The Schiavo Agenda......

March 2005
by Debra Opri - Attorney and Legal Analyst

     By now we all know most of the story about Terri Schiavo and her 'hearsay' wish to die, first uttered about seven years after she had suffered a heart attack and began a fifteen year odyssey into a world where she could no longer communicate with the outside world. What we don't know, and what we certainly can't understand, is why Michael has had his own death wish.
      Michael's brother, Brian, recently stated that "Michael's best friend, Terri, wanted to die." Brian tells us that Michael is grieving as he watches her in her final days. That he can't comprehend why the President of the United States had to 'get involved', when all he was doing was carrying out Terri's 'wishes', is, really, too simple a statement when the rest of us do not understand why he is hanging on to a fight to end a life so many want saved.
      As an attorney, I have long believed that a person's right to life is as strong as, if not stronger than, a person's right to die. In this instance, it is not so much that we have this battle at all. Rather, it is that we must be forced to rely upon a presumably unreliable voice for Terri......her 'in name only' husband.      Michael's own life history must be addressed. His short marriage to Terri, before her tragedy, was rife with innuendo of domestic violence and problems. They were young and Terri's then alleged 'wish' of what she would want in terms of life support 'someday' was the utterance of a very young person who had yet to grow up and learn about life. Fifteen years is a long time in anyone's life, and certainly, if, in fact, Terri had at one time or another, indicated a lack of desire to ever be placed on life support, the facts and witnesses tell us that Michael was the only one who ever heard it.
      And what about Michael's other life? Seven years into his wife's illness, he began a fight to end her life, with his first statements ever that Terri did not want life support. What's fractious about this argument is that at this point in Michael's life, he had now met another woman. Since then, he has two children by this woman. They are common-law spouses, as Michael has never divorced Terri. He has continued to be her guardian, despite his new family, and he continued to keep Terri's own family, including her mother, father and brother, out of the 'mix', that is to say, they have never had access to her medical records, no legal rights, and they have no challenge to his status as Terri's legal husband, despite his 'other' family.
      And, if the news reports are true, there is the one million dollar trust Michael continues to be benefactor to as Terri's husband, upon her death, and as long as he remains her husband.
      So, if we are to follow the reasonable conclusions, would it not be arguable that when it is reasonable to conclude that Michael should have surrendered his rights and obligations to his wife Terri at the time he began another family, turning over these rights and obligations to Terri's blood family - her mother and father - why then, has he fought so hard to end her life, merely through the legal validation of a marriage certificate.
      If the stories of the one million dollar trust fund is true, then I believe it is the money. I'm sorry, but it is too obvious. If it is true, and there is money waiting for Michael once she is dead, then the answer is just too obvious to ignore. And, if this has been the motive to end Terri's life, when there have been blood relatives who have loved Terri enough to want her alive, then Michael's motive to kill for money is a crime. Isn't it?
      So that the record is clear, I do not hold strong beliefs one way or the other concerning a person's right to life or right to death. I would not, personally, want to be kept alive by artificial means. I believe that suffering is not necessary. I do believe in one's right to choose. What I do not believe in is someone speaking on my behalf when they do not speak my words, and when they do not have the right to speak. In my heart, when Michael chose another woman and another family and another life, he should have surrendered Terri. He should have given her up to those who did still love her enough to want her around.
      From the courtroom to your living room, this has been another edition of THE OPRI OPINION.