Media Keeps Getting It Wrong

February 25, 2005
Media repeats misrepresentations in Terri Schiavo case
Clearwater, FL – On February 24, 2005, Associated Press released a report penned by Vickie Chachere which cited an eating disorder as the cause of Terri Schiavo's mysterious collapse and ensuing brain injury on February 25, 1990.

Contrary to the account of writer Chachere, there was never a determination by any court nor the Florida Department of Health that Terri Schiavo ever suffered from any eating disorder, bulimia, anorexia or compulsive behavior that would lead to a heart failure at the age of 26.

Indeed, Florida's Department of Health had completely and absolutely cleared Terri’s general practitioner of any negligence or wrong-doing in her case. This was after the physician had been accused by Terri's husband of ignoring evidence of an eating disorder.

Additionally, at the time of her mysterious medical episode, Terri Schiavo stood 5'3" and weighed somewhere between 115 and 118 pounds -- a slim, but normal stature and weight.

Associated Press writer, Vickie Chachere cites not ONE medical document that would affirm her careless contention that Terri Schiavo was an irresponsible dieter or a compulsive victim of an eating disorder. The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation asks Ms. Chachere to readily produce the facts upon which she penned such assertions.

The parents and siblings have repeatedly offered to media and press a copy of a bone scan conducted on Terri Schiavo just one year after her incident that reveals multiple sites of trauma and broken bones throughout Terri's body. Neither the law enforcement agencies nor the media or press have made any effort to investigate why Terri Schiavo's body was seemingly broken by battery.

Instead, they perpetuate the unsubstantiated claims that Terri Schiavo suffered from an eating disorder that rendered her healthy, 26-year-old heart incapable of carrying on.

Statement of Robert Schindler, Terri's Father: "This is a slanderous accusation against my daughter with no basis in fact. Certain members of the press seem determined to spread misinformation to kill Terri."

The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation is calling upon all of media and press to take up the task of investigating allegations of serious abuse against Terri Schiavo as are evidenced in the 1991 bone scan and well as ongoing violations against Terri under Florida's Guardianship Statutes.

Source: email from Schindler representative