The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Jeb Bush seeks probe on Schiavo's collapse
Jeb Bush seeks probe on Schiavo's collapse
By The Orlando Sentinel
E-mail article
Print view
Search Most e-mailed
Most read
RSS
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Jeb Bush reopened Terri Schiavo's case yesterday by asking a prosecutor to review a perceived delay by her husband in seeking medical help after her collapse 15 years ago.
Two days after an autopsy appeared to put allegations against Michael Schiavo to rest, Bush asked Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernard McCabe to look into what the governor called an unexplained 40- to 70-minute gap between Terri Schiavo's Feb. 25, 1990, collapse and her husband's call to 911.
Calling the request an "outrage," Michael Schiavo accused the governor of attempting to deflect attention from the autopsy findings, which concluded that his wife was not strangled or beaten at the time of her collapse, as her parents had alleged. Why she collapsed remains undetermined.
The governor said he contacted McCabe based on two conflicting statements by Michael Schiavo. In a 2003 interview on "Larry King Live," Michael Schiavo said he heard his wife fall around 4:30 a.m., the same time he told the medical examiner's office. Later, during the 2000 trial on his wife's end-of-life wishes, he said he heard a "thud" and raced to find his wife lying in the hallway about 5 a.m.
Yet, according to the autopsy report, paramedics weren't summoned until 5:40 a.m.
Bruce Bartlett, McCabe's chief assistant, said his office would look into what he called "definitely a discrepancy with the time."
Terri Schiavo died March 31 — 13 days after her feeding tube was withdrawn under a court order won by her husband.
The courts agreed Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state, had no chance of recovering and never wanted to be kept alive by artificial means. Yet, the Florida Legislature and U.S. Congress passed extraordinary measures aimed at keeping her alive.
==========SNIP===========
I APPLAUD JEB BUSH FOR THIS. Most people know the old CodeWarrior is opposed to just about everything the Bush boys do, but I support Jeb Bush's actions with regard to the Schiavo matter, but only with regard to the Schiavo matter.