Christian fascism!
Let her die in peace!
(dramatic music fades)
(escalator whirs)
(heels click)
- I covered the
Terri Schiavo case
for the "Tampa Bay Times",
and it really, really
resonated with everybody.
- It seems to me like this case
is starting another debate:
When does life end?
- We now define life
with squiggles of electrical
phenomena on pieces of paper.
And this case shows us our own
feelings about our mortality.
We are afraid to let her go
because we are afraid
of our own mortality.
- You know, who is to decide
what is a good life
and what's not?
And I think that everybody
has their own view on that.
- I would never pull
the plug on anybody,
because there's
always the chance
that they might be alive again.
Even if somebody, even
if a doctor tells you
that they won't be.
- I think there is eventually
a better life for people,
and they need to move
on to that better life.
So I believe very much
in pulling the plug.
- And so when I was writing,
I struggled a little
with whether it was
a right-to-die case
or a right-to-life case.
Totally different, but
it was both of those things.
(soft music)
I first heard about Terri
Schiavo back in 2000,
when I got an anonymous tip
that I should go to
a certain courtroom
to see a trial that
was about to start.
It was in probate court,
which is generally people,
you know, dealing with wills,
and you know people, what
happens after they die.
So I didn't know at
all what it could be.
And so I just kind
of wanted to sit down
and just listen
for a little while.
And I had never seen
anything like it.
- Terri's very difficult
to take care of.
She needs a lot of care.
- [Anita] It was this
family that was divided,
bitterly divided over
this woman, Terri.
After her accident,
she couldn't talk.
And so they were trying to
basically piece together
what she would've wanted.
You know, it was
this whole trial
about someone who
wasn't in the courtroom.
- Have you noticed
any improvement
in Theresa Schiavo's
medical condition?
- No.
- [Lawyer] Ever?
- No.
- [Anita] And everybody wanted
to know what Terri was like.
- I believe she understands.
I believe that she
knows that I'm there.
- The Schindlers were positive
that she was conscious,
that she was
thinking and feeling.
- She started tracking
me with her eyes.
- But Michael Schiavo was
confident that she was gone.
- [Male Speaker] You
ready to roll, Fred?
You ready yet?
- [Female Speaker] I am.
- [Male Speaker] Okay,
let's begin again.
- You know, when one
gets into this story,
sometimes you lose the
perspective of time.
This has been going on
for a very long time.
- 10 years.
- Is there any way to express
what these 10 years
have been like for you?
- Somebody that I loved,
somebody that I adored,
was taken away.
(intense monotone music)
Ripped out of my life.
And to see her in
this condition,
it's awful.
(static buzzes)
- [Bobby] After it happened,
I remember going to visit her
and how emotionally
upset I would get
when I would see her like that.
I guess when you see the movies,
you see someone in a coma,
and then the next
day they wake up
and everything,
and they're fine.
You know, I didn't understand
anything about brain injury.
So there's probably a part
of me that thought that,
"Okay, one day I'm just gonna
walk in and Terri's gonna be,
'Hey, Bobby, how you doing?'"
And when that wasn't
happening, (sniffs)
yeah, I mean, it was tough.
'Cause I knew Terri before that
as being this fun-loving,
wonderful sister.
Growing up, we were very close.
We were just 13 months apart.
Some referred to that
as being Irish twins.
So Terri and I were kind
of joined at the hip.
- He followed her everywhere.
He just followed her around
all over the place. (laughs)
We had three children.
Terri was the oldest,
my shy one.
She had a couple
friends, but not a lot.
And she gained weight all
the way through high school.
- [Bobby] I remember Terri
kind of struggling
with her weight.
She kinda stayed in more,
she liked to draw.
She had a passion for animals.
She would talk about
wanting to work at a zoo,
eventually becoming
a veterinarian.
After she graduated high school,
she started to lose weight
and she just became
more extroverted,
really a different person.
And then she was getting
attention from men.
And that's ultimately
how she met Michael.
(church music)
She was 19 when
they were engaged
and 20 when they got married.
When Michael asked to marry
her, she was just overjoyed.
- I, Theresa, take you,
Michael, to be my husband.
I promise to be true to you
in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health.
- [Bobby] It was in Our Lady
of Good Counsel, our parish.
Michael wasn't Catholic.
He had to get a
special dispensation
to marry Terri in
the Catholic Church.
And then there was
a lot of dancing.
You know, just a
typical wedding.
Celebrate good
times, come on
(people yelling and clapping)
We're gonna have a
good time tonight
Let's celebrate
- I'd like to thank
my mom and dad
and Michael's mom and dad.
We had a really good time.
I hope everybody
else had a good time.
And what else, babe?
- We love you both, very much.
- Yeah.
- Thank you.
(lighthearted music)
(waves crashing)
- Terri and Mike, they
were just lovely people.
I remember they'd come in
and they'd just like laugh and
giggle and have a great time.
We'd all have a great
time with each other.
You know, I could tell
they were in love.
To me, they were
like Ken and Barbie.
They decided to tie
the knot and moved here
to sunny Florida.
They were just happy newlyweds
that we're looking forward
to (sighs) a wonderful life.
- When Terri and Michael
moved down to Florida,
that really precipitated
all of us moving,
'cause they went first,
and now we gotta go, because
she's down there. (laughs)
(wind whipping)
Back then, we were all so close.
And Michael was
part of the family.
Terri was very happy.
She kind of came into
herself in Florida.
- I did Terri's hair the
day before she collapsed.
And when it happened, I
was just, I was devastated.
Everybody was just heartbroken.
She was ready to start her life.
(vehicles whooshing)
- So, that was their
apartment right there.
I lived just, maybe,
I don't even think it's
a quarter mile from here.
So when I got the call, I
was here within minutes.
I just grabbed my keys and
just threw a pair of shorts on
and was here pretty fast.
It was such a traumatic event.
That is something you
just don't forget.
- Tell me about that night,
that early morning in 1990.
- I was asleep,
and I heard a thud.
So I ran out to the hall,
jumped out of bed,
ran out to the hall,
and found Terri
laying on the floor.
I picked her up in my arms
and I was holding her
and I was shaking her.
I was like, "Terri, talk to me!
You're scaring me!
Terri, talk to me!"
And she wouldn't respond.
Her neck and her arms and
everything were just limp.
So I laid her backed
down on the floor.
I ran over and I called 911.
- When I got to the hospital,
the mood was very grim
because nobody seemed
to know what happened,
other than she went
into cardiac arrest.
And she had been without
oxygen for a very long time.
It's called anoxia.
And I remember them telling us
that she was gonna have a
significant brain injury.
- She couldn't talk
and she couldn't walk.
But what happened to her?
Somebody just doesn't
fall down and collapse
without a reason.
- They were trying to understand
why her heart would just
arbitrarily stop like that.
So I think they were looking at
her imbalances in her system.
- Because her potassium
level was so low,
they thought that could
have been an indication
that there was some
type of eating issue.
I never suspected it.
I was out with Terri a lot.
But at the time, it
sounded plausible.
- I didn't think she
had an eating disorder,
but,
I think they,
maybe she did?
You know, over the years,
she lost a significant
amount of weight.
(scissors snip)
- When you're with a client,
you're not six feet away.
You're right up in people's
face, I mean right next to 'em.
And you're touchin' them,
and it's very intimate.
She didn't look healthy to me.
She seemed a little bit
dark around the eyes.
I believed there
was a problem there.
But she definitely kept
her secret from me.
And I think she kept it
secret from Mike too.
- [Caregiver] It's
chocolate, Terri.
Is she much of a
chocolate lover?
- [Michael] She was more
into fruity flavors.
- [Doctor] What do you
think about this, Theresa?
(device beeps)
Can you hear that?
(device beeps)
- [Bobby] They said that she was
in a persistent
vegetative state, PVS.
The definition of PVS
is no interaction, response,
unable to communicate
in any way.
(Terri moans)
- It's all right,
relax, it'll go away.
It'll go away.
- During that time,
I just remember
all the focus was on
trying to get Terri help,
and getting her rehab and
try to improve her condition.
