www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Do we owe Michael Schiavo a partial apology?

Dear Theist Gal you said:

"So - do we owe Michael Schiavo an apology for making unfounded accusations?"

I say:

Frankly I consider Michael Shiavo a b------, not his children. I don't condemn him for living with another woman and having a second family, I condemn him for not realizing that his main concern was towards his second family and that he should have given Terri's family the right to care for her.

He seems to have been some great 'actor'. He first convinced her parents that he was going to buy a house and take care of her...that was until he was in charge of her life, and then convinced the judge, lawyer and doctor that it was the best thing for her.

I even sensed a shudder in one of the Harvard lawyers defending his position. After all, it could have been his own daughter. Can you imagine your daughter's life being in the hands of a husband of only two years.

Michael Shiavo's motive could only have been spite towards her family...or even towards the 'Church' that supported her. His character,(or lack of it), does make one wonder...could her problems have actually been caused by physical abuse?

In Christ,

Zenovia

Good. No wonder our beautiful, descriptive language is becoming fuzzy and imprecise. :rolleyes:

Zenovia, I would point out that marriage is supposed to be for better or worse, in sickness and health. I know we don't hear about all the good men out there who have stood by a spouse and remained faithful to their marriage vows. Whether Michael had anything to do with her going into that coma, we may never know. But it seems to me that he had much to gain by being rid of her.

Dear Byzantn you said:

"Zenovia, I would point out that marriage is supposed to be for better or worse, in sickness and health."

I say:

I try not to be judgemental. He was a young man and it would have been hard for him to take care of a women he was married to for only two years.

That he refused to give Terri's care and the money given to him at the time to her parents, makes him suspect. I'm sure he wanted it for his new family and children, (how many men wouldn't), and I'm also sure it was eaten up by the lawyers, special doctors, etc.

This undoubtably made Michael resentful of Terri simply because she continued to live, and also resentful to her parents for continuing legal actions to keep her alive. No doubt his bitternes also went out to the Church that supported them.

What Michael didn't realize in his 'self pity', (if one should wonder why his eyes teared so easily), is that there was a suffering human being that needed love and compassion. He was so blinded by his situation in not being able to give his children legitamacy and the loss of the finances he had obtained because Terri refused to die, that he put everyone through hell, including himself.

He started it all with a 'lie', (believing Terri would die and he would inherit the money), and found others as equally blind as himself, (lawyer, judge, doctors, etc.) in what he was now compelled to do. How else could he justify his actions other than saying he believed it was for Terri's own good.

In my estimation, he lied to the end.

In Christ,

Zenovia

I did not follow all the details of the Schiavo case, certainly a tragic experience for all involved. I pray for the souls of all those involved, sinners and blameless.

But frankly, I did not like the politicization of the case (at least, what I saw in the American media).

There were too many public manifestiations, demonstrations, expressions.

For me, it was never a political issue. It was an issue of simple humans, sinners, inadequate humans.

Let us never put ourselves above any of those people who experienced Terry's death. Better to pray for all of them and ask God's mercy on all of us.

Stojgniev

TheFactIs.org is an interesting Catholic site

http://www.thefactis.org/default.aspx?control=AuthorMaster&type=articles&authid=12

Immorality of Schiavo Death Remains Unchanged by Autopsy
June 21, 2005
The Culture of Life Foundation with the Ethics and Public Policy Center are hosting a private conference today to explore Catholic, Protestant and Jewish perspectives on end of life questions. The conference comes less than a week after an autopsy of Terri Schiavo has led some to claim that her starvation was justified on the grounds that her brain damage was unlikely to improve. But the autopsy's findings do not in any way change the Catholic Church's teaching that forbids denying food and water to patients like Schiavo according to a theologian who advises the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on end of life questions.
Mark.

No, I do not think we owe Michael Schiavo an apology because the autopsy was inconclusive as regards the cause of her condition. Which is to be expected after the amount of time that had elapsed between the event and the autopsy.

Further, Michael Schiavo had continued to put forth the explanation that it was an eating disorder that caused the collapse and subsequent "PVS". But the autopsy found no evidence of an eating disorder (the signs of which would have remained in her bones and teeth).

So Michael Schiavo is a liar, an adulterer and a murderer. No apologies necessary to a man who killed his wife so that he could be free to marry the woman he'd been fornicating with for a decade of his wife's 13 year ordeal.