Schiavo Thread Part the Third

[Drake Tungsten]

In the Drakeverse, we have Michael Schiavo's lawyers admitting that most of the malpractice money has been spent on legal fees...

[Imran Siddiqui]

Hey, money grows on trees in Drakeverse! Or Terry Schiavo has been kept alive by monopoly money! If Michael Schiavo was so rich that he could spend most of the $700k on legal fees, AND spend the $1 million+ to keep Terry alive for all these years, why would he need any life insurance money that the Schindler lackies are claiming? It seems like he's got all the money in the world!

And can I have a cite for that assertion by Michael's lawyers, btw?

[Drake Tungsten]

More news from the Drakeverse!!!

An interesting article from 2001...

The $700,000 or so earmarked for Mrs. Schiavo's medical care for the rest of her life has dwindled to about $350,000, court records show. Most was spent in the past two years on the intense legal fight that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court and is still not over.

The money, which came from a 1992 medical malpractice case, has been used for Mrs. Schiavo's medical bills; her husband's attorney, who is fighting to remove her feeding tube; and a bank that manages the money.

Records show that George Felos, Michael Schiavo's litigation attorney, has been paid more than $200,000 since 1997. Another Schiavo attorney, Deborah Bushnell, got $27,000. Schiavo himself was reimbursed almost $6,000 for legal costs.

Other expenses include private aides, security guards hired after the publicity led to a ruckus outside Mrs. Schiavo's nursing home and a lawyer appointed by a judge to represent Mrs. Schiavo in court.

Current estimates place the amount remaining in the trust fund at around $50,000. Mr. Felos has done well for himself over the past four years...

A Pinellas jury awarded about $1.4-million to Mrs. Schiavo and $630,000 to her husband in 1992 after her gynecologist failed to ask about her medical history while treating her. She also received a $250,000 settlement in a case filed on her behalf against another doctor. Felos said that after attorneys' fees and other expenses, Mrs. Schiavo was left with about $700,000 and her husband with about $300,000.

In April 1993, Mrs. Schiavo's money was valued at $776,254, court records show. By April 1998, it was only down to $713,825.

He certainly was lavish with the medical care, wasn't he? ~$60,000 in five years? Probably not as bad as it looks given the return on investment from the rest of the trust fund money, but it looks pretty bad...

Attorneys for Mrs. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say they are appalled that Michael Schiavo is able to spend her money to end her life.

"This is outrageous. It's offensive," said Pat Anderson, one of the couple's attorneys. "It's not being used for the purpose in which it was given."

Can't say I disagree with them.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/060301/TampaBay/Fund_for_Schiavo_s_me.shtml

I'm glad facts and supporting evidence are so plentiful in the Drakeverse...

[Imran Siddiqui]

How much do you think it costs to keep someone alive for 10 years? We had people in the last thread estimate around $1 million for the bed and the feeding tube. The article talks about how much it would cost to live in a nursing home... this is kind of beyond a nursing home, isn't it?

[Drake Tungsten]

How much do you think it costs to keep someone alive for 10 years?

The maximum is around $600,000 dollars, assuming the nursing home rates give in the above article. Of course, it's not like there wasn't money coming into the trust fund; Michael Schiavo was fortunate enough to have $700,000 invested during the greatest stock market rise in history. The fund probably could have sustained her for a long, long time if they hadn't squandered it trying to kill her...

The article talks about how much it would cost to live in a nursing home... this is kind of beyond a nursing home, isn't it?

No, she was in a nursing home for many years. And she's not even in a nursing home now; she's in a hospice, where they send people to die.

[Imran Siddiqui]

This is interesting:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-03-24-schiavo-money-cover_x.htm

Mary Schindler later testified that Schiavo had promised money to his in-laws.

Despite the row over money, Schiavo and the Schindlers agreed on one major point in the 2000 testimony: the extent of Terri's brain damage, according to additional court documents cited by The Miami Herald. In the documents, Pamela Campbell, then the Schindlers' lawyer, told the court that "we do not doubt that she's in a persistent vegetative state."

http://tampatrib.com/MGB9CSWPE5E.html

Meanwhile, Schiavo's legal team has not been paid since Terri Schiavo's money ran out in July 2002, Felos said last week.

