Our Role in the Terri Schiavo Case

 

In "Terri," the 2006 book by Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, an account of the trial preparation by Gary Fox of our firm and his co-counsel Glenn Woodworth, and their examination of witnesses in the trial itself appears on pages 52 - 75. Much of it comes directly from the trial transcripts and is worth reading. It sheds much more light on what actually happened to Terri before she became a world-wide symbol for who controls the "right to die" and much of it has never been in any media account until now.

For several years, the case of Terri Schiavo received international publicity. Terri was the 41-year-old woman who was severely brain damaged and in a coma in Clearwater, Florida. A battle raged for many years between her husband, Michael Schiavo, and her parents. The battle concerned whether to disconnect Terri’s life support systems and permit her to die.

 

Many courts ruled that, for a variety of reasons, Terri’s husband had a right to order that life support systems be disconnected because that was her wish. The parents disagreed and many appeals through the courts followed.

 

Florida Governor Jeb Bush passed a law through the Florida legislature entitled “ Terri’s law”, the effect of which was to prohibit anyone from disconnecting life support. The Florida Supreme Court subsequently ruled that Terri’s law was unconstitutional and her feeding tubes were disconnected in March 2005. She died on March 31, 2005.

 

Many observers believe that at the center of the dispute is the money that is in Terri’s guardianship that was used to support her for so many years. What has not been widely publicized is the source of those funds. Gary Fox represented Terri Schiavo in a medical malpractice case in Clearwater, Florida. It turns out that Terri had an eating disorder known as bulimia which was not, according to the case, timely diagnosed and treated, as a result of which Terri vomited once too often, her electrolytes went out of balance, she suffered a heart attack. By the time the paramedics arrived had sustained permanent brain damage. The lawsuit was brought against her physicians based upon their failure to timely diagnose and treat Terri’s condition.

 

The case went to jury trial in St. Clearwater, Florida on November 10, 1992. The jury returned a verdict of $6,880,271 and found Terri 70% responsible for her condition. The net proceeds went into Terri’s guardianship and have been used to sustain her since.

 

Gary was asked to write an article on the Terri Schiavo matter by the St. Petersburg Times. A link to that article can be found at this link.

In February 2005, Gary was interviewed about the Schiavo case on Fox News’ Greta Van Sustern show.