[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 9, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H1205-H1206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
LEGISLATION ADDRESSING THE SCHIAVO CASE
(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include therein
extraneous material.)
Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, as a result of a judge's decision, next week,
March 18, Terry Schiavo is scheduled to have her feeding tube removed,
thus sentencing her to a very slow, painful death from starvation and
dehydration.
Mr. Speaker, I will submit for the Record the entire statement of
Terry's attorney. It is a moving account of her visit with Terry. Here
is a brief excerpt, ``From the moment we entered the room, my
impression was that Terry was very purposeful and interactive. She
seemed very curious about the presence of strangers in her room. When
she heard their voices, particularly her mother's voice, Terry
instantly turned her head towards them and smiled. Terry established
eye contact with her family, particularly her mother, who spent the
most time with her during our visit.''
Obviously, she is not comatose. I hope that Congress will
expeditiously consider the legislation introduced by the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Weldon) to address her type of case so that she does not
have to die a very painful death, in accordance with this judge's
decision.
A Visit With Terri Schiavo
(By Attorney Barbara Weller)
This past Christmas Eve day, 2004, I went to visit Terri
Schiavo with her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, her sister,
her niece, and Attorney David Gibbs III. The visit took place
at the Woodside Hospice for about 45 minutes just before
noon.
When I knew I was going to visit Terri with her parents, I
had no idea what to expect. I was prepared for the
possibility that the Schindlers love their daughter and
sister so much that they might imagine behaviors by Terri
that aren't actually evident to others. The media and Mr.
Schiavo clearly give the impression that Terri is in a coma
or comatose state and engages only in non-purposeful and
reflexive movements and responses. I am a mother and a
grandmother, as well as one of the Schindlers' attorneys, and
I could understand how parents might imagine behavior and
purposeful activity that is not really there. I was prepared
to be as objective as I could be during this visit and not to
be disappointed at anything I saw or experienced.
I was truly surprised at what I saw from the moment we
entered the little room where Terri is confined. The room is
a little wider than the width of two single beds and about as
long as the average bedroom, with plenty of room for us to
stand at the foot of her bed. Terri is on the first floor and
there is a lovely view to the outside grounds of the
facility. The room is entered by a short hallway, however,
and there is no way for Terri to see out into the hallway or
for anyone in the hallway to observe Terri.
From the moment we entered the room, my impression was that
Terri was very purposeful and interactive and she seemed very
curious about the presence of obvious strangers in her room.
Terri was not in bed, but was in her chair, which has a
lounge chair appearance and elevates her head at about a 30-
degree angle. She was dressed and washed, her hair combed,
and she was covered with a holiday blanket. There were no
tubes of any kind attached to her body. She was completely
free of any restraints that would have indicated any type of
artificial life support. Not even her feeding tube was
attached and functioning when we entered, as she is not fed
24 hours a day.
The thing that surprised me the most about Terri as I took
my turn to greet her by the side of her chair was how
beautiful she is. I would have expected to see someone with a
sallow and gray complexion and a sick looking countenance.
Instead, I saw a very pretty woman with a peaches and cream
complexion and a lovely smile, which she even politely
extended to me as I introduced myself to her. I was amazed
that someone who had not been outside for so many years and
who received such minimal health care could look so
beautiful. She appeared to have an inner light radiating from
her face. I was truly taken aback by her beauty, particularly
under the adverse circumstances in which she has found
herself for so many years.
Terri's parents, sister, and niece went immediately to
greet Terri when we entered the room and stood in turn
directly beside her head, stroking her face, kissing her and
talking quietly with her. When she heard their voices, and
particularly her mother's voice, Terri instantly turned her
head towards them and smiled. Terri established eye contact
with her family, particularly with her mother, who spent the
most time with her during our visit. It was obvious that she
recognized the voices in the room with the exception of one.
Although her mother was talking to her at the time, she
obviously had heard a new voice and exhibited a curious
demeanor. Attorney Gibbs was having a conversation near the
door with Terri's sister. His voice is very deep and resonant
and Terri obviously picked it up. Her eyes widened as if to
say, ``What's that new sound I hear?'' She scanned the
room with her eyes, even turning her head in his
direction, until she found Attorney Gibbs and the location
of the new voice and her eyes rested momentarily in his
direction. She then returned to interacting with her
mother.
When her mother was close to her, Terri's whole face lit
up. She smiled. She looked directly at her mother and she
made all sorts of happy sounds. When her mother talked to
her, Terri was quiet and obviously listening. When she
stopped, Terri started vocalizing. The vocalizations seemed
to be a pattern, not merely random or reflexive at all. There
is definitely a pattern of Terri having a conversation with
her mother as best she can manage. Initially, she used the
vocalization of ``uh'uh'' but without seeming to mean it as a
way of saying ``no'', just as a repeated speech pattern. She
then began to make purposeful grunts in response to her
mother's conversation. She made the same sorts of sound with
her father and sister, but not to the same extent or as
delightedly as with her mother. She made no verbal response
to her niece or to Attorney Gibbs and myself, but she did
appear to pay attention to our words to her.
