Ccaron25@cs.com wrote:
Michael Schiavo speaks at local medical ethics conference
In his first public comments since his wife's death, Michael Schiavo said today that ''I never, in my entire life, thought I would be thrown into such a national debate.... All I wanted to do was carry out my wife's wishes.''
Schiavo spoke at a conference in Minneapolis on medical ethics as several dozen protesters marched outside the Hyatt Regency Hotel where the conference was being held.
Wiping away tears, Schiavo described his last moments with his wife, Terri, who died in March after a dramatic court battle to remove her feeding tube.
''Terri didn't die an awful death,'' he said. As she died, ''I laid a red rose in her hand and said goodbye.''
Schiavo, in recounting his 15-year ordeal, said he refused for years to believe his wife was in a permanent vegetative state after she suffered brain damage when her heart stopped in 1990.
When doctors told him in that first year that she would never recover, he said, ''I told them they were wrong. I was going to bring my wife home and we were going to get on with our lives.'' It was only after years of futile effort to revive her that he decided to end her treatment. He said that's what she would have wanted.
Schiavo came to the Twin Cities to speak at a conference honoring Dr. Ronald Cranford, a Minneapolis neurologist who was a medical advisor to him during Terri Schiavo's case.
''I just wanted to thank Dr. Cranford for your help. You gave me a lot of encouragement. You gave me the power to be the person I am right now.'' His address was met by a standing ovation from the more than 200 people in attendance.
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