Terri has parents whose unselfish desire is to simply love her, care for her and let her live. . . . Terri may no longer be perfect or complete but she has a fundamental right to life.
—PATRICIA HEATON, ACTRESS1
I’ve always been of the opinion that this case should never have been taken to the courts. Long before George Felos or I or anybody else entered a courtroom, Michael and the Schindlers should have been able to hammer out an agreement between them. After all, this lawsuit involved a son-in-law who at one time was very close to Terri’s parents— he and Terri lived with the Schindlers for a number of years.
In the context of this family tragedy, Michael could have said, ‘‘Look, I want a divorce. I want to get on with my life. I changed my mind about caring for her. She’s a vegetable and nothing will ever change that. It’s too bad what happened to her. . . . I just don’t think she has any life and we should just let her go.’’
For their part, Bob and Mary could have said, ‘‘You know, we disagree, she is very much alive to us. She kisses us, she cries, she listens to the radio, she still loves music. We love our daughter and we will gladly take good care of her.’’ At that point, I can’t understand why Michael wouldn’t have just said, ‘‘Look, if it means that much to you, I’m going on with my life. Here, take your daughter. Dealing with her is your problem.’’
That’s the way disputes and issues should be handled privately within a family. That’s the way disputes and issues are often handled even after they are taken before a court and become a public matter. The two parties in a dispute often reach a settlement. Even in a criminal case, most criminals don’t want to face the wrath of a jury or serve jail time. They certainly don’t want to be sentenced to the fullest extent of the law, which is why they usually cut a deal with the prosecutor. They negotiate and then enter into a plea bargain.
Likewise, the vast majority of civil cases settle out of court. For example, when a business is sued, the officers of the company will evaluate several factors before going to court. They’ll examine their odds of winning, and they’ll calculate the cost to litigate against the cost of just paying an out-of-court settlement. They’ll also factor in the reputation issue—in other words, would a trial negatively impact their reputation in the community?
Our system of justice places a premium on settlements. For a host of reasons, including the reality of a lengthy appeals process that could drag on for years, both sides in a dispute are encouraged to come to some mutually satisfactory agreement.
It’s the classic give-and-take.
Why, then, couldn’t Terri’s family have settled her fate between themselves? Why couldn’t there have been a private family agreement long ago? As I studied the family dynamic, I concluded the reason they had reached an impasse and had to take the case to a public court was that the Schindlers were willing to give up everything except the life of their daughter. For Michael’s part, the only option he was willing to consider was some plan by which Bob and Mary would at least potentially agree to Terri’s death.
Of course, that was the deal breaker.
But even though it was late in the game, and even though we appeared to be dealing publicly now with irreconcilable differences, I felt an agreement might still be reached privately within the family. And if there were even the slightest possibility, we had to try. Which is why, behind the scenes, we had taken steps toward mending fences, hoping to arrive at what we believed might be a win-win solution.
HERE'S THE DEAL
On October 26, 2004, I drafted a letter of compromise and gave it to Michael’s attorneys on behalf of the Schindlers. Contrary to the media’s portrayal of Bob and Mary, this was not a grudge match on their part. They would have agreed to anything that would have somehow allowed Terri to continue living so they could take care of her and get her the therapy and rehabilitation they believed would help her.
I invite you to read the actual letter we sent, which is reprinted at the end of this chapter. Briefly summarized, the Schindlers were very nondemanding. Michael could keep all the money from the malpractice settlement. He could remain married to Terri, or get a divorce and move on. Michael could still inherit Terri’s estate. He could have as much or as little contact with Terri as he desired. He could visit her if he so wished, or he could walk away and never turn back. That would be Michael’s call to make.
As long as he wouldn’t take steps to end her life, Michael could remain as involved as he liked. Or, if he wanted to be released from all responsibilities, that was fine too. If he had an insurance policy on Terri, he could keep the funds upon her natural death. If there was ever money to be made later telling Terri’s story, he’d be welcome to keep those funds. Anything was fine with Bob and Mary—just as long as he allowed them to keep their daughter alive.
For their part, as you’ll find in the letter, Bob and Mary and their two other adult children, Bobby and Suzanne, would agree to care for Terri at their own expense. They promised never to pursue any legal action against Michael concerning anything that had transpired from the time of her collapse to the present. As far as we were concerned, we had found the makings of a peaceful and private resolution to this dispute.
What grounds for objection could Michael possibly raise?
We delivered the offer to George Felos and then waited . . . and prayed really hard.
When I called George for a reaction, he simply rejected our offer out of hand. He stressed that the only deal Michael would consider would be for the Schindlers to agree to allow a doctor to go in and examine Terri; if the doctor thought she was in a persistent vegetative state, then Michael wanted the Schindlers to agree she would die. If, however, the doctor said she had the possibility of being rehabilitated, then she could live.