(Terri moans softly)
- It'll go away, relax.
(Terri moans softly)
- It'll go away.
- [Bobby] It was stressful.
You know, Michael was
going through a lot.
But he was doing just
what he needed to do
to try and help
Terri get better.
- She is young, beautiful,
and trapped in a coma.
Her only hope:
experimental treatment.
- No doctor can tell me
that there's no hope.
'Cause I know she's in there.
She's just having
problems coming out.
- We heard about a
doctor in California
that did these brain inserts.
- [Reporter] Doctors
in California
plant electrodes at the base
of the brain of coma victims
to stimulate
damaged brain cells.
- He brought her home.
They had a thing
that you had to turn.
- This is the button,
you push, just...
- [Mary] And it was
very complicated,
but he learned all that.
- Now, Terri, you're
supposed to sit up.
- And walk out of here.
- He was very dedicated.
Michael was very
dedicated to her.
- Theresa,
Theresa,
Theresa.
- Michael and I, we
got along very well,
and we needed each other.
Both of us were
taking care of her.
Michael, he would spend
half the day with her.
- I'll tell you what, see
the big ducks sitting out?
Isn't it nice out today?
(kiss smacks) Huh?
- Stretch up.
Hopefully those pathways to the
brain will be reestablished.
- [Bobby] It was gonna be
expensive to care for Terri,
to cover what she was
gonna need to help her.
Rehab, therapy, doctors.
- [Doctor] Therese? Theresa?
Can't see any
scanning.
- And once the
insurance runs out,
you're only provided a certain
amount of days of rehab.
Once that's exhausted,
you either do it yourself,
find a way to pay for it,
or they gotta be put
in a nursing home
and basically get warehoused.
So Michael filed a
malpractice lawsuit
against Terri's
previous doctors,
her family doctor
and her gynecologist,
because it was felt
that they could have
prevented her collapse.
- [Suzanne] Terri had
been seeing her doctor
with regards to trying
to get pregnant.
And the doctor should have
caught her eating disorder.
Because they should have
seen her chemical imbalances
and therefore may have
been able to address that
before anything happened.
- [Bobby] They awarded $700,000
that was put into a
trust fund for Terri.
That was supposed to be used
for her care, therapy,
rehabilitation.
- But the relationship
with Michael
abruptly changed after
the settlement came in.
Michael felt differently
about Terri's care,
and decided that he wasn't
gonna spend any more money
on Terri's rehabilitation.
- [Michael] Sit up.
There you go.
Sit up in the chair.
Sit up in the chair.
- [Bobby] He said that he
came to the realization
that Terri was no
longer gonna improve.
He said that he was
Terri's caregiver,
he'll be making decisions,
and he basically informed
my parents at that time
that they were no longer
gonna be part of the,
her care moving forward.
- [Interviewer] What happened?
What changed your mind?
- For four years, I
thought she was in there.
I believed she knew me.
And then she needed
to get an EEG done.
So I took her to
another neurologist.
He did the EEG on Terri.
And after the EEG was done,
he pulled me into his office,
and he sat me down and he
looked me right in the face.
And he told me,
"She died four years ago."
(discordant music)
I exhausted everything
I could do for Terri.
Doctor after doctor after
doctor, and all of the rehab.
The brain stimulator
did not work.
I had a meeting with
all the doctors,
and they said that
this is Terri.
There's nothing more
they can do for her.
Then it was starting to sink in.
Terri will never be
Terri, ever again.
(opera music)
- [Mary] What?
(Terri moans)
- [Mary] What, baby?
What?
- You know, we didn't know
what Michael was doing
or not doing for Terri.
We just knew that
we weren't gonna be part
of his life anymore.
And then everything changed.
In 1997, when my parents
received the letter.
- We knew that
Michael didn't believe
Terri could get any better.
But we were totally
blindsided by that letter.
It was from Michael's attorney.
The gist of it was
Michael wanted to remove
Terri's feeding tube.
- This portion of the tube
is actually in the patient's
body, going into the stomach.
And then this end is attached
to the feed, like this.
- [Bobby] Terri, she wasn't
able to swallow food.
So the feeding tube
was keeping her alive.
And Michael was trying to
actively end Terri's life,
to kill her.
- That's when we knew it
was gonna go to court.
That was it.
We never spoke to him again.
And I still haven't spoke
to him, to this day.
(wind whooshes)
(duck quacks)
- In our society, there's such
an underlying fear of death,
fear of extinguishment.
It's so deeply rooted
in our culture.
It triggers
such strong reactions
among
so many.
And I think this case helped
bring those fears to light.
- The Bible says,
"Dust thou art,
and unto dust
shalt thou return."
The basic fact of
life is that it ends.
- [George] Right
to die is a moniker
for the legal right
to refuse medical treatment
that you no longer want.
- There was nothing
else we could do.
We did what we had to do.
- [George] It
started in the '70s,
and the initial cases
were ventilator cases.
(ventilator whirs)
There's a machine that
is providing respiration.
And the courts agreed, "Yeah,
that's a medical treatment,
and can be withdrawn."
It's literally, pull the plug.
The electricity stops.
No more breathing.
And then, you had the feeding
tube cases in the '80s.
- Take out Satan's
kingdom today, Lord.
- In the name of Jesus!
- Oh, Jesus, by
Thy mighty power-
- [George] People were
more uncomfortable
with the feeding tube cases.
There's no machine,
there's no plug;
just a tube, hanging on a pole.
I handled Florida's
seminal right-to-die case.
Until that case,
it was virtually impossible
to remove a feeding tube
in the state of Florida.
So I got to be known as
the right-to-die expert,
if you like.
That's why Michael came to me
and he explained
the family dispute.
So sure, I knew it
would be a tough case,
but I had no idea whatsoever
it would turn into
the case that it did.
- Okay, listen up, this
is a tough question.
Could you decide if a
loved one lives or dies?
A bay area family is
having to do just that.
- It's now up to a
Pinellas circuit judge
to decide the woman's fate.
(waves lapping)
- Terri Schiavo had no
advanced directives.
So she had no living will, she
had no healthcare surrogate.
There was nothing in
writing to tell anybody
what she wanted done if
something like this occurred.
She was 26 when she went
into cardiac arrest.
And the basic question
was: What would she want?
- Michael had the
legal authority
to remove the feeding
tube under Florida law,
but only if there's clear
and convincing evidence
of the patient's intent.
- So Michael, he had
to somehow formulate
some type of evidence
and present to the court
that Terri had said
that if she was ever in
a condition like this,
that she would want to die.
- In October of '85,
we flew down here.
- [Bobby] So this was
from Michael's testimony.
I'm reading it.
She said, "If I ever have
to be a burden to anybody,
I don't want to live like that."
Well, (chuckles) Michael
was making this up.
He lied.
It's that simple.
- [Reporter] A judge
will soon decide
if a Clearwater woman
should live or die.
Her husband is fighting to
get her feeding tube removed,
but the woman's parents-
- When you make a ruling,
you need to get a sense about
whether or not a
person is believable.
Michael had a conflict.
- If Terri does die,
her husband would stand
to inherit $700,000
from a medical
malpractice settlement.
- [Judge Greer] So I was
reluctant to base a decision
solely on what
Michael had to say.
- Terri had made the
mention that, you know,
she would never want to
be kept alive like that.
- [Judge Greer]
But at the trial,
Michael's brother testified,
and he backed up
what Michael said.
- Why prolong that
person's agony?
- I think most people
don't want to be kept alive
until the second coming.
"If there's no hope of
recovery, let me go."
The story was credible.
And I was persuaded
beyond any real doubt
that that was her wish.
- When Judge Greer ruled
in Michael's favor,
we were just,
I think we were all just
kind of in shock at first.
We were all just kind of
like, "What just happened?"
- [Reporter] Do you believe
Terri did make these comments
about not wanting to live
that way, to go on that way?
- I don't think she ever
said those comments.
I knew my sister a lot
longer than her husband,
and I just don't
believe she ever made
those type of
statements, no way.
- [Reporter] What is
your hope and your wish
right now, Bobby?
