By Maya Bell | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted August 6, 2005
Find the Full Story here.
I, for one, am glad to finally see some recognition of the courage and dedication this man has shown.
Good for them, but this thread will either wither and die quickly, or get moved to GD/BBQ post-haste.
But again, good for them.
Me too!
Guardian of the year? He should be guardian of the freaking decade. I could only hope that my wife would show that kind of determination to fulfill my wishes. It’s nice to see him getting some much deserved appreciation.
He is made of some pretty tought stuff. I admire his courage.
I have a living will and do not agree with the idea of keeping someone life support.
I don’t think this guy is any hero, however. For ten years he has been living with someone else and had two children with that someone else. He had other motives and is a hero only if the end justifies the means.
Cite?
What are his “other motives?”
And what’s wrong with his moving on with his life after his wife was dead?
- and you know this - how ?
I think that originally he thought there was going to be a lot of money in it for him and then it drug on and it then became a pissing match between him and her parents.
If he wanted to move on with his life, that’s fine, but he didn’t move on. He lingered around and had it both ways.
It is alright with me if you think he’s a hero, but he isn’t in my book. Or am I just supposed to rubber stamp the general opinion (so far)? 
So you’re vilifying the man based on pure speculation on his motives. Surely you can’t be ignorant of the fact that Michael Schaivo was offered considerable sums to walk away from the entire affair ?
This is the Straight Dope. If you state an opinion as fact, you’re supposed to back it up when challenged.
You should at least know what you’re talking about.
How do you reckon Michael thought he was going to make money off her? He used the money from her settlement- all of it- for the care of his wife. The fact that he chose to use the money for Terri’s care rather than splitting it with her parents is exactly what caused the Schindlers to turn on him and what caused the feud in the first place.
He turned down separate offers on 1 million and 10 million dollars to divorce her and turn over custody to her parents. So how does money enter into it? What money did he think he was going to get that he didn’t get?
He stayed married to her because the parents said they would refuse to honor her wishes and that they would cut her arms and legs off before they would let her die. Staying legally married was the only way he could protect her from her parents and carry out her wishes. There is no conflict between doing that and starting a new family in the meanwhile.
By the way, it was the Schindlers who encouraged him to start dating other women.
Did you read NOTHING of the approximately 8000 threads that were running on this subject at the time?
Excuse me, but I believe the name of this forum is “In My Humble Opinion” and that was my opinion.
I’ll retract my opinions about the money, but not the pissing match, since I didn’t read the 8000 threads on the subject. Fact remains that he gets no metals from me and neither do the Schlinders.
Oh, the Schindlers get a chunk of lead from me for turning this into a “pissing match” after Michael Schiavo refused to give them half the money from the insurance settlement because he wanted to use it for his wife’s care. The motto of this website is “Fighting ignorance since 1973” and I’m amazed about how much ignorance and misinformation about this case is apparently still out there.
For standing by his wife for 15 years and doing everything he could to make sure her wishes honored; for refusing to vilify her parents the way they vilified him and acting calmly and politely, even when he was accused of abusing his wife and directly causing the collapse which led to her death; for not dragging his wife’s family through the mud the way they dragged him; and for responding with dignity when even the length of time he took to call 911 became a matter for legal action, I agree that Michael Schiavo should have been awarded Guardian of the Year if not Decade.
He was a man who was put in incredibly difficult circumstances and his in-laws only made it worse. I hope, if I’m fortunate enough ever to marry, that I find as good a husband. Fortunately, I’m pretty sure I’m from a better family.
Congratulations, Mr. Schiavo.
CJ
The facts you based the opinion on were called into question.
Moving thread from IMHO to Great Debates.
It has to do with moral values, and marriage vows.
And honoring his wife’s wishes, and enduring baseless attacks from knownothings and those with political agendas, and trying to keep a private matter private.
At the risk of creating a debate…
Schiavo did everything that I would want my wife to do if I were in that PVS. I’d want her to find new companionship if she wanted–it’s silly and selfish to suggest otherwise. At the same time, I wouldn’t want her to divorce me, because I trust her to make tough medical decisions far more than anyone else in my family. (They’re not Schindler-level crazy, but they would have a hard time withdrawing care on me, even knowing as they all do that it’s what I would want.)
That’s why I think one should be able to divorce a terminally ill and comatose or vegetative spouse and retain health care power of attorney. That’s what I would want for her, and that’s what she would want for me.
It has to do with moral values, and marriage vows. Personal integrity and personal honesty. But most of all it has to do with love.
A man’s heart is revealed in his actions, not his words.