TODAY marks the tenth anniversary of the court-ordered starvation and dehydration of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman who suffered massive brain damage after she collapsed in cardiac arrest at the age of 26. At Christ or Chaos, Thomas Droleskey discusses the famous case and presents a first-hand account of Schiavo’s last days by the priest who was by her side when she died. There were police in the room also. They were there to prevent anyone, even the parents who loved her and brought her into the world, from giving Schiavo food or water. The Rev. Frank Pavone wrote:
There was a little night table in the room. I could put my hand on the table and on Terri’s head all within arm’s reach. And on that table was a vase of flowers filled with water. And I looked at the flowers. They were beautiful. There were roses and other types of flowers and there was another vase at the foot of the bed. I saw two beautiful bouquets of flowers filled with water — fully nourished, living, beautiful. And I said to myself, this is absurd, totally absurd. These flowers are being treated better than this woman. She has not had a drop of water for almost two weeks. Why are those flowers there? What type of hypocrisy is this? The flowers were watered. Terri wasn’t. And had I dipped my hand in that water and put it on her tongue, the [police] officer would have led me out, probably under arrest. Something is wrong here.
As the media reported, those who killed Terri were quite angry that I said so. The night before she died, I said to the media that her estranged husband Michael, his attorney Mr. Felos, and Judge Greer were murderers. I also pointed out, that night and the next morning, that contrary to Felos’ description, Terri’s death was not at all peaceful and beautiful. It was, on the contrary, quite horrifying. In all my years as a priest, I never saw anything like it before. Read More »