- Right now I'm
just... (cries softly)
(gentle music)
(camera shutters click)
(birds chirp)
- [Reporter] Last week,
Terri Schiavo was moved
from a nursing home in Largo
to a hospice in Pinellas Park.
- [Reporter] A feeding
tube will be disconnected
from Terri Schiavo at
the end of the month.
- At hospice, our purpose
is to help families and
friends of someone who is dying
to have a peaceful, comfortable,
exquisite but painful experience
to be with their loved
one when they pass over.
You know, hospice is a movement
that really started in the
late '70s and early '80s.
- It's a very
different kind of dying
than being in an
intensive care unit,
hooked up on tubes
and respirators
and monitors and machines.
We have become experts
at keeping people alive,
because our approach to life
is so completely not realistic.
- [Annie] Our relationship
to death in this country
has been skewed.
People don't think about dying.
They think there's always
gonna be some technology
to keep them alive.
But in hospice, in addition
to medical support,
spirituality is an intentional
part of the care model.
- It worries me.
- [Annie] Counseling
and listening
is part of the care model.
- What does dying mean to you?
- [Annie] Michael was a
young man at that time,
and I can't imagine the
burden this was for him.
And I said, "Well,
you're a good person
to be doing what you're doing.
You know, if it was me,
I'd want the same thing."
- In hospice,
the goal is to
help their passage
be as peaceful as possible,
and to help the family
accept what's happening.
- [Reporter] In Florida,
a feeding tube was removed
from Terri Schiavo, a
woman who's been in a coma
for more than 11 years.
Doctors expect her to
die within two weeks.
(fountain gurgles)
- We went to visit Terri.
The feeding tube
had been removed,
and I think it was
that day we left
when my dad got a call
from a Bay News 9 reporter.
So we stopped.
- We're now talking
with Bob Schindler,
father of Terri Schiavo.
First of all, Bob, you
were at Terri's bedside.
- [Bobby] And I remember
I was standing there,
watching the interview,
and the reporter asked
my dad how he felt
about everything that's
going on with Terri.
- [Reporter] Tell us how
you're feeling right now.
- As a family, our
concern now is Terri,
and we're focusing on Terri.
And she has a tough
couple weeks ahead of her.
- [Reporter] How was your
visit today with her?
Any different?
- Same, really the same thing.
But naturally, we
felt a lot different.
- [Reporter] What
will it be like
for you and your
family the next-
- [Bobby] Now my dad,
he's a strong guy.
But you know, he was a father,
and he wants nothing but to
protect his daughter from harm.
And he's being told, "You can't.
You can't do a damn thing.
And not only can't
you do anything,
you're gonna sit back
and watch her die."
- So it's a horrible
thing, it really is.
And you never expect your
child to die before you do,
let alone the way that
they're gonna kill her.
So that part of
it is, it's tough.
And I say it again
and I'll say it again,
please pray for her.
And say one from
Michael Schiavo, too.
I'm sure he deserves
our prayers.
- [Reporter] Can
you understand how
her parents see their child,
and want nothing
else but a miracle?
Can you understand that feeling?
- I certainly can.
I am not a parent,
and I'm sure it's horrible
for a parent to lose a child.
But Mr. and Mr. Schindler,
they've had 10 years to grieve.
They talk miracles.
God wanted to create a miracle,
he would've done
it a long time ago.
(staccato music)
(wind chimes ring)
- They had taken
the feeding tube out
and it seemed like the end
of this really long,
drawn-out saga.
- [Reporter] ...ends
a long legal battle
between Schiavo's husband,
Michael, and her parents.
- And she was gonna die.
But we had no idea what
was about to happen.
- [Radio Host] Right
now at Tampa, 68,
St. Pete/Clearwater at 69,
and on your radio,
it's always 100.7 FM.
Phone lines are
already busy tonight,
so if you're headed
home from work
and you have any
comments wanna give us...
- [Anita] So a woman called
into this radio show.
- [Cindi] I'm sort of
personal with this case,
because I was the first girl
that Michael Schiavo dated
after his wife had
this heart attack.
It was about three
years after she had-
- Cindi Brashers
was an ex-girlfriend
of Michael Schiavo.
And she was saying, you know,
not very nice things about him
and how he dealt with Terri.
- [Cindy] And he used to
go to the nursing home
and he said she would
recognize his voice.
- [Radio Host] Right.
- [Cindy] And she
would start crying
when he got ready to leave.
And he was like, "She is
ruining years of my life.
She has taken all this time
and this is all her fault."
- And it kind of
just snowballed.
The Schindlers had a private
investigator talk to her,
and she had told the
investigator that
Michael Schiavo said,
"We were young, we
didn't know, you know,
how could we have
planned for end-of-life?"
That he didn't know what
Terri would've wanted.
- Since day one, this whole
case has been misrepresented.
The evidence that was
given to Judge Greer
is not what it appears to be.
- [Reporter] We
are hearing today
from Terri's husband, Michael.
Michael has rarely
spoken in public,
but today he is speaking out.
- Bottom line here
is I'm trying to carry
out Terri's wishes.
- [Reporter] How do
you know for sure
what Terri's wishes were?
- She made comments to me.
- Now, what do you
make of the comments
by a woman that you
dated after Terri,
who said you told her that
you two never talked about it?
You were too young to be
talking about things like that,
that, that-
- I never made that
comment to Cindi.
- Okay, let's see what
Linda in Tampa has to say.
Go ahead.
- [Linda] Hi, I'm sure
that you love her,
but the mother and the
father, they raised her.
Now, why don't you divorce her
and let the Schindlers
come to peace with this?
Let these people have peace!
- In other words, let them
have her to care for her.
- [Linda] Yes.
- Okay.
- They won't carry
out Terri's wishes.
This is about Terri.
This is about her wishes,
and that's why I'm trying
to carry these out for her.
I love Terri tremendously.
And you know, everybody
looks at the Schindlers,
the poor Schindlers.
What about me, what do
you think I'm losing?
I'm losing my wife.
And nobody sees that.
- [Reporter] Let's take a break.
Back in a moment.
- [Reporter] There is
a bitter legal fight
that's underway right now
over the right to end
the life of a woman who-
- [Reporter] Terri's
parents filed the lawsuit,
alleging Michael
committed perjury.
- The Schindlers took what
Cindi Brashers said to court,
but they didn't take
it back to Judge Greer.
They took it to a
different judge,
which was actually strategy.
- Well, I'm going to find
that there is a
likelihood of fraud,
given the representations
of Cindi Brashers.
- [Anita] And he ordered
the feeding tube back in.
- A Florida appeals court
has reversed a decision
to remove a longtime coma
patient from life support.
- And we were like, "What?"
We don't, we didn't even
understand what was going on.
- The effect of the decision
is to feed her artificially,
to give her medical
treatment against her will.
- Michael Schiavo's
attorney says an appeal
is already in the works.
- I guess, we got
another first down,
if you use the analogy
of a football game.
And so we're, you know,
we're still in the game.
- To this day, it's still
even a little bit confusing.
The tube was put back in,
but there was nothing
permanent about it.
You know, what Cindi Brashers
said to the radio show
or to the investigator
wasn't enough.
The case went right
back to Judge Greer.
- That judge had no
business doing that.
But the Schindlers were
granted a temporary injunction.
The tube was reinserted.
That's when the case
got legs, I think.
Even though it was
just temporary,
I think the Schindlers saw
that they could get
what they wanted
through manipulating
the judicial system.
(snaps clicking)
- This is the camera.
I bought this in 1986
at a place called
Montgomery Ward's.
Everybody wanted one of these,
and now you can't give 'em away.
It served me well.
I'm Michael Vitadamo.
I was married to
Suzanne Schindler.
And Suzanne asked me if
I could videotape Terri.
The idea was to humanize Terri,
to make her be, "This
is an actual person.
This isn't just some
vegetable lying in a bed."
But there was no video
cameras allowed in there.
So we had to sneak
the camera in.
Suzanne went in and
she opened the window,
and I had to hoist it
up through the window
and then walk around
so the nurses at front
desk wouldn't see anything.
