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Husband's timeline expected to clear review

Michael Schiavo's account of what happened the morning his wife collapsed withstood previous scrutiny.

By CHRIS TISCH, LISA GREENE and JONI JAMES
Published June 18, 2005

LARGO - Michael Schiavo's account of the time his wife collapsed in 1990 has varied for years. He has said it was as early as 4:30 a.m. and as late as 6 a.m.

But on one point he has always been consistent: He called 911 right after finding Terri Schiavo unconscious in their St. Petersburg home.

"I have consistently said over the years that I didn't wait but "ran' to call 911 after Terri collapsed," Michael Schiavo said in a statement released Friday.

Still, Gov. Jeb Bush was troubled enough by the time discrepancies to request Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe sort out the varying reports. McCabe has agreed to look into the matter.

It's unclear what McCabe could uncover 15 years later, but it seems unlikely he will find anything that will discredit Michael Schiavo's claim that he dashed to the phone that morning.

"We don't have any reason to doubt that," said Bill Pellan, the chief investigator in the Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner's Office, which conducted the autopsy of Terri Schiavo's body. "Can we prove that occurred? No. It goes back to the same lingering issue: It's 15 years ago."

Several facts seem to back Michael Schiavo:

The issue never arose during a hotly contested malpractice trial in 1992 in which Michael Schiavo successfully sued his wife's doctors. If there was evidence he delayed calling for help, the doctor's attorneys likely would have used it to discredit the lawsuit.

Medical experts are astonished Terri Schiavo's vital signs returned that morning after the 911 call was placed. It seems unlikely she would have lived had her husband delayed calling for help.

The question did not come up in the 2000 trial in which Michael Schiavo was first given permission to remove his wife's feeding tube over the wishes of her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Though the Schindlers' attorneys sought to discredit Michael Schiavo in that trial, court transcripts reveal their lawyers spent little time questioning what happened the morning Terri Schiavo collapsed.

Schindler family members also have given different times for various events that morning. During the recent autopsy investigation, they could not recall exact times.

Michael Schiavo has said he was not wearing a watch and did not look at a clock that morning. He has previously testified he isn't good at recalling dates or times.

Still, the Schindlers are suspicious because the autopsy found no definitive reason for Terri Schiavo's collapse. They have suspected Michael Schiavo abused his wife, an accusation he vehemently denies and which the autopsy does not support.

The autopsy found her heart was strong, essentially ruling out a heart attack. There also was no evidence the collapse was caused by an eating disorder, which had been the leading theory and the jury's conclusion in the malpractice case.

"What we're trying to get a handle on is what really happened that night," said David Gibbs III, the Schindlers' attorney. "Why did a healthy, 26-year-old girl collapse like this? And there's only one witness to the event. And with all these inconsistencies, we're trying to get some answers."

Michael Schiavo has said he was getting out of his bed when he heard his wife collapse in the hallway. Most doctors say she slipped into a persistent vegetative state, a nonrecoverable state in which she was unaware of her surroundings.

Her parents fought Michael Schiavo's efforts to have her removed from a feeding tube. Her tube was removed in March and she died 13 days later at age 41.

Gibbs sent a letter to Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin in April that presented his own time line of what happened that morning. Gibbs said the time line was based on court records, interviews of family members by investigators with his office and independent detectives.

Gibbs identified one as Mark Fuhrman, the former Los Angeles detective best known for his role in the O.J. Simpson case. Fuhrman is writing a book on the Schiavo case that is due out later this month.

Gibbs' time line puts Terri Schiavo's collapse at 5 a.m. and says this is the time "used in all depositions, trials and media reports."

But it's not.

Admitting records at the hospital the day of Terri's collapse say it was about 6 a.m. During a malpractice trial in 1992, Michael Schiavo said it was about 5 a.m. In a TV interview in 2003 he said 4:30 a.m., which he repeated during the autopsy investigation.

Gibbs's time line also says Michael Schiavo called Bob Schindler between 5:38 and 5:40 a.m., though the Schindlers couldn't remember specific times in their interview for the autopsy.

Thogmartin met with Bush this week before the autopsy was released. When Bush learned of the time discrepancy, his office tracked down McCabe.

The governor sent a formal letter to McCabe on Friday asking for a broader investigation than just the time issue. It mentions the possibility of drugging or poisoning, among other things.

McCabe's chief assistant, Bruce Bartlett, said he could not comment on the letter. McCabe is out of town and could not be reached for comment.

Bush's request was immediately criticized by some state lawmakers.

"Enough is enough," said Sen. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. "I don't want to see it on TV anymore, I don't want to hear politicians talk about it. Let her be at peace."

Bush defended his request.

"I'm not asking for an investigation, what I'm asking for is the state attorney, based on new information, review that information so there can be closure," he said.

He acknowledged in his letter that an investigation might be difficult.

"I understand that these events took place many years ago, and that you may not be able to collect all the relevant records and physical evidence. However, Mrs. Schiavo's family deserves to know anything that can be done to determine the cause and circumstances of her collapse 15 years ago," Bush wrote. "The unanswered questions may be unanswerable, but the attempt should be made."

Even if Michael Schiavo admitted he delayed calling 911, the statute of limitations would have expired long ago on any crime arising from it.

"I can't imagine what in the world he could be charged with," said Mark Lipinski, a Bradenton lawyer who is not involved in the case but has followed it closely. "So the governor's request sounds more like a political request rather than a law enforcement request because there is absolutely nothing they could do."

Clearwater defense lawyer Denis de Vlaming also predicted the investigation will go nowhere.

"I think absent a confession that he had waited, knowing that she was going into a deep coma or what have you, and deliberately decided to wait, there would be nothing to go on," de Vlaming said. It also seems likely a delayed 911 call would have been discovered in the 1992 malpractice trial.

"If there was any evidence that there was any delay in Michael calling 911, the defense attorneys in our case would have been all over it," said Gary D. Fox, who represented Michael and Terri Schiavo in that case. ... "Of course there wasn't and they didn't and that ought to be the end of the issue. And this is back when it was fresh in everybody's mind."

Fox said if Michael Schiavo delayed calling 911, that would have hurt his case.

"There were people investigating Michael trying to defeat Michael in any way possible," Fox said. "The defense lawyers in that case went out and hired physicians - a bunch of them - to analyze the medical records . . . and none of them said or suggested Michael was in any way responsible for this.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

[Last modified June 18, 2005, 00:48:45]