At that point in the conversation, I said, ‘‘George, you and I both know Terri is alive and nonterminal. Regardless of her prospects for recovery, this family loves her and wants to take care of her.’’ In my heart I could tell we were miles apart with little hope of spanning the distance between us.
The hard reality was this: I knew both parties never would be able to agree on the same doctor. Remember that a PVS diagnosis is extremely subjective. Yet as the saying goes, ‘‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’’ I told George that if we could pick the doctor, we’d take the deal. He laughed. We both knew that if Felos picked the doctor, Terri would be dead for certain. The Schindlers had no confidence that an impartial doctor could be selected by the court since the court had demonstrated for years that it was leaning toward death in this matter.
Though our offer of compromise had been rejected, I refused to give up trying to find a private solution. There just had to be another way to bring these two parties together. The absolute core, haunting question that drove me to seek common ground was this: When you have a mom and a dad who are begging to care for their daughter, why not err on the side of life?
What possible reason was preventing Michael from agreeing to a compromise that would allow Terri to live and receive therapy? There had to be a way to unlock this deadlock. With the New Year just around the corner and with time running out on our options, a new avenue to reconcile the differences presented itself: mediation by former president Jimmy Carter.
PRESIDENTIAL APPEAL
Throughout our involvement in the case, we received hundreds of thousands of offers to help. They came from every imaginable direction, and even a few you couldn’t imagine. Of each ‘‘hot tip’’ or ‘‘surefire solution’’ we had to ask two questions:
1. Was it legitimate?
2. Was it potentially helpful?
One of the more promising phone calls came from a news producer in our state capital, Tallahassee. He had first made contact with us right about the time Terri’s Law had been struck down. He had followed the legislature closely as they voted on Terri’s Law, and he had strong pro-Terri feelings. When he approached us, he asked if we had ever thought about getting former president Jimmy Carter involved. I told him we hadn’t considered that avenue, but if President Carter would help us, why not? We were open to any legitimate approach that might mend the rift in this family. Of course I told him it would help if he had an ‘‘in’’ with the Carters.
As the producer described his connection to the Carter family, it triggered a memory of a story Bob Schindler had told me. At the time, thousands of supporters were trying to reach Bob. Due to the overwhelming number of phone calls he’d receive (sometimes upward of a hundred calls in a single night), Bob occasionally forgot who had called.
Keep in mind, Bob Schindler is a semiretired man with no staff, no secretary, and no press handler. He and Mary and the family had to juggle everything on their own. So when he received a call from a ‘‘Rosalynn Carter from Georgia,’’ the name didn’t automatically ring any bells. Bob didn’t put two and two together, you know, that this was the Rosalynn Carter, wife of former president Jimmy Carter. Afterward, Mary read him the riot act much like my wife would if I had done the same thing. I laughed.
The point is that Rosalynn Carter apparently had contacted Bob in the past, and now we had somebody offering to connect us with the Carter Center for mediation. President Carter has a long track record of dealing with difficult situations, including mediating with dictators, heads of state, and warring nations. The former president had been a recent recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. His well-known mediation skills might be exactly what we needed to bridge the gap.
I told the producer that if President Carter would step forward and work with us, we’d be all for it. But before I could propose this to Mr. Felos, I had to have Mr. Carter’s assurances that he and his team would meet with us. Without that, we’d look pretty ridiculous securing Michael’s consent only to have the Carter Center then refuse to help.
The producer graciously understood. He approached his mother, who had the primary contact with the Carters, and asked her to inquire about this option. As a Democratic Party supporter, the producer’s mother had been to a number of fund-raising events with Jimmy Carter. And as a mother with her own handicapped child, she believed that the disabled should be treated with dignity. She also felt strongly that to kill Terri through dehydration and starvation was unconscionable.
I hesitated telling too many people because I didn’t want to raise false hopes. After all, there were hundreds of behind-the-scenes options we at the Gibbs Law Firm were chasing down; most never came to fruition. Still, as with this promising lead, we had to be ready for any and all contingencies. There wasn’t time to sit around and assume we could work out the details next month—Terri might not be alive that long. In that respect this case always had that constant life-and-death pressure.
Every day, every hour was precious.
We soon learned that the Carter Center had declined involvement in the case. Both this mother and her producer son in Tallahassee were heartbroken. Whatever level of interest Rosalynn had exhibited earlier by trying to contact the Schindlers, the Carter Center had now determined that Terri’s situation fell outside its scope of mediation. You can imagine Bob and Mary’s disappointment when we later discussed this missed opportunity.
Schindler family photo
• Terri at eleven months old, 1964.
Schindler family photo
• Bob, Mary, Terri, and Bobby Schindler celebrate Tern's third birthday, December 3, 1966.