The whole experience was rather moving. Terri definitely
has a personality. Her whole demeanor definitely changes when
her mother speaks with her. She lights up and appears to be
delighted at the interaction. She has an entirely different
reaction to her father who jokes with her and has several
standing jokes that he uses when he enters and exits her
presence. She appears to merely ``tolerate'' her father, as a
child does when she says ``stop'' but really means, ``this is
fun.'' When her father greets her, he always does the same
thing. He says, ``here comes the hug'' and hugs her. He then
says, ``you know what's coming next--the kiss.'' Her father
has a scratchy mustache and both times when he went through
this little joke routine with her, she laughed in a way she
did not do with anyone else. When her father is ready to
plant the kiss on her cheek, she immediately makes a face her
family calls the ``lemon face.'' She puckers her lips, screws
up her whole face, and turns away from him, as if making
ready for the scratchy assault on her cheek that she knows is
coming. She did the exact same thing both times that her
father initiated this little routine joke between the two of
them.
The interactions with her family and our appearance in her
room appeared to require some effort and exertion from Terri.
From time to time, she would close her eyes as if to rest.
This happened primarily when no one was paying particular
attention to her, but we were talking among ourselves. After
a few minutes or when one of the visitors approached her and
started to talk directly to her again, Terri would open her
eyes and begin her grunting sounds again in response to their
conversations. Although I approached her, leaned close and
stroked her arms and spoke to her, she did not verbally
respond to me.
Terri's hands are curled up around little soft cylinders
that help her not to injure herself. I understand that these
contractures are likely very painful, although there was a
time when Terri was receiving simple motion therapy when her
hands and arms relaxed and were no longer as constricted.
When the therapy was discontinued by order of her guardian
and the court, the contractures returned. These contractures
would apparently be avoidable if Terri were given the simple
range of motion therapy she previously received. It is very
sad to observe
[[Page H1206]]
firsthand these conditions that make her life more difficult,
but that would be correctable with little effort.
When we were preparing to leave, the interactions with
Terri changed. First, she went through the joke routine with
her father and the ``lemon face.'' When her niece said
goodbye to her, Terri did not react. Nor did she react to me
or to Attorney Gibbs when we said our goodbyes to her. When
her sister went to her to say goodbye, Terri's verbalizations
changed dramatically. Instead of the happy grunting and ``uh
uh'' sounds she had been making throughout the visit, her
verbalizations at these goodbyes changed to a very low and
different sound that appeared to come from deep in her throat
and was almost like a growl. She first made the sound when
her sister said goodbye and then, amazingly to me, she made
exactly the same sound when her mother said goodbye to her.
It seemed Terri was visibly upset that they were leaving. She
almost appeared to be trying to cling to them, although this
impression came only from her changed facial expression and
sounds, since her hands cannot move. It appeared like she did
not want to be alone and knew they were leaving. It was
definitely apparent in the short time I was there that her
emotions changed--it was apparent when she was happy and
enjoying herself, when she was amused, when she was resting
from her exertion to communicate, and when she was sad at her
guests leaving. It was readily apparent and surprising that
her mood changed so often in a short 45-minute visit.
I was pleasantly surprised to observe Terri's purposeful
and varied behaviors with the various members of her family
and with Attorney Gibbs and myself. I never imagined Terri
would be so active, curious, and purposeful. She watched
people intently, obviously was attempting to communicate with
each one in various ways and with various facial expressions
and sounds. She was definitely not in a coma, not even close.
This visit certainly shed more light for me on why the
Schindlers are fighting so hard to protect her, to get her
medical care and rehabilitative assistance, and to spend all
they have to protect her life.
I realize that Terri has good days and bad days. There are
obviously days when she does not interact with her family, as
they had previously told us. There are also apparently days
when Terri is even more interactive and responsive to them
than she was on the day I visited. Since this visit I am more
convinced than ever that the Schindlers are not just parents
who refuse to let go of their daughter. There really is a lot
going on with their daughter and potentially, it seemed
obvious to me, Terri could improve even more with appropriate
care and 24 hour a day love that can only come from a
dedicated family. As I watched her, my foremost thought was
that on the next day, Christmas, Terri should not have been
confined to her small room in a hospice center, nice as that
room was, but that she should have been gathered around the
Christmas dinner table enjoying the holiday with her family.
____________________