Found a place to
plug in the camera.
And then,
we just had Mary just
come up to Terri's bed
like she did every other time.
- [Mary] It's mommy!
Hi!
What's the matter?
(Terri vocalizes)
- [Mary] Ha, ha!
(Terri laughs)
- And then somehow it
got out to the media.
- [Reporter] In this home
video, you can see Terri Schiavo
laughing and moaning
with her mother.
- [Michael Vitadamo] It
kind of just exploded.
Today you would call it viral.
- [Reporter] Look no
further than this home video
to see Terri is conscious
and even reacts to
certain family members.
- And the family got
their message out
that this girl is alive.
- [Reporter] What do you
see when you look at this?
- There's somebody home.
When you look at her, she
is looking at her mother.
This woman is not vegetative.
- [Reporter] In the middle
of a clouded legal battle,
a Clearwater neurosurgeon,
Dr. William Hammesfahr,
may have the answers Terri's
parents have been looking for.
- In order to remove
Terri's food and hydration,
her feeding tube,
you had to prove
that she was in a
persistent vegetative state.
And now, because
of Dr. Hammesfahr,
this was coming into question.
And the appellate court
ordered medical examinations.
- The appellate court said,
"Take another look
at it," basically.
"Don't retry the case.
It's over; you've been affirmed.
Here's this new thing.
Review it and rule on it."
- How are you doing?
I'm Dr. Hammesfahr.
I'm just gonna check you
out a little bit, okay?
Push against this hand.
- [Bobby] So if
Terri was in a PVS...
- Good.
- ...she should be
unable to communicate,
unable to respond to commands.
That's essentially
the PVS diagnosis.
But in his examination,
Dr. Hammesfahr asked
Terri to open her eyes.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Open your
eyes up, open your eyes.
- [Bobby] And Terri
hesitates for a few seconds.
And then it's undoubtable
that she clearly opens
her eyes on command.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr]
Terri, open your eyes.
There you go, good.
Good! (laughs)
Good job!
Good job, young lady, good job!
(dramatic music)
- [Bobby] But we were so
encouraged and hopeful.
If Judge Greer concluded
that Terri's in a PVS,
then they can move forward
with removing the feeding tube.
If he found that she wasn't,
then it could have
stopped everything
from moving forward,
and saved Terri's life.
- [Speaker] Okay,
you're all set.
- Dr. Hammesfahr shot
about two hours of video
during his examination
of Terri Schiavo.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Can you
close your eyes for me?
How much are you
able to frame that?
- So I counted the number of
times he gave her a direction.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Terri, can
you close your eyes for me?
- I counted the number of times
he asked Mary Schindler
to give her direction.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Mary,
I want you to ask her
to close her eyes.
- Terri, can you close
your eyes for mommy?
Close your eyes for mommy.
Can you close your eyes?
- [Dr. Hammesfahr]
Close your eyes tightly.
- [Mary] Close your
eyes for mommy.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Close
your eyes very tightly.
- [Mary] Can you close them?
Can you open your
eyes up, real high?
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Close
your eyes real tightly.
Keep your eyes wide open for me.
Try and look for the red light.
- [Mary] Open your eyes.
- [Judge Greer] And there
were over 150 directions.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr]
Terri, look at me.
Close 'em real tightly.
Way over at me.
- [Mary] Can you
raise your eyebrow?
- Then I counted
the number of times
that he said she complied.
- [Dr. Hammesfahr] Open
'em real wide for me.
Real wide, open up real wide.
Yeah, I saw that, good job.
- So it's almost 200 commands
and maybe 5 compliances.
It just didn't jive to me.
- She collapsed in her
apartment and she was diagnosed
as being in a persistent
vegetative state
by a number of neurologists.
Classic persistent
vegetative state.
My name is Jay Wolfson.
I'm a professor of public
health, medicine, and pharmacy
at the University
of South Florida.
I'm also a professor
of health law.
The extent to which
we can ascertain
somebody else's quality and
quantity of consciousness
by inference, that's
what it's all about.
But there's a lot of ambiguity.
PVS is determined mostly
with observational tests.
So there's no measurable
thing that you put in a beaker
and say, "Ah, two milligrams
of this and five of this,"
and you every time
get the same thing.
It's a bit more subjective.
...pages of legal and
clinical documents.
This is what I was
asked to do, I had to...
I was asked by the court
to provide an opinion
about her diagnosis.
Was there something
that was missed
by all the doctors
and attorneys?
...papers, radiograms,
CT scans...
To make sure that there was no
stone unturned going forward.
So that the most
important thing I could do
was to get to know Ms. Schiavo.
(Terri moans)
- [Jay] Terri would make noises
during both her wake stages
and her sleeping stages.
- [Mary] Hi!
(Terri vocalizes)
- [Jay] Her head would move.
That is part of what someone
in a vegetative state does.
(lively music)
(Terri reacts)
- [Jay] They're not intentional.
They are just residual
things that they do,
which makes it very confusing.
As I felt more
comfortable with her,
I would hold her hand,
touch her head,
and I would ask her,
could she squeeze my hand?
Could she blink her eyes?
Could she follow
some instructions?
None of that resulted
in a response,
even though I did it over
and over and over again.
Didn't happen.
This is Ms. Schiavo's,
the CT scan.
What do you see?
What's happening there?
- Your ventricles aren't
supposed to be filled
that much with fluid.
- What's all this stuff?
- A lot of dead brain tissue.
- A lot of dead brain tissue.
Yeah.
The scan of Ms.
Schiavo's brain showed
that all of the brain
itself had become liquified,
including the parts of the brain
that are expressly
responsible for cognition,
for hearing, for seeing,
for responding to things.
All of those
capacities were gone.
I mean, that was
not gonna change.
It was not gonna grow back.
The evidence supported
not only the diagnosis,
but the removal of the
feeding nutrition tube.
- Do you remember that?
We used to laugh at that.
You'd take your eye and
let it roll to the side.
(Terri laughs)
- You remember?
- [Bobby] You know, you
wanna label her in PVS.
We didn't care.
The way we looked at my sister
was she had a disability.
She had a severe brain injury.
- In Florida, you
have the right,
the legal right, to
die with dignity.
- Death is a part of life,
the dying with dignity.
- They say, "You have to give
her a death with dignity,"
implying that living in a
condition with a disability,
somehow she no longer
possesses dignity.
I mean, there's
no truth to that.
The PVS diagnosis shouldn't mean
that we should end her life.
- We had several
doctors testified
that that in fact was
the condition she was in,
and in fact, it
was irreversible.
I felt very comfortable that
this was the correct decision.
- [Reporter] Doctors in Florida
have removed the feeding tube
from a severely
brain-damaged woman today,
ending a nearly
decade-long fight
that pitted her husband
against her parents.
- Our legal avenues
had been exhausted.
So Terri's death
clock was ticking
and we had to do
something, you know,
before the alarm went off.
All right, thanks.
Thanks.
And someone suggested that
Randall Terry could help us.
But I never heard
of Randall Terry.
Nobody did in our family.
We had no idea who he was.
- You're gonna get
a sound bite from me
and then weave it
into the story.
- [Reporter] I'm gonna
get a sound bite,
and then if they want to
use it on "The Today Show"
tomorrow morning, they will.
- If they don't use it
on "The Today Show",
I will set myself on fire.
- [Reporter] Oh, my God!
- Embracing you. (laughs)
- [Speaker] No, embracing you!
- Randall Terry is the
founder of Operation Rescue,
and he is sort of
famous for these
protests outside
abortion clinics,
these really, really
vocal protests.
- The Democratic Party has hid
behind their godless, lying
rhetoric for too long.
- [Reporter] Operation Rescue,
a more militant approach.
- [Reporter] 20,000
anti-abortion demonstrators
have been arrested in 28 cities.
- The abortion clinic is closed!
(crows cheers and applauds)
- Legalized child-killing's
days are numbered.
We will win.
(piano music)
Music is a fun passion for me.