Schindler family photo
• Terri and her brother, Bobby, in 1965.
Schindler family photo
• A teenaged Terri with her Labrador, Bucky.
Schindler family photo
• Terri’s senior class picture, 1981.
Schindler family photo
• Terri on her wedding day, November 10, 1984.
Schindler family photo
• Bobby, Terri, Bob, Mary, and Suzanne Schindler on Terri’s wedding day, November 10, 1984.
AP Images
• A 1987 Christmas photo of Terri, taken twenty-six months before her collapse.
Joe Walles/St. Petersburg Times/WPN
• Michael visits with Terri at St. Petersburg’s College Harbor Nursing Home in November 1990, about nine months after her collapse.
David Nee, Photos for Him
• The sign outside of Woodside Hospice. Michael had Terri moved to Woodside on April 10, 2000.
AP Images
• Bob Schindler, left, with his wife, Mary, daughter Suzanne, and son, Bobby, at a hearing December 13, 2002, at the Pinellas County Courthouse. On November 22 the court had ruled that Michael Schiavo could have Terri’s feeding stopped on January 3, 2003, but the Schindlers won a stay to continue Terri’s feeding until an appellate court could rule on the case.
AP Images
• On October 23, 2003, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed Terri’s Law, the order that allowed her feeding tube to be reinserted. (Pictured here in June 2005.)
AP Images
• Michael Schiavo, left, answers questions at a news conference following oral arguments in the Florida Supreme Court case concerning Terri’s Law, on August 31, 2004. With Michael are his brother Bryan, center, and his attorney George Felos, right.
St. Petersburg Times
• Bob and Mary Schindler, along with David Gibbs, raced Hurricane Jeanne across Florida to catch a flight to California to tell their story on Larry King Live Just days after the Florida Supreme Court ruled Tern's Law unconstitutional.
Tampa Tribune
• David Gibbs with the Schindlers at a press conference on February 25, 2005—the day Judge Greer issued his third and final death order to remove Terri’s feeding tube on March 18, 2005.
AP Images
• George Felos and David Gibbs talk before the start of a hearing in the Pinellas County Circuit Court on September 30, 2004.
AP Images
• Twelve pro-family organizations stage the Rose Rally for Terri on March 13, 2005. Supporters gather in Tallahassee’s Old Capitol courtyard, holding one thousand long-stemmed roses to be delivered the following morning to Florida legislators as a reminder of the urgency at hand in the fight for Terri’s life.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• Bobby Schindler meets with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) at the Capitol in March 2005. Bobby was in Washington meeting with every member of Congress who would see him during the legislative push to protect Terri’s life.
AP Images
• Pinellas Park police block the entrance to Woodside Hospice on March 16, 2005, two days before Terri’s feeding tube was to be removed.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• Supporters gather and pray outside Woodside Hospice on March 16, 2005.
AP Images
• Pinellas Park police maintain a presence as supporters gather on March 18, 2005, the day Terri’s feeding tube was removed for the last time.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer listens to arguments during a hearing on March 17, 2005.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• A mother and her disabled son attend a support rally on March 18, 2005.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• Supporters for Michael Schiavo as well as for the Schindler family attend the rally outside Woodside Hospice on March 18, 2005.
AP Images
• Bob Schindler talks to attorneys David Gibbs and Barbara Weller outside Woodside Hospice on March 18, 2005.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• Supporters on March 19, 2005, wear red tape bearing the word “life” over their mouths to illustrate how Terri’s voice has been silenced.
AP Images
• Senators Rick Santorum (R-PA), Mel Martinez (R-FL), and Tom Harkin (D-IA) discuss the bill introduced by Senator Martinez that would allow the Schindlers to take their case to a federal judge for a fresh review. Senate Bill S.686 passed unanimously on March 20, 2005.
AP Images
• Representative Dave Weldon (R-FL), Bobby Schindler, and Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) walk to the House of Representatives on Sunday, March 20, 2005. At 12:34 Monday morning the House overwhelmingly passed S.686: Terri Schiavo Incapacitated Protection Bill.
AP Images
• President Bush returns to Washington from his Texas ranch on March 20, 2005, to be available to sign the emergency legislation to protect Terri’s life once both houses of Congress passed it.
AP Images
• Early on Monday, March 21, 2005, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), center, gavels to a close the emergency session for debate on the Terri Schiavo case.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• On March 21, 2005, three days after Terri’s feeding tube was removed, supporters await a ruling from Federal Court Judge James D. Whittemore on whether Terri’s case should undergo a full review.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• Broadcaster Sean Hannity, left, interviews Barbara Weller, center, and David Gibbs, right, on March 22, 2005.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• On March 24, 2005, a supporter reads the news that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Terri’s case.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• Bob Schindler, foreground, and Bobby Schindler on March 25, 2005, the day the Eleventh Circuit Court refused to hear an appeal.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• A young supporter embraces a cross on March 27, 2005.
