When I first heard about Terry Schaivo, I was horrified that her husband wanted to starve her to death.
Then, I read the links posted here and realized that Terri has no cerebral cortex left. Her consciousness, her sense of self, is essentially gone.
Her husband’s appearance on Larry King Live on CNN was the first time he’s spoken publicly about this.
I thought he came across as a man who loves his wife, and realizes it’s time to let go. It’s obvious there’s no love lost between him and his in-laws.
It was the first I’d heard that Terri was bulimic, and this may have lead to her potassium imbalance. Is it possible for a bulimic to hide their condition from their loved ones?
I was suprised to hear that Gov. Bush had met with the Schindlers several times, but did not meet with Schiavo. Shouldn’t you get all sides of the story?
That revelation at the end, that Terri’s father did not report the offer of a felon to contract kill Michael, was very surprising.
Any thoughts? I’d rather this didn’t turn into a debate on the morality of right to die vs. right to life, but rather a discussion on how Michael came across. Did he change anyone’s mind?
I caught the last several minutes of the Larry King interview last night; I wish I had seen all of it. I have been following the Schaivo case pretty closely, and have sided with the husband. From what little I was able to see, Micheal Schaivo seemed to be very weary, as I well imagine he might be after this lengthy court battle with his in-laws and the Schindler’s impunging of his image and reputation. I thought he handled the interview (or what I saw of it) very well.
And yes, I found the revelation about the in-laws not reporting the felon’s offer to have Micheal Schaivo killed very disturbing. Even though I have a pretty low opinion of Terri’s parents, I had not expected this of them.
As for bulimia, from what I understand about the disorder, not all of the people suffering from it look emaciated. In fact, I think I remember reading somewhere that most bulimics appear to be of normal weight. And I know of people who were able to effectively hide their eating disorders from those around them.
IANAD, nor do I suffer from an eating disorder, but my ex-wife had suffered, and I knew that many of her friends were either currently or formerly bulimics. From what they told me, I would agree with that.
I saw part of the Larry King episode too. All I can say is, I don’t envy either side here.
If you live with someone, can you be oblivious to the fact they are a bulimic? Surely (not to be too gross) the continuous smell of vomit in the bathroom or the huge binging would be a sign?
Was it clear that Mr. Schiavo didn’t know that Terri was bulimic, though? If he didn’t know, I’m not sure how anyone else would have known, other than her doctors, and probably that only after her heart attack.
I can’t speak from personal experience, but in talking with partners of bulimics I get the sense that it might be possible for a bulimic to hide his/her (usually her, but adding “his” for completeness here) condition even from a live-in partner. After all, it’s not all that unusual for people with eating disorders to try desperate measures to hide their condition. My ex-wife told me that, before she was hospitalized for anorexia, she would hide food in her pockets or in her sleeves to try to trick her parents into thinking she’d eaten it. I can see how a bulimic might try to limit binges to midnight, blame the bathroom smells on a blocked toilet, etc.
I think that was the basis of the medical malpractice suit…that the doctors did not catch her low potassium level, even though they were trying to get pregnant. Schaivo says in the entire time Terri was going to the doctors, they never drew blood, which he says would have caught the potassium level.
So I guess it’s conceivable she was bulimic and he didn’t know it. And he does make the good point that if he had choked her hard enough to stop her breathing, as his in-laws claim, the doctors would have seen bruises on her neck in the ER and her trachea would have been crushed.
I was glad to see that interview. I imagine that it will go a long way towards swaying people who have so far formed their opinion of the situation based exclusively on 30-second mentions on television news.
I was appalled when Mr. King asked if they could bring a CNN camera crew into her room, though. It seemed out of character for him.