When I was a young man,
I wanted to go to Juilliard
to play the piano,
but God had other
plans for my life,
which I'm happy
to have fulfilled.
"New York Times",
"Washington Times",
front page of the Style section
of "The Washington Post".
There is when I had
the privilege of
meeting John Paul II.
I invited him to come
to get arrested with us.
He didn't come, but
he laughed. (laughs)
The Bible says that Satan
is the great dragon.
My dragon is child-killing.
I've spent my entire adult life
fighting to end the
killing of babies.
That's the mission.
The pro-life
movement is of peace.
We focus on babies
that are in the womb.
But the commandment says,
"Thou shalt not murder."
Whether it's active euthanasia
or starving someone to death
or dehydrating someone to
death, murder is murder.
- [Crowd] Let Terri
live! Let Terri live!
- They are going to starve
this woman to death.
And it is an act of cruelty
and ultimately,
it's murder itself.
So please, in the
name of truth...
- If they wanted to work
towards saving Terri's life
and they're against abortion,
I'm not gonna say no.
Frankly at this point, my
family didn't care about that.
If he was gonna try and save
Terri, okay, let's do it.
That's how we felt.
- So I told the Schindlers
we'll rent an RV,
and it'll show to the
media, "Look, we're here.
We're not going anywhere."
- Okay, super.
- [Reporter] Terri's parents,
Bob and Mary Schindler,
have set up camp in this RV,
just across the street from
where their daughter is housed.
- [Randall] We'll
have a 24-hour vigil.
- [Group] Deliver
us from evil...
- [Randall] and we'll
get national television.
- The feeding tube
was removed yesterday
and doctors say within
the next 10 days,
the 39 year-old woman will die.
- I told the family, we have
to get all this press coverage
so we can put political
pressure on people who need it.
(crowd applauds)
- Wow!
- [Anita] Jeb Bush was
a popular governor.
He had won reelection,
he was Republican,
and he was from this
political family
that we had all
heard of, of course.
("Hail to the Chief")
- A thousand points of light.
- The United States and
our allies have prevailed.
(crowd applauds)
("Hail to the Chief")
- Just ahead on your
right, there they are.
The presidential gates leading
to the former naval base.
- But Jeb Bush, he wanted to
just kind of chart his own way.
And when you look back at his
legacy over his eight years,
I mean, the Schiavo case
will always be with him.
- [Crowd] Let Terri live!
- I want to take
this moment again
to publicly beg Governor Bush.
- Randall said, "Jeb
could save Terri's life,
but you've gotta
get in front of him.
You guys have to meet
with him personally,
humanize yourself.
Let him talk to Mary,
let him see the family,
'cause it's gonna be harder for
him to say no to your face."
I was driving.
It was like, "Okay,
let's get there, now."
(mariachi music)
- Jeb Bush was doing some
kind of groundbreaking,
so I felt like we were
hijacking his event (giggles)
in order to get in front of him.
- There was a mariachi band
and all these
festivities going on.
And then Jeb Bush walked
in, no security or anything.
I was surprised that
this somehow happened,
that this meeting
actually happened.
That this family is now meeting
with the governor of Florida.
- You know, he comes in and
like shakes everybody's hand.
And I think he looked out
of sorts, because I mean,
he's not expecting to
meet my family that day.
- Before we actually
met Jeb Bush,
Randall, he said, "Here's
how this is gonna happen.
He's gonna meet us.
He'll sit and listen
to you intently.
When it comes to the
end of the conversation,
he's gonna slide to
the end of his chair.
He's gonna slap the top of
his knees and get up and say,
'I wish there was more
that I could do.'"
And
that's exactly what happened.
Exactly.
And I just remember looking
at Randall like, "Damn!"
- In the meeting, Jeb
said, "I'm not a king.
I can't just do
anything I want."
- [Reporter] Are you looking
with the attorney general,
or what are you
guys looking at now?
- I am not aware
of any alternative,
but I'm not a legal
scholar, either, so.
- But I said,
"If we get legal opinions
that say you could intervene
on her behalf, as the governor,
would you consider doing it?"
He said, "Yes, send
them on to me."
- Legal advisors to the governor
are continuing to look into this
to see if there is anything
that the governor can do.
Meanwhile...
- In 2003, I was a member
of the Florida Senate
when the Terri Schiavo case
really sort of burst
into the public scene.
We heard rumblings
that Governor Bush
was actually pushing a law
that would allow him to
reinsert her feeding tube.
- This is an incredible
convergence of timing.
Legislature's in
special session,
which it almost never
is this time of year.
- I think we need to give
those parents that opportunity
to see if they can save
their daughter's life.
- [Debbie] It was
mostly on party lines.
- If this body does nothing,
a very bad thing will happen.
- It's inappropriate for us to
be reversing their decision.
My first thought was, "I'm not
a lawyer, but I am very clear
that the governor does
not have the ability
to override court decisions
in any constitutional
construction."
- Typically, it takes
months to pass a law,
but Terri's Law was
crafted in less than a day.
- But this really boiled down
to you can't just target the
law to affect one person.
And that's what they decided
to do with Terri's Law.
- [Sarina] It
applies only to cases
where a patient
has no living will,
is in a persistent
vegetative state,
had food and hydration
tubes removed,
and has a family member
challenging the removal.
- [Speaker Of The House]
If all members voted,
the clerk will
announce the vote.
- [Clerk] 73 yeas,
24 nays, Mr. Speaker.
- [Speaker Of The
House] The bill passes.
(gavel pounds)
- I will sign it
into law immediately.
The law will give
me that authority,
and I will issue the stay.
- [Reporter] Do you feel at all
like you're playing God here
and interfering with
perhaps His will or-
- No, I'm not
playing God at all.
- This evening an ambulance
picked up Terri Schiavo
and took her to a nearby
hospital to begin the procedure
of hydrating and
feeding her once again.
(siren blares)
(crowd cheers and applauds)
- Finally, huh?
Looks like we might see
the light at the end
of the tunnel here.
So she came back to the hospice
with her feeding
tube reinserted.
- She's very capable
of making a recovery.
- You know, I think back,
and just the way
our family, in particular,
my mom and dad,
they were just parents
that loved their child
and wanted to care for her.
- It's a miracle,
an absolute miracle.
(crowd cheers)
- [Bobby] And just
to see their joy
when the feeding
tube was reinserted.
- She looks great.
She's tired,
but she just looks wonderful,
and we're very happy about it.
- Yeah, it was,
it was, you know, one
of the good moments.
And yeah, I thought we,
I, you know, I guess
I was being naive.
I thought we won.
I thought it was over.
You know, I didn't kind of
process that wasn't, it wasn't,
'cause Felos just went
into high gear after that.
He was not happy,
not happy.
- No one, whether it's a
governor, a senator, a potentate
should have the right
to override somebody's
medical treatment wishes.
It was disturbing
to see the raw exercise
of political power in this case.
It wasn't about
end-of-life issues anymore.
Now the case became a battle
between the governor
and the court system.
- [Reporter] The Florida Supreme
Court heard arguments today
in one of the nation's
longest right-to-die disputes.
- The essential issue here is
who is entitled
to make a decision
on a matter so
personal and private.
It would be a
dangerous precedent
to have the courts
override it retroactively,
because then there
is no rule of law.
Then the courts
become subservient...
- This is gonna have to be done-
- ...to the executive branch.
And that's a country that
I don't want to live in.
- [Reporter] Florida's
Supreme Court
struck down as unconstitutional
a law passed to keep
Terri Schiavo alive.
- It's not clear tonight
how soon that feeding
tube may now be removed.
- You know, we encourage
people in tough situations,
remember prayer, and, you
know, belief in prayer.
Calling out to God for
help in times of crisis
is a very common American theme.
The Schindler's case
looked sorta over,
but they were saying,
"Can you help us
save our daughter?"
As a person of faith,
as a Christian,
the answer's pretty simple,
that people like
Terri matter to God.
At this point, we
are deeply grateful.
And again, the family
has tremendous faith.
They have said, "We
are prayerful to God."
- Once David Gibbs got
involved in the litigation,
the Schiavo case
took a serious turn.