So $350,000 was spent on legal fees in a year (from the 2001 article that says there was $350,000 left)? I don't think so. And the amount made in the market? Where is that? If the lawyers haven't been paid since 2002, the amount of money around in 2001 had to be MUCH less.

Btw, since it is a trust fund, a judge has to approve all expenditures, and has.

[Drake Tungsten]

Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer already must approve each expense paid from the account. The judge also agreed last year to seal the requests for payment from public view, at Felos' request. The approvals, however, are public record.

Last year, the clerk of court's office, which processes those requests, questioned whether Felos should receive money for speaking to the media for hours. The judge did not stop the payments to Felos, who receives $195 an hour and $225 an hour for appellate work.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/060301/TampaBay/Fund_for_Schiavo_s_me.shtml

I doubt you believe anything the Schindler's lawyers say, so why do you blindly believe what George Felos says? He's the one who got Judge Greer to seal some of the financial records from public view. Why would he do that? He wouldn't be trying to cover up embarassing details about his requests for payment from Terri Schiavo's trust fund, would he? Certainly a lawyer wouldn't act in a deceitful manner?

Like I said before, you're either staggeringly naive or biased against any facts that don't agree with your already determined viewpoint.

[Drake Tungsten]

Anyway, I'm going to bed. That means you have several hours to think of a way to worm your way out of this pwning. Ganbatte!

[Imran Siddiqui]

He's the one who got Judge Greer to seal the financial records from public view.

He got the Judge to seal requests for payment, NOT the approvals. Therefore the approvals for payments are public record. Therefore, any legal expenses are in full public record. As to why he'd ask, because of the histerics of the Schindler family. They'd claim every haircut or whatever was exorbitent. They have gone more and more insane as court after court slaps them down.

It is also interesting what wikipedia has to say about Mr. Schaivo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo

Hospice staff describe Mr. Schiavo as a very supportive husband who berated nurses for not taking better care of his wife; in 1994 the hospice attempted (unsuccessfully) to get a restraining order against him because he was demanding more attention for his wife at the expense of other patients' care. Due to the attention she has received in the 15 years she has been bedridden, Terri Schiavo has never developed any bedsores.

Raising the issue of a possible conflict of interest is the fact that Mr. Schiavo stands to inherit the remainder of Mrs. Schiavo's malpractice settlement upon her death. Mr. Schiavo has publicly responded to this charge by claiming that of the original $1,050,000 awarded in the malpractice suit, less than $50,000 is left, the rest having been spent under a judge's supervision on medical care for Mrs. Schiavo and the ongoing legal battle. This, however, is disputed. He had also stated during the beginning stages of the legal battle that if he does receive any inheritance from his wife he will donate it to charity.

On March 11, 2005, media tycoon Robert Herring (who believes that embryonic stem cell research could cure Schiavo's condition in the future) offered $1 million to Michael Schiavo if he agreed to waive his guardianship to his wife's parents. The offer was rejected, Schiavo having reportedly found it "offensive." Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, stated that Schiavo has received other monetary offers, also rejected, including one of $10 million. These offers may have been made under the misconception that the removal of Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube remains simply a matter of Mr. Schaivo's choice. It was ruled in February 2000 that Mrs. Schiavo would choose to have the tube removed, and Michael Schiavo does not have the ability to simply overrule this legal determination.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ned
No water? I find that hard to believe.

Not at the same time, Ned.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Whoha
and what of the woman that woke up after ~20 years?

There's a difference between coma and a PVS. You can recover from the former, not the latter.

[Ned]

Just for the record, Bobby Schindler said that the lawyers trying to put Terri to death have received $600k from the malpractice funds that were intended for the benefit of Terri.

[chequita guevara]

Do you guys have staff to pay, even when you takes cases where you don't win?

[Ned]

Tell, me Che, are you dancing in the street as Terri exists this mortal coil?

[Capt Dizle]

Originally posted by Ned
Just for the record, Bobby Schindler said that the lawyers trying to put Terri to death have received $600k from the malpractice funds that were intended for the benefit of Terri.

I don't want to even speculate on the accuracy of that statement, but if that is true, I certainly would consider it money well spent, since the ONLY thing any human being can possibly do to benefit Terri is to let her go. And it will benefit all of the rest of the family as well.

Letting her go is an act of compassion.