To coincide with the first anniversary of her death this coming March, the Schindler family will be releasing a book on their struggle to save her life:
"Terri Schiavo’s parents and siblings are writing a book about their struggle in the epic end-of-life case that divided the country and captured the attention of everyone from the Pope John Paul II to President Bush, their publisher said Tuesday.
"The yet untitled memoir by parents Bob and Mary Schindler, brother Bobby Schindler and sister Suzanne Vitadamo will be published in March to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of the brain-damaged woman, whose feeding tube was removed after her husband won a court order to do so.
"’This book is the moving story of an ordinary family caught up in extraordinary circumstances, and it will set the record straight for the first time,’ said Jamie Raab, senior vice president and publisher at Warner Books in New York."
Apparently unwilling to miss out on the action, Terri’s husband and murderer Michael Schiavo also plans to release his own memoir, to be titled Terri: The Truth, in which it is likely that he will tell everything but that:
"The Schindlers’ book is likely to compete for space on the shelves with a memoir by Terri Schiavo’s husband, Michael, who fought his in-laws in court for eight years to end her life, arguing she would not have wanted to be kept alive in what doctors called a persistent vegetative state.
"Michael Schiavo said he is collaborating on the book with author Michael Hirsh. The 280-page book is titled Terri: [T]he Truth, and is planned for release in March by Dutton Publishing."
The Schindlers will not profit from their book on Terri, instead planning to "donate profits from the book to a foundation they established when they were fighting to save Terri’s life, Warner Books said. The foundation now is dedicated to protecting severely disabled people."
No word yet on Michael Schiavo’s plans for the money he will make from his book.
I know someone who recently lost his wife to a deadly and painful form of cancer.
They pursued aggresive treatment and fought the cancer for 4 years, but the outcome (barring a miracle) was never in doubt.
Toward the very end (the last few weeks), she was so heavily sedated that she rarely ate. The combination of pain and drugs also took away her appetite, meaning that she didn’t feel like eating, even when she was conscious enough to do so.
She had requested that a feeding tube not be used, and finally passed away. I don’t know how much, if at all, the lack of nutrition (and energy) hastened her death. She was certainly dying from the cancer, at any rate.
In such a circumstance, is a feeding tube a moral necessity? I have known others in similar circumstances, and I see three big differences between these cases and the Schiavo case:
1).Terri Schiavo had no terminal illness and would have lived, with adequate nutrition.
2).Terri was not allowed to even try to eat in a normal way (without a tube). She may have been able to take nutrition in the old fashioned way, with help, but no one was allowed to attempt it.
3). Terri was not in pain (at least before she was starved to death), and therefore pain-killing drugs were not a necessity.
Tim, please see this post by Jimmy.
This is too much.
I would implore anyone to not purchase the book written by….’that man’…it makes my blood boil just to think of him further profitting from Terri’s suffering life and torturous death.
sad, sick, psycho. (they were the nicer words buzzing in my brain, believe me)
Yeah, I know…I’m off to confession again very soon…
pray for me.
God Bless.
The different motives offer astounding (though not unexpected) conclusions.
My guess is that both these books are going to tank. The Schindlers’, because few people will want to relive that whole horrible situation; and Schiavo’s, because in addition to not wanting to relive, etc., people know that it’s going to be a labored justification for an inexcusable act. And few of us have the patience to sit through someone else’s “It’s not my fault! I had to do it for this reason! And that reason! And anyway her parents were mean to me!” even when it doesn’t end in murder.
BTW, any word on whether Schiavo and his new tootsie have tied the knot yet?
I think “a labored justification” is a wise summation of the likely overall effect of Michael Schiavo’s book, only I don’t think he will be able to come up with any reasons that will ring true in the court of the public mind. My prediction is that it will only succeed in making it painfully obvious just what a creep he is.
The MSM does not have the guts to make such an observation, though. Because even if the person savaging the book is obviously impartial, the political pressure is too great. So what we will get are carefully “balanced” reviews of both books so as to not criticize either. In other words, reviews that fail as reviews. I also predict some genius editor is going to go out of their way to print paired reviews because that is what counts for clever these days.
There are so many weird markers that surround this story that I would love to read the tale from Terri’s angle. From the monolithic name “Schindler” to St.Petersberg, the whole affair swims with what I call Divine foreshadowing. I am sure there will be many surprises in the book that honors her life.
The sad thing is that Schiavo will probably get a large advance, which, of course, he does not have to return if the book doesn’t sell.
Don’t buy the book anyway. Publishing companies that sell that kind of book should not be rewarded for it.
Thanks, Michelle.
I read the post you linked to and it does help to clarify things.
And what of the book that is already out regarding this? For those of you who have read Fuhrman’s book, what say ye?