Political and religious
forces saw an opportunity
to promote an agenda
that went
way past this family tragedy.
The Gibbs Law Firm was
part of a larger effort
by an intricate web of
religious organizations.
- I think the choice has to
go to protecting her life.
You gotta err on
the side of caution.
I think they're gonna be-
- Who are trying to change
the course of American law
toward religious dogma.
- Our
goal
must
be
to build this country
into a Christian nation.
- [Audience] Amen!
(audience applauds)
- Firmly built on
the 10 Commandments.
- They want what they
call biblical law
as the law of the land.
- We want to make
all our decisions
in light of the
eternity to come.
- They are Christian
nationalists.
That's their agenda,
theocracy.
There's no other
way of putting it.
That's why I got involved
in the Schiavo case
as an appellate lawyer
helping George Felos.
I respect people's
religious values,
but I just don't
want it forced on me.
- Everyone understands
that when the Pope speaks,
you now have the official
word of the Church.
- [Reporter] This statement
by Pope John Paul II
says withholding food and
water is equal to euthanasia.
- I mean, I couldn't believe it
that he even knew
about her, okay?
And yet, and here he comes out
with this, you know,
this proclamation.
That was amazing.
That was, he was my favorite
pope anyway. (laughs)
- You're really saying
that if Terri had seen
what the Pope said,
that that would've
changed everything for her
with regard to how she'd want
her situation to be right now?
- Absolutely.
- [Jon] Gibbs filed
motion after motion.
- They want you to believe
that Terri is a vegetable.
Our response back, number one,
is that Terri's not a vegetable.
- Making some really
outlandish claims.
- And then I took her
by the arms like this
and I said, "Terri."
- For example, one
of his associates was
at Terri's bedside
and kept asking her,
"Do you want to live?
Do you want to live?"
- And Terri said, "Ahhhhh."
And then she screamed, "Waaaa!"
- [Jon] Gibbs filed a brief.
- Yes, sir.
- [Jon] Saying she
has now spoken.
She has said,
"AHHHHH
WAAAAAAA,"
which meant, "I want to live."
Almost laughable.
But
this guy would do anything.
- One-time stay, until
the hearing could be held
on behalf of Bob and Mary
Schindler, the parents.
- Now where's the logic in that?
- [Judge Greer] Those are
kind of the last efforts
of grieving parents,
if you will,
who had a good lawyer.
- Ask the guardian
to keep his word.
- Trying to stop
what was about to happen.
- [Female Prayer Leader]
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
- [Crowd] Holy Mary,
mother of God, pray...
- This is a major decision
by Judge George Greer
that Terri Schiavo's feeding
tube can indeed be removed
by her guardian and
husband, Michael Schiavo,
on March 18th, Friday, at 1 p.m.
- It would be Hitler-esque.
It would be unbelievable for
us to starve to death a woman.
- The problem is that
we live under the reign
of judicial tyrants.
They're gods that walk among us.
It's a clear violation of
the separation of powers.
That's our contention.
These judges ignore the law.
Judges like Greer
give us pornography,
no prayer in schools,
no Bible in schools, no
10 Commandment in schools.
"Here's condoms for kids.
Here's dead babies by abortion.
Here's homosexual marriage.
All your state laws be damned!"
Right now, what we have
is a little tin-pot
dictator judge, Greer,
telling everyone what to do,
and we don't have anyone with
the guts and the backbone
and the wisdom to stop him.
(tense music)
(door clicks)
(Velcro rips)
- There it is.
I looked like Michelin
Man when I had it on.
You just hoped people
are shooting you
where the bulletproof vest is,
instead of some other place.
We had a lot of threats.
So whenever I was
out of my condo,
whether I was walking the dog
or going to the grocery store,
I wore it.
They arrested somebody in
North Carolina for threatening.
There was a bounty on
me and Michael Schiavo.
Somebody was arrested
in San Francisco.
I don't know if
they're religious,
I don't know if they're
anti-abortionists.
I don't know if
they're just wackos.
- [Reporter] According to
law enforcement officials,
there have been many threats
against the judge in this case.
- Then, in early March,
I got kicked out of my church
because my pastor did
not agree with my ruling.
You saved me
You saved me
You saved me
You saved me
You saved me
You saved me
You saved me
Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh
Oh, Jesus
- I'm a good Christian
and I'm pro-life.
- Praise the Lord!
- But do I go to the Good
Book to decide cases?
The answer is no,
because that's not what
I'm supposed to do.
My job is to apply
the law to the facts.
That's it.
- And God says,
"This is your day!
Nobody will stop it!"
(camera shutters click)
- Good afternoon, everyone.
Mrs. Schiavo's feeding
tube was removed
at approximately
1:45 p.m. today,
pursuant to the
order of Judge Greer.
(people chatter)
- Let's go over here.
- We're all here.
- Let's do it.
I have been told,
I haven't yet seen,
but the tube has been removed.
And we are now up against
a very tight clock,
because Terri is in the process
of being starved to death.
And so at this point,
we are moving...
We were kind of, you know,
out of options in
the state courts.
But it is looking more and
more like Washington DC
is gonna have to step forward
and save Terri's life.
We wanted a federal court
to review the fundamental
constitutional fairness
of what had occurred in
all the courts prior.
But to do that, we needed
an act of Congress.
- It wasn't like
Congress just decided
they were gonna get
involved in the situation.
I flew to DC to get in
front of whoever it was,
Democrat, Republican,
Congressperson, Senator.
My sister should at
least, at the very least,
have a federal review.
I was pleading with
them to do something
to stop this madness
from happening.
- Terri Schiavo is alive.
She's not just barely alive.
She's not being kept alive.
She is alive as you and I.
- I couldn't believe it.
It was so stunning, I
could hardly breathe.
Like, how could we
be doing this again?
I had just been elected to
the House of Representatives,
and now the Republicans
drafted legislation.
- If the federal court
decides to remove this case
from that judge in
Florida, they can do so.
- And that was their crafty way
of attempting to
get the courts to
bend to their will,
to reinsert her feeding tube.
- Governor, do we
have you on the phone?
Can you hear me, Governor Bush?
- [Debbie] It felt
like Groundhog's Day.
- [Gov. Jeb Bush] We're
continuing to work
on several fronts.
- Governor Bush, not a
person who likes to lose.
And so, you know,
what he was gonna do
was just call up his
brother and use his power.
- In extraordinary
circumstances like this-
- [Debbie] To force the issue.
- It is wise to always
err on the side of life.
(crowd applauds)
- But this really wasn't
about Terri Schiavo's life
or feeling for her parents.
- This case...
- [Debbie] It was about
scoring political points.
- ...breaks my heart,
and I think it breaks the
heart of millions of Americans.
- [Debbie] Because this
bill was being pushed
on behalf of right-wing,
religious, conservative groups.
- I promise you, if she dies,
there is going to
be hell to pay.
- [Debbie] Randall
Terry, you know,
the Family Research Council.
- And then there were,
there are conflicts
about her diagnosis.
- All of those really
right-wing, anti-choice,
get-all-up-in-a-woman's-business
groups.
- You just can't
start killing people!
- And when they have a demand,
the Republican Party was
going to meet that demand.
- [Jon] Bill Frist, he
was a Republican Senator
and he was a doctor.
- Based on a review
of the video footage,
which I spent an hour or
so looking at last night.
- He got up on the floor
of the Senate and he said,
"I've seen those video tapes."
- That footage, to me, depicts
something very different
than persistent
vegetative state.
- This is a doctor
watching edited videotapes,
making the diagnosis from
the floor of the Senate.
It's just outrageous.
- The Schiavo bill
passed in the Senate
by unanimous consent.
That means not one Democrat,
not one Democratic senator
was willing to go
to the leadership
and force a floor vote on this.
They just let this thing go.
No other fount I know
Nothing but the
blood of Jesus
- The family is
elated to find out
that President Bush is cutting
his vacation time short
to get back to DC to get ready
to sign this legislation,
should it pass both houses.
(helicopter whirs)
I honestly couldn't believe
that he left his vacation
and came home early
to sign the bill.