Tim Boyles/Getty Images
• Suzanne, Terri’s sister, along with Mary and Bob Schindler during a news conference outside Woodside Hospice on March 30, 2005, the day the U.S. Supreme Court refused once again to hear a petition for appeal from the Schindlers.
AP Images
• Media surround David Gibbs as he announces that Terri Schiavo has died on Thursday morning, March 31, 2005.
Joni B. Hannigan/Florida Baptist Witness
• Bulletins from the public memorial service held for Terri on April 5, 2005.
Cherie Diaz/St. Petersburg Times/WPN/
• Terri’s room at Woodside Hospice, April 1, 2005.
AP Images
Dr. Jon Thogmartin, right, medical examiner, giving his report on Terri’s autopsy at a news conference on June 15, 2005, in Clearwater, Florida, with Dr. Stephen Nelson, who assisted with the report.
AP Images
• Terri’s final resting place, where her remains were buried on June 20, 2005. The gravemarker Michael designed bears the date February 25, 1990, as the day Terri “departed this earth” and March 31, 2005, as the day Terri was “at peace.”
I can’t say whether or not Michael Schiavo and his attorney would have agreed to meet with President Carter. We never got that far. But I’m sure his presence would have helped us jump-start the exchange. I don’t fault President Carter. I never learned whether the president had made the decision or whether someone on the Center’s staff had done it, perhaps without actually consulting him.
In the end, all we really knew was that another door had closed.
When it became clear that the aid of the Carter Center was no longer an option, I decided to propose our own confidential, face-to-face meeting at a neutral location. I invited Michael, his brother Brian, his lawyer, and anyone else he desired to be present for a private meeting with Mary Schindler and Bobby Jr., the two family members we believed had the best chance of reaching Michael’s heart, with our representation. I had hopes that, through dialogue, a mutually agreeable outcome might be reached.
The details of the meeting could not be hammered out, so unfortunately, it never took place.
Even more, I was about to discover the hard way that Terri would have had more legal protection if she had been a terrorist, a mass murderer . . . or an animal.
Offer to Settle Out of Court
October 26, 2004
Ms. Debbie Bushnell, Esq.
204 Scotland Street
Dunedin, FL34698
Mr. George Felos
Felos & Felos
595 Main Street
Dunedin, FL34698
IN RE: THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THERESA MARIE SCHIAVO
File No. 90–2908GD–003
Dear Ms. Bushnell and Mr. Felos:
As the new lead counsel to the cases surrounding Terri Schiavo, we are not aware of any recent attempt to resolve this matter among the family members without continued court intervention. In order to make certain that this avenue of potential resolution is not overlooked, we are providing you with the following proposal from the Schindler family. We would ask that you apprise your client of this proposed settlement offer, provide him with a copy of this letter, and respond to us on his behalf within five days of your receipt of this letter.
The Schindlers’ sole desire in making this proposal is that they be permitted to take their daughter and sister home to care for her within their family. The Schindler family members would take on this responsibility at their own expense. In consideration of your client permitting them to take Terri home with them, they would be willing to provide him with any legal guarantees he would desire, including the following:
1) The Schindlers would never seek any money from Michael. He could retain any monies or other assets that might remain to him, either from their married life together, from the malpractice awards for himself or for Terri, or any other assets he might have received in the past. They would not seek any financial help from him for any care, therapy, or rehabilitation for Terri.
2) The Schindlers fully understand and appreciate that Michael now has a new life with Jodi and their two children. If he would desire to divorce Terri, the family would sign any necessary legal documents to assure Michael that, upon Terri’s natural death, he would receive any of Terri’s estate that he would inherit were he to remain her husband. Whether or not Michael would choose to pursue a divorce from Terri, the Schindlers would guarantee that he could retain whatever visiting rights he might desire with Terri for the rest of her life.
3) The Schindlers would agree to forego any and all future legal claims or actions against Michael or against any of his agents in this matter for any reason.
4) The Schindlers would permit Michael’s attorneys to draft any agreement regarding this matter that Michael would desire, including the above referenced terms and any other terms he and his attorneys would find appropriate, excluding payment of Michael’s previous legal fees or costs.
Now that Michael is a father himself, the Schindlers are pleading with him to consider their love for their daughter and sister and to permit them to take over Terri’s care, with their blessings on Michael as he continues to live his own life with his new family.
Please provide a copy of this letter to Michael and respond to us within five days.
Sincerely,
Gibbs Law Firm, P.A.
David C. Gibbs III
ADMITTED IN FLORIDA, TEXAS, NORTH DAKOTA, COLORADO, MINNESOTA, AND
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA