Scenes from the Hospice

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If you saw Wednesday night's show, you heard an audio tape that Bob Schindler (search) taped when he was in Terri's room in 2002. I am curious what you thought of the tape. As you know, we only played about 40 seconds and the 40 seconds was not edited. It was "cut" from a longer tape of about 4 minutes. I did not hear the full 4 minutes (the tape was sent to NYC FNC bureau and not DC), but I am told it included long periods of silence.

Last Saturday I was in Pinellas Park, Florida (search) outside the hospice. I have posted some pics from that day on Thursday's blog. (To see the photos, click on the photos essay links in the box above.) Picture No. 5 is of a very distraught father and his son who is in a persistent vegetative state (per the father.) I felt very bad for the father. He loves his son and his son is very sick. The father begged me to interview him (I did but we have not yet shown it and I don't know that we will) and he asked me to photograph him. He wanted his story heard. I told him that at a minimum I would post the pic on the blog.

The father and son, who are from Virginia, went to the hospice so that the father could protest removing the feeding tube from Terri Schiavo (search). The father told me that he has been taking care of his son (now about 32 years old) for more than 10 years. He said that his son is showing improvement over what he was more than 10 years ago when he lapsed into the persistent vegetative state. I am not a doctor and don't know the condition of the son, but what I observed was that the son is very, very, very sick.

As always, I have posted some viewer e-mails below...they are randomly grabbed from our e-mail show account:

E-mail No. 1:

Randall Terry doesn't care about Terri Shiavo or the Shindler Family. He found a vulnerable situation and is taking advantage of it to give the Shindlers false hope and to prolong this so that he can get more money out of them.
Pablo Torrente
Greensboro, North Carolina

E-mail No. 2:

Greta,
I am watching your show right now (9:08 p.m. C.T.). The noises Terri is making are identical to the ones made by my nephew for 26 years. He was in an auto accident, and he lived for 26 years. He died about 2001. He never recovered from the brain damage he received in the accident. For many years, my sister took him to every doctor she heard of, trying to get help. Also took him to the faith healers, the whole nine yards.
It breaks my heart to see what the Schiavo family is going through right now. It isn't just the Mom, Dad, siblings who live through these times. It is the complete family. I went with them to so many places over the years, trying to get a miracle for Steve.
Betty Swinsick
Sylvan Springs, Alabama

E-mail No. 3:

Greta,
A R.N. Nurse is being paid $25.00+ an hour
$25.00 x 24 hours = $600.00
365 days x $600.00 =219,000.00
5 YEARS x 219,000.00 =1,095,000.00 COST
this is just the nurses cost!!!!
do your job !!!
Jim Fallon

ANSWER: SHE DOES NOT HAVE RN'S TAKING CARE OF HER. PLEASE REFIGURE YOUR MATH AND SEND THE NUMBER BACK TO ME WHEN YOU HAVE CORRECTED YOUR E-MAIL. (LET ME ADD...TONGUE IN CHEEK TO YOU, "DO YOUR JOB!")

E-mail No. 4:

She always makes the same sound! Do you think her ears really hurt? How about asking her a question where you expect a no answer? Are you going to get up and dance today, Terri?

E-mail No. 5:

Am I the only person who could care less whether this woman has a feeding tube installed or not? It's meaningless to me and my nose shouldn't be in it anyway. These activists are rather disgusting.
Shawn

E-mail No. 6:

Greta, please tell Laura Ingle congratulations on her award. Will it be available in a book or was this just for reporting on the Peterson trial? I was lucky enough to be going through Redwood City when the Peterson trial was on and my husband and I had been following the case like hound dogs. Poor Laura, I met her in the ladies room at the courthouse. She was so gracious to me. I think everyone likes a down to earth person who treats everyone the same. Laura certainly is one of those people. I look forward to hearing her commentary on your show. She is a smart and beautiful woman.
Love your show, watch you every night. Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
Jacci Heuberger

E-mail No. 7:

Congratulations to Laura! She is a good reporter on your program — very professional.
I will not be watching much Fox until the Terri Schaivo mess is decided one way or the other. Quite frankly, I'm tired the circus surrounding the case. I am becoming less & less sympathetic toward Terri's family.
Kay Rhodes
Odessa, Texas

E-mail No. 8:

Dear Greta,
How have you been doing? It was really shocking to hear about Johnnie Cochran passing away. I heard he had been sick and been praying for him. I wondered where he had been. He had a lot of fans, but I would have to say I was one of his biggest. He was a very special person that had a larger then life glow about him. It could not be missed. I'll never forget him.

Terri is fading fast. She is almost gone. The whole thing is a tragedy. Even when you take a sick animal to the Vet, and he say's there is nothing more to do. They will put the animal to sleep, not starve it to death. Life support is one thing, that is a whole other story. It's just not right to say, she wanted this and no one really knows if that is true. Just think, does this mean if something goes wrong the spouse could just say that was the wishes and kill the other one just like that.
Take care and I'll talk to you later.
Sincerely,
Nancy

E-mail No. 9:

It is unfortunate Mr. Johnnie Cochran passed away at such an early age. HOWEVER; I wonder IF he meets his maker— how will he be when he also "meets" Nichole Simpson and Ron Goldman??? Elaine Griebel
Falls City, Nebraska

E-mail No. 10:

Greta, I haven't been able to watch you for the last week because I just can't take the same reporting over and over again by you from all the right wing Christians. Fox is supposed to be fair and balanced, but all you have on are the religious zealots. I was hoping you would have given most of your show to talking about Johnny Cochran, who was a great lawyer, humanitarian and just a wonderful person. He was a colleague of yours, why did you only devote less then 10 minutes to talking about his life and death. I will be so relieved when Teri Schiavo dies and you people stop making a spectacle of her dying. She should have been put out of her misery 10 years ago.
Bernadette
Seattle, Washington

E-mail No. 11:

If the Pope has to have a feeding tube, shall we kill him too?
Je Flanagan

E-mail No. 12:

Greta,
You need to give more options in your polls. Not only should there be armed guards in the schools, all teachers and administrators should be armed as well!
Ron Taffe

E-mail No. 13:
[From Greta: The next two e-mails are from Laura Ingle who has been inside the Jackson trial.]Subject: Laura note part one

Michael Jackson again appears to be in good spirits inside the courtroom. Yesterday he came in smiling.... Today he was smiling and gave a wave to some of his fans sitting in the public lottery section of the courtroom. The fans were thrilled to get a hello from their pop star hero. Beaming smiles and giggles from most of them.

The flight attendant who served Jackson wine in diet soda cans finished her testimony today. Cynthia Ann Bell was as animated a witness as they come. She actually fell out of her seat while testifying today (some say the chair broke...others say she lost her balance) she was testy while talking about the accuser's behavior on the private flights with Jackson, describing the child as rude, obnoxious, and treated her like a maid. She said the boy complained his chicken wasn't warm; he didn't want the coleslaw he was served, and didn't like the way the warm towels were heated. She said she never saw Jackson give the kids booze, and the only reason she put the wine in cans was because she knew Jackson was a “private drinker.” When asked if she ever saw Jackson cuddle his accuser on the flight.... She tried to describe it, and then told the assistant D.A., “I guess I'd have to show you....” He asked to “approach the witness” then changed his mind. Everyone laughed. We also learned that Michael Jackson always wanted K.F.C. On his flights with all the fixings... Who knew the king of pop was a Kentucky fried chicken fan? We all are wondering: why is the prosecution calling a witness who has told the jurors she didn't see Jackson give the kids booze, thought the teenage accuser was obnoxious, and that Jackson was delightful? Almost seems like the prosecution hasn't been doing pre-interviews of its own witnesses before it puts them on the stand.

And Dr. Stanley Katz is here. He's the clinical psychologist who interviewed the accuser in May/June of 2003. He was only on the stand for 15 minutes then the prosecutor announced he had no further questions! A surprise to many... We all thought he would be a big witness today. Jackson's attorney is keeping him on the hot seat though.... Challenging his motivation to be involved in the case. He was hired by attorney Larry Feldman, the same attorney who was involved with the ‘93 case…Messerou is working on painting the two as being in cahoots with each other…More to come.

E-mail No. 14:
[From Greta: Another e-mail from Laura Ingle from the Jackson trial...]
Subject: Laura note part two

Just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger at the Michael Jackson child molestation trial…A 3-piece band set up across the street from the courthouse today after court. The back doors of a beat up brown van swung open... Big fat amplifiers stacked to the van's roof were right at the door's edge. Electric guitars, mic stands, and an electronic drum kit were thrown out ... 2 men wearing only diapers, socks and tennis shoes, and another guy dressed up as Michael Jackson started to play. The guys in diapers had used a black marker and wrote, “Beat it” and “Thriller” over the front of their diapers. This whole episode did not last long. Patrol officers on bikes that are positioned outside the courthouse for Jackson security were on them in a second. They only got out one chord I think before the lead singer was cited for not having a proper permit to play.

Lead singer Jason Eaves told me it took them 55 hours to drive to Santa Maria from Fort Madison, Iowa. He said the drive, the van breaking down, and $50 citation was worth the hassle to be a part of the circus. No word on if the band will get a gig here tonight in Santa Maria to play for the people.

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