I was dumbfounded by,
at the way the whole
thing was propelling.
(helicopter whirs)
It's like, this is
bad Hollywood writing.
You can't make this up.
But it was really happening!
I was thrilled.
- The members are here,
the hour has come.
Mr. Speaker, call the vote.
- Those in favor, say, "Aye."
- [Representatives] Aye.
- Those opposed, "No."
(gavel pounds)
- You know, the Republicans
are in the majority,
it's their bill,
it was gonna pass.
So our job was to really try
to shine a light on this debate
and engage with
the American people
on how inappropriate this was.
I was still very new.
And when you are a
freshman in the minority,
nobody cares what you think
and nobody really knows you.
We're getting a little
bit bogged down in the...
So, you know, I had to
really be kind of brazen.
Where will we stop if we
allow this to go forward?
You will end up throwing
end-of-life decisions
into utter chaos
and inserting ourselves
in the middle of families
all across America.
And we can't do that.
- [Reporter] Could you explain,
should there be a distinction
between providing food as
opposed to medical sustenance?
- We are members of Congress.
That's the bottom line.
I can't get into those
kinds of questions.
We don't know.
We're not God.
And we're not Terri
Schiavo's husband,
sister, brother,
uncle, or cousin.
We're members of Congress.
We make laws, and
we uphold the law,
and we swore to protect
the Constitution.
And we are thumbing our
nose at the Constitution
if this goes forward.
- And then they woke
up President Bush
shortly after one o'clock
to get him to sign it.
And now, what we've been
calling the Terri Schiavo Bill
is now the Terri Schiavo Law.
- This was our last shot.
Hey, everybody!
- [Reporter] Do you have
the lawsuit with you?
- We have the lawsuit with us
and we are on our way to file.
The legislation
passed hours ago.
We're told the court is
gonna be ready to go.
And so what we did
is we went to the
federal judge and said,
"Well, the only way for
the federal review to occur
is for Terri to
be kept alive.
And so we have to reinsert
the feeding tube."
And put everything on the line.
There was no room
for compromise.
One of the most important issues
under our United
States Constitution
is the right to life.
Our Founding Fathers-
- I think the intent of Congress
was to simply replace
their judgment
for that of Terri Schiavo.
- Terri's husband,
Michael Schiavo,
is angry that
lawmakers got involved.
- You know, I should
be with her right now.
But I'm so outraged at what
happened with Congress,
I need to speak out.
- Passed a bill that's
substantially impaired.
- [Interviewer] Do
you feel frustrated
that you're up against
the government?
- I don't think frustrated
is a good word; I'm angry.
They're stepping into a
personal, private matter
for votes.
They're making the
decisions for us.
Big Brother is gonna do that.
I'm telling everybody, you
better call your congressmen,
because they're
gonna run your life.
- In court, there was
a lot of questioning
about the constitutionality
and other things.
And I began to realize,
"Okay, this judge is
not liking this law."
- The federal judge
basically said to them,
"You have no business
being in this case.
Motion to intervene denied.
Motion to stay denied.
Thank you."
That was it.
It was over.
- [Reporter] Terri
Schiavo's parents
have received their
final legal blow.
- For three days,
Terri Schiavo's been
without her feeding tube.
How long can she last
without food or water?
- Well, it generally takes, in
an otherwise healthy person,
about seven days to two weeks
for the organs to shut down.
- [Protestors] Let Terri live!
- So Terri was dying,
and at that point it
transcended politics
and became really the number
one news story in the world.
- Some have come here from
as far away as Los Angeles.
- There was a frenetic energy,
a controlled chaos, really.
- [Protestors] Rescue Terri
now! Rescue Terri now!
- We got a lot of traffic,
just wait, you'll see.
When you turn, all you're
gonna have is cars.
- [Protestors] Let Terri live!
We're not dead yet!
- [David] Terri's
case really pulled
across the political spectrum.
- [Protestor] We are
left-wing radicals!
We are not religious people.
And we are a separate
disability rights group.
- [David] You know, the
disability rights world
was inflamed and very concerned.
People of faith were concerned.
- The thing, there's
something about her struggle,
it lifts us above the
lines that divide.
- You know, moms across
America were concerned.
I mean, this case just touched
at everybody's humanity,
and it also asked some
very deep questions,
as the whole world watched
to see what's gonna
happen with Terri Schiavo.
- [Reporter] Everyone
is really concerned
in Sweden and Norway.
- They should be.
- [Speaker] Yeah?
- Yeah.
Yeah, we're opening the door
to euthanasia here in America.
Excuse me.
(acoustic guitar music)
I give my life to You
- Sometimes I view myself
like God's blunt object.
What I've been able to bring
to the table over the years
is a willingness to
say and to do things
that other people don't want
to say and don't want to do.
So I set out to
create a shitstorm.
- Isn't it possible that we
have two different sides here?
A family and a husband
both love this,
Terri Schiavo-
- I don't believe he does.
I don't believe
that he loves her.
He is very volatile.
There have been women
who testified under oath
that he stalked them,
that he tried to run one of his
ex-girlfriends off the road.
Something is amiss.
- The first casualty
of a culture war
is truth.
- She had a neck injury and
she also had fractured ribs,
and she had, I think,
a broken pelvis.
So she was pretty well beat up.
- [Jon] During the Schiavo case,
the Schindlers created a
campaign of misinformation,
- Amount of evidence
that indicates
that there might have
been a violent episode.
- [Jon] About Michael Schiavo.
- Do you think he
harmed your daughter?
- Quite likely, yes.
- In today's parlance, you
might call it alternative facts.
There were a lot of
alternative facts.
- It was, I believe, a
combination of two things,
money and foul play.
- [Jon] Accusations that
Michael was a killer.
- Neck injury.
- He was evil incarnate.
- He's afraid that
she'll wake up,
and actually, you know, say
what happened that night.
I don't regret anything
I said about Michael.
I feel like everything
I say about Michael,
or I've said about
Michael is kind of true.
She had multiple broken bones.
I mean, I don't
know that we said
anything horrible about him,
just that we think he was
responsible for her collapse.
- We never found any proof
that Michael abused his wife.
All these things were
examined in the end,
and there was no evidence
for any of these allegations.
And you know, when I first
started covering this case
back in 2000, when they
had the first trial,
neither side disputed
that the other side
loved Terri Schiavo.
Nobody was talking
about abuse then.
Those are things that
changed over time.
- These are crimes against God
and crimes against humanity!
- Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit.
(bagpipe music)
- We're not dead yet!
We're not dead yet!
- [Protestor] Receiving
nutrition and hydration
are what are called proximate
and necessary cooperators-
- When we would drive into work,
we had to drive through
the gauntlet of protestors.
- I never had so many people
send me to hell. (scoffs)
- Jesus Christ hates you.
You better make sure you're
right with Jesus Christ.
- Lord, in the name of
Jesus, I curse this place.
- [Protestors] Let Terri live!
- [Annie] We called
it the siege.
- [Protestors] Let Terri live!
- Why don't you guys
get right with God
and stop supporting the
homosexuals and the lesbians
and the abortionists?
- [Becky] This place,
(protestors yell)
that was designed
to be an oasis...
- Yeah there has been a
lot of angry shouting.
The police have moved in.
- [Becky] ...became
a battleground.
- [Protestors] Give Terri water!
- And trying to set that aside
so we could be present
as we cared for
the patients and the families,
the contrast was
just mind-boggling.
(helicopter whirs)
- A threat was called in
to the Pinellas County
Sheriff's Office
of there was a bomb in
this area near the hospice,
and that it would go
off if Terri died.
- [Reporter] All
right, yes or no,
are there snipers on the
roofs, as rumors indicate?
- [Officer] And we've
taken every position
that we feel that
could be threatened.
- I remember, I thought,
"Oh, I don't think I'd
be able to forgive myself
if a family member or an
employee was injured."
Michael Schiavo had a plan and
we had a plan to support him.
His brother would drive
him to the hospice
and he would lay down
with a blanket over him,
so that none of the cameras
could see him coming and going.
