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Defeat does not deter Schiavo's parents
Among the acts of civil disobedience, some protesters have been arrested for attempting to give Terri Schiavo Easter communion. What is the current status of the relationship between the supporters of the Schindlers and the supporters of Michael Schiavo?
There are a few supporters off Michael Schiavo in the crowd and they have been able to express themselves and to show their signs without being hindered or bothered by the others. They get along in that way.
What about between the protesters and the police?
Most of the protestors and the police get along just fine. A few of the people who were here yesterday gave the police problems. They yelled at them and they called them Nazis. But they are not the bulk of the crowd; they are just the visitors who came back yesterday. Most of them are gone now.
There seems to be an understanding between the police and the protesters that they each have a role and they don’t usually cross each other’s lines. There have been some people who have tried to symbolically give Terri Schiavo communion. But they have notified police in advance of their intent to do that and it’s done peacefully. The police know why they are doing it. The protesters aren’t trying to hurt anybody. It’s civil disobedience. It’s making a political point. There’s an understanding of why they are doing it and nobody feels threatened by it.
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In addition to reported differences of opinion from both doctors and judges on Terri Schiavo’s condition, media reports also differ regarding Terri’s condition. How have inconsistencies in information regarding Terri Schiavo impacted how this case is viewed nationally?
Well, everything in the Schiavo case has two versions at least, if not more. And so that explains the difference in the reporting. For example, on her condition, we heard from a priest, who gave her communion yesterday, who said that death is imminent. The lawyer yesterday said that she had deteriorated to the point where she could not recover even if the tube were reinserted. The family angrily responded to that saying she is still responsive and could be saved.
Even today the father saying today that she is emaciated added that she is still responsive and is fighting for life and can be saved. So the explanation for the different stories being reported in the media is that different stories are being given out depending on who you talk to.
On the ground level, do you get a sense that there is miscommunication there?
I think there is a lot of wishful thinking in the crowd. And yes there is the lack of information on the one hand and I suppose some purposeful misinformation on the other.
The difficulty is the hospice cannot report on what is happening to Terri Schiavo. By law they are prohibited from doing that. The attorney for Michael Schiavo, the husband, has his version. He says she is dying peacefully and gracefully. He has described her as being more beautiful that he has ever seen her.
On the other side you have her parents and brother who are very upset by that characterization, describing her as looking as if she came out of Auschwitz. So that’s why it's hard for people to grasp exactly what is going on because the principals have such widely varied accounts that they are giving.
How do you think this case has impacted the nation?
I think it has people talking a lot more about right-to-die and right-to-life issues. I think it makes people more aware of the need for living wills. I think it creates a discussion of the role of the Congress and the president and the judiciary especially. And I think this is a very important case that goes way beyond this one woman lying in a hospice bed unable to speak for herself.
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