Terri, the truth - book review

Terri, the Truth by Michael Schiavo with Michael Hirsh is the one-sided story of the Terri Schiavo case. This case dominated the news headlines for months and led to such outlandish activities as a member of the U. S. Senate diagnosing someone over the television without ever meeting the patient, a governor asking the husband to be prosecuted without ever having seen the facts of the case, and the law of the land in Florida to be held up to ridicule and suspicion.

I say one-story because it is obvious from the start that Michael, Terri’s husband, is telling only his side. He is so convinced of his side that there is no other side.

Michael is not a nice man. That doesn’t make him a criminal. Lots of people aren’t nice and sometimes you have to be “not nice” to get your way. But in this case being “not nice” may have gotten Michael more than he ever bargained for.

To summarize the case: Terri Schiavo fell early one morning and had to be resuscitated by emergency personnel, called to the home by Michael. Terri lapsed into a coma from which she never recovered. Her apparent consciousness was misleading, fooling many visitors into thinking there was some hope for her recovery from a “persistive vegetative state”, which medical experts repeatedly diagnosed. The cause of Terri’s fall and illness was at least partially due to her bulimia, a condition she hid from everyone including her doctors and therein lies the root of the problem.

Michael, not wanting to believe that Terri was not going to recover and wanting “some to blame” for Terri’s condition sued her pre-injury doctors for malpractice. Had he lost (which I believe he should have), we would never have heard of the case and Michael admits as much. But he won, and with winning received a settlement. With that settlement, he could continue hoping for Terri’s impossible recovery. But, more importantly, he became a target for Terri’s parents’ greed.

Michael made many enemies of Terri’s healthcare providers in making demands for her care over and above any standard of care. That did not help his case when others questioned whether he should be the sole guardian. His decision to begin dating while still maintaining that he hoped for Terri’s recovery didn’t help either.

Although, he didn’t outline the other side of the story, this book has enough details of Michael’s life and thoughts that I think I could even write a convincing “other side”. Interesting book but not uplifting.