His Words
The following comments were made by Michael Schiavo during his numerous media interviews, and statements made in his book, “Terri: The Truth.” Schiavo admitted that he wrote the book “to tell you the truth as I saw it,” his interpretation of the truth and the events that happened. The viewer will read about the character of Michael Schiavo – in his own words – that the mainstream media rarely reported to the public.
Chuck Colson, founder of Breakpoint, commented about Terri: The Truth in his column A Dangerous Place to Be, “As readers of the book soon discover, Schiavo’s opponents deserve all the venom he can spew on them. To Michael Schiavo’s mind, nobody could possibly have a good reason for wanting to let Terri Schiavo live in her condition. So he paints his opponents as biased, liars, downright insane. Just as the book cover indicates, the pope, the president, the governor of Florida, Terri’s family, and several cranks who sent Michael death threats are all lumped into the same category: people who opposed Michael’s noble crusade to kill his wife. Noble? Or was he after collecting the insurance money and marrying the woman he was living with? Michael Schiavo’s world, if you believe his book, is like the old Westerns where the good guys wore white hats and the bad guys all wore black hats and twisted their mustaches a lot.”
Statements from his book are filled with anger, bitterness, and rage towards the people who tried to prevent Terri from a death by dehydration/starvation. Schiavo admitted on Dateline News that he wrote the book to get even with Terri’s family. His comments are disturbing, particularly when he describes eating pizza with his attorneys in Terri’s hospice room while she was being deprived of food and water in March 2005. Bolded statements were added for emphasis.
That evening the hospice ordered pizza and salad for us and the police, and for several hours, Brian [Schiavo], Debbie [Bushnell], George [Felos] and I camped in the room with Terri whose breathing was becoming more labored. George and Brian pulled some chairs together and kind of put their feet up, and we waited. (Terri: The Truth, pg. 314)
- “Terri would breath very fast, and then break out of it. She wasn’t blinking regularly and her eyes were sunken. Her extremities were more relaxed. They were mottled, purplish blotches on her legs and arms.” (Schiavo describing Terri dying in Terri: The Truth pg. 313)
- Schiavo’s attorney, George Felos, convinced him not to give up the quest to end Terri’s life when Michael was having second thoughts about removing Terri’s feeding tube. Schiavo wrote, “I called George [Felos] to tell him it was time to give it up, and we had a long talk. He reminded me that we had to realize that it wasn’t just about Terri anymore. It was about all the rest of the people who didn’t want the government telling us how we could die.” (Terri: The Truth, pg. 288)
- Michael and Jodi Centonze kept watch over Terri at Woodside Hospice when her feeding tube was removed: “Jodi and I recruited friends including nurses I’ve worked with, to take shifts around the clock sitting with Terri from the time the tube was removed until the end came.” (Schiavo & Jodi watched Terri when her feeding tube was removed in Oct 2003, Terri: The Truth, pg. 234.)
- Schiavo mocked Jesse Jackson giving his condolence to Terri’s father the day she died. “The two of us [Michael & his brother Brian] broke into laughter at the sight of Bob Schindler Sr. being comforted and supported by one of the best known black men in the world.” (Terri: The Truth, pg. 312)
- “They still call Jodi my concubine and my kids the bastard children. I’m still a murderer. And they’re still saying that I physically abused Terri by breaking bones, dozens of bones in her body.” Terri suffered from multiple bone fractures according to this bone scan. (Schiavo at Univ. of Penn ethics conference in 2006)
“I will not give those a**holes the satisfaction of telling them one thing!” (Jodi Centonze’s response to one of many depositions that she repeatedly ignored. Terri: The Truth, pg. 255)
- “If you’re looking for me to cut a bereaved father some slack [referring to Terri's father], you’re going to be on a long and futile search!” (Terri: The Truth)
- Michael wrote about his bitter feelings towards Terri’s parents: “Mrs. Schindler [Terri's mother] was a real disappointment. There was a time I would have forgiven her – but no more!” (Terri: The Truth, pg. 209)
- Schiavo promises to make his name known: “It’s weird. I don’t know how I feel about it. I look at it and say, “Oh, my God.” I once told my brother when we were in the Supreme Court, ‘You know, Bill, I told you I’d do something with our name.’ ” ( St. Pete Times 3/27/06)
- Michael prohibited Terri’s priest, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, from visiting her. He claims he never prohibited any priests from visiting Terri. However, his attorney, Deborah Bushnell, wrote this letter forbidding Monsignor Malanowski from visiting Terri. Bushnell prevented Monsignor Malanowski from visiting Terri numerous times – all on Schiavo’s orders.
- Schiavo boasted on being given the authority to remove Terri’s source of hydration in Judge Greorge Greer’s order to remove Terri’s feeding tube. He wrote, “It [the order] didn’t say that I could – it said that ‘I SHALL’.” (Terri: The Truth, pg 213. Read Judge Greer’s order of execution).
