I hate to be insensitive BUT (Schiavo)

[serryjw]

Where does the Schiavo case stand on medical coverage. Is the money she and hubby were awarded still paying for her care? When does it run out? At that point (regardless of whom is guardian)the state of Florida will pay for her care? Keeping here in food and water has to be at least $1 million a year......And we have 44 million w/o health coverage and how many other people whom need care WHOM are alive need government assistance but can't get it because of the new Bushit policies?

[cynatnite]

1. The money is gone

www.abstractappeal.com has good info

She's on indigent care which means the state is picking up the bill.

I agree with you. It should be titled 'The bush hypocrisy doctrine'

[hollywood926]

9. Schiavo spent most of her money (designated for med expenses) on

HIS attorney fees. His attorney (George Felos) calls Terri a "houseplant."

Summary of expenses paid from Terri’s 1.2 Million Dollar medical trust fund (jury awarded 1992)
NOTE: In his November 1993 Petition Schiavo alleges the 1993 guardianship asset balance as $761,507.50

Atty Gwyneth Stanley
Atty Deborah Bushnell
Atty Steve Nilson
Atty Pacarek
Atty Richard Pearse (GAL)
Atty George Felos
$10,668.05
$65,607.00
$7,404.95
$1,500.00
$4,511.95
$397,249.99

Other

1st Union/South Trust Bank
$55,459.85

Michael Schiavo
$10,929.95

Total $545,852.34

[ohio_liberal]

10. You realize those expenditures....

all of the payouts from the trust fund are approved by a judge :eyes:

On edit:

Please post the link so we can all have a look.

[TexasSissy]

12. Correction: those aren't HIS atty fees; they're HERS.

He, as her guardian, is fighting for her desire to be allowed to be unplugged from artificially keeping her alive (according to him).

HE says: one reason the parents are fighting this is that they are angry they didn't get some of the $$$$. He said that after the jury award, the dad just came out and asked him how much the dad and mom were going to get. They got really angry when the husband told them they wouldn't get any of it, it's for Terri.

The parents say: HE wants Terri to die because he spent all the $$$ and doesn't want to pay for her care anymore. He's living with another woman and has another family, etc., etc. So he wants to get rid of Terri. Besides, her condition is very mysterious; they hinted they think HE might have tried to strangle her or something.

HE responds: All he has to do is divorce Terri, and he would not be responsible for her care, and he could remarry, etc. He says that would, in fact, be the easiest course for him to take. Wash his hands of the whole thing. But he says he knows that Terri did not want to be kept alive in a vegetative state, and that he feels it is his duty to fight for what he knows were her wishes. He will fight for as long as it takes, he says.

(I saw this on Larry King in the last year or two.)

I believe the husband. I think the parents just got involved with the pro-lifers and have lost their sense of reality, plus they can't come to terms with the situation. I also think their blind hatred of the husband is blocking their judgment. But I think they love their daughter, also, and would take over the responsibility of caring for her, if they were given it.

The fact remains, though, that the Courts decided there was enough proof that it was Terri's wish not to be kept alive in a vegetative state. And it is HER wish that counts.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The trust fund is down to something like 40,000.

And no it does not cost $1M/year to keep her in her bed. Terri is relatively low maintenance.

[Sacajawea]

5. Low maintenance? Not by a long shot....

Caring for patients who are bedridden, completely immobile, and unable to cooperate in any way is incredibly labor intensive and time-consuming for the caregiver (nurse, nursing assistant, etc). While it doesn't cost $1,000,000 a year, it does nevertheless cost quite a bit. And it wastes resources that could be better used on the truly living.

[Ronbrynaert]

6. ouch

I support the husband's decision because he seems believable and it is probably what she would have wanted (most people would).

The money that goes to the insurance companies "wastes" resources but let's not become a country where people's lives are determined by how much it costs to keep them alive.

(i can't believe everyone is talking about JUST this story today...karl rove is a fucking genius...next thing you know our troops will be in syria, korea or outside our freaking houses)

[Warren Stupidity]

7. OK

So they started with 700,000 in 1998 and they are down to about nothing today. So I'm guessing the bill is on the order of 100,000/year.

My point wasn't that caring for her is cheap, it was that it doesn't cost 1M/yr, and that as she is not on a respirator or dialysis, compared to others in similar condition she is not at the high end of care-costs.

Mostly my point is that this is not about money at all.

[serryjw]

8. Something is wrong with our numbers.

A damn hospital room is 200/day and aspirin is $50. Maybe my $1 million is high but it has to be b/t $250-$500,000
quote........
August 1992

Terri Schiavo is awarded $250,000 in an out-of-court medical malpractice settlement with one of her physicians.



November 1992

The jury in the medical malpractice trial against another of Terri’s physicians awards more than one million dollars. In the end, after attorneys’ fees and other expenses, Michael Schiavo received about $300,000 and about $750,000 was put in a trust fund specifically for Terri Schiavo’s medical care.
------end quote
http://www.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/timeline.htm
Now I understand that hospice is much cheaper, so my numbers may be high

[physioex]

3. Funny...

How these people are going to "fight" for Terry's life. Yet don't give a shit about all the innocent Iraqi's that haved died or the citizens of this country who don't get decent health care.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. And the Bushites have slashed Federal funding for traumatic brain injury

research. Remember Chris Reeves testifying before Congress? Their hypocrisy is beyond description, particularly since trauamtic brain injury is one of the more prevalent of the injuries of the homing vets of Iraq. :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke: :puke:

[Donailin]

11. Insensitive is as insensitive does:

Does Terry Shiavo get to be the last woman alive on the earth? Does she get to stay on the tube long after everyone of her relatives dies of natural causes?

Stop the madness!

I seriously doubt anyone would want to live like this for FIFTEEN YEARS let alone as long as possible. The parents and certain reps keep referring to Terry as "their little girl" -- that's where the error is, she is no longer a little girl but a grown woman who would most likely be horrified to be seen by the whole world in this condition if she had a conscious expression.

[UTUSN]

13. It Ain't about the SCHIAVOs. It's about Scoundrel-wingnut/fundie-A-holes