And he stayed away from
windows as much as he could.
Because he told me, "You know,
there's some people out there
that would be happy to kill me,
just because of what they think
they know about who I am."
- I'm afraid I would've
had to kill him
before it reached this stage.
- [Interviewer] Kill who?
- Kill Michael.
(crowd chatters)
- I think somebody should
speak for Mr. Schiavo.
This guy deserves a medal.
- [Interviewer] Why?
- 'Cause he's stuck by
her all these years,
and is still standing by her
and trying to do
what she wanted.
- Sometimes the greater love
is the love that can let go.
- He was her husband.
He had the right to
make that decision.
Nobody else.
Him.
- To have a good death
is to be with people you want
to be with, at your time.
That's the ideal
hospice goal. (laughs)
- We found out that most
patients go through five stages
in coming to terms with the
fact that they're dying,
and often their families
go through the same stage
as the patient does.
He first reacts with
shock and denial.
- Mr. Gibbs said that
he felt that perhaps,
she was beyond help, even if
food and water were restored.
- You know, I'm not
a medical doctor.
She seems to be,
you know, as I said,
fighting very hard
to stay alive.
- [Elisabeth] Next,
the patient gets angry.
He enters what we call
the stage of bargaining.
- Michael.
Please,
please
give my child
back to me.
- [Elisabeth] Then
they become depressed,
and then they reach the last
stage, the stage of acceptance.
- The effects of her
(cameras click)
starvation and hydration
(cameras click)
are showing.
(cameras click)
But I think the people who
are anxious to see her die
are getting their wish.
It's happening.
(solemn music)
- Things were
starting to change.
I sat and held her
hand the whole night.
And I sat right
there by her side.
And I caressed her
head, caressed her arms,
and told her it was okay.
I had a candle going,
and there were some
flowers in the room,
and some soft music was playing.
About seven o'clock in the
morning, we got a phone call
that her brother and sister
wanted to come in and see her.
I left the room.
Have mercy on us
And on the whole world
- [Bobby] We knew
Terri was close,
so we got to visit
her one last time.
- Okay, out of the way.
- [Bobby] It was Suzanne and I.
- That was tough.
The deterioration happened.
I mean, it happens slowly, but
then like the last few days,
it's like, wow, you know.
- We knew it was getting close,
and,
some hospice people
came in and said,
"You have to leave."
And we're like, "No,
we're not leaving.
We're not leaving my
sister right now."
And,
they said, "Well,
just for a minute,
we have to kind of
assess what's going on,
and then we'll let
you right back in."
Walked out.
It was right then, the
police got in front of us.
- [Michael] As I
was walking past,
I could see Bobby
standing out in the lobby,
arguing with the cop.
And an administrator's
telling me, you know,
"Bobby just got in an
argument, he wants to stay.
What do you want?"
And I'm thinking to myself,
"I don't want a police
officer in that room.
I don't want,
I don't want any arguments.
I want to be with my
wife when she dies."
So I said no.
Maybe, you know, people
don't agree with that,
but that was my
decision at the time.
- [Bobby] They threw us out.
They told us we had to leave
the premises right away.
You know, it's a shame.
I think there were
a lot of feelings
that were misinterpreted,
and I don't know
that we ever sat down
and just had a
heart-to-heart discussion
about what we were all feeling.
And maybe if Michael and I
would've been better at
communicating with each other,
maybe it never would've
turned into what it turned into
back then,
if we would've sat down and
really hashed things out.
- I'm sure Terri
would've wanted us
to get along and be happy,
but it didn't happen.
I got back to her room.
I went around to
the side of the bed,
I knelt next to
her. (breathes out)
I lifted her up in my arms,
just like that
night it happened.
And I told her I loved
her, and she died.
(waves lapping)
(gentle somber music)
- [Elisabeth] Acceptance
is that feeling of,
"I have finished my
unfinished business.
I have done my best."
They are at peace,
inside and outside,
and ready for the last journey.
- You know,
it was over.
- It's over.
And she'll never have
to do that again.
(quiet resonating music)
(cameras click)
- Could you give us
some room, please?
Could you give us
some room, please?
(camera shutters click)
Could you give us a little room?
- Come on, guys!
(camera shutters click)
- As you are aware,
Terri is now with God,
and she's been released
from all earthly burdens.
She is finally at
peace for eternity.
(resonating music)
He was like a soldier.
He got us through it all.
- I want to just
thank everybody, okay?
Thank you.
- [Suzanne] But once Terri died,
my dad's health
deteriorated pretty quickly.
I think he felt like he failed.
He failed Terri, and I don't
think he could live with that.
(waves lapping)
And I think it killed him.
- Our keynote speaker
tonight is Bobby Schindler.
(audience applauds)
- This case was built on lies.
Just like the abortion
industry is built on lies,
so is imposed death
and euthanasia.
You can't in any way compromise
when it comes to something
that is wicked or evil,
because it opens the door for
others to die the same way.
(crowd chatters)
(drums beating)
It's good to come here and see
everybody, see our friends,
and know we have to keep
fighting and protecting life.
Hey, Randall!
- [Young Pro-Lifer] We are
the pro-life generation!
- Say what you want
about Terri's condition,
about her brain injury.
It doesn't matter, and
it shouldn't matter.
It doesn't in any way justify
something that was so wrong.
- God calls us to go
forth from this place
and build a culture of life.
(congregation applauds)
- After Terri Schiavo
died, more than ever,
I think people on the
religious right realized,
"We need to change the
federal judiciary."
- Has Terri Schiavo
become the new face
of the right-to-life
movement in this country?
- [Pro-Lifers] Hey hey, ho ho!
- Federal judges do matter,
and it does make a difference
who serves on the bench.
- You don't like the courts?
Change the membership.
- I, Samuel A. Alito
Jr., do solemnly swear...
- Judge Alito's horrendous
record on the right to privacy
and a woman's right to
make her own choices
was something that
really worried me.
Can America risk a Supreme
Court Justice Alito
casting the deciding vote
to drag us through
another tragic saga,
similar to the
Terri Schiavo case?
- It wasn't just the
US Supreme Court.
It was the courts of
appeal across the country,
the district courts,
the trial courts,
where litigation begins
at the federal level.
- This is one of the
greatest legacies
of President Trump and
this Republican Senate.
- It was a deliberate process
to create a network of judges
who could build momentum
and were essentially willing
to overturn Roe versus Wade.
- [Reporter] In this
historic 6-to-3 decision
written by Samuel Alito,
the Supreme Court has now
overturned Roe v. Wade.
- [Jon] Reproductive choice
and the right to die,
it's two sides of the same coin.
It's an assault on the
right to personal autonomy.
If Schiavo had happened today,
I think, likely, it would
have a very different outcome.
I stayed in touch with
Michael, to this day.
He has a wife, he has
children, he has a good job,
and he's back to being
a private person.
He's just a regular guy
who got caught up in something
really extraordinary.
- I didn't want to get
involved in the media.
There were some
points where I had to.
And when it was over,
I wanted it to be over,
move on with my life.
- [Jon] The spotlight
was brutal for him.
He endured it, he survived
it, and he moved on.
And he has every
reason to avoid it now.
From his perspective,
for him personally,
there's no reason to dredge
all this awful stuff up.
And I respect that.
(heels clicking)
- Throughout this whole thing,
Terri Schiavo became the
poster child for every cause.
And the causes were all so
different, they were opposite!
Everybody saw what
they wanted in her.
Republicans saw something.
- What do the lives of the
innocent mean to you and I?
What are we willing
to sacrifice?
- [Anita] The Democrats
saw something.
- How are we going to really
prioritize women's healthcare?
I really want to highlight-
- [Anita] The different
interest groups saw something.
Every cause claimed her.
Both sides of her
family claimed her.
But from what I know about her,
from what her family
knows about her,
she would've hated all of it.
It's sad,
you know,
that all these people were
sort of fighting over her,
but without really knowing her.
(quiet pensive music)
(quiet pensive music fades)
(somber music)
(wailing horn music)
(wailing horn music continues)