Schiavo's husband offered $1 million

San Diego Union-Tribune | March 11, 2005

"I've been following the Terri Schiavo case for the last couple of years, watching it on TV," said Herring, who said he does not know the Florida woman and has not spoken to Schiavo's parents or her husband.

Herring and the parents believe that drugs being developed and stem cell research might save Schiavo.

"If you read what doctors say today, her brain cells are repairing and are in better condition now than they were," Herring said.

Schiavo, 41, was brain-damaged 15 years ago when a heart attack cut off oxygen to her brain. Her husband, Michael, describes her as being in a persistent vegetative state in which she would not want to be kept alive.

After a series of court battles, he is set to remove her feeding tube March 18, a plan that a Florida court upheld yesterday.

But Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler of Florida, have fought to keep her alive in the belief that their daughter might improve with treatment. They say that even though their daughter is bedridden, she can and does respond.

Herring agrees.

"If you look at the photos, you see her trying to talk and follow a balloon back and forth," he said. "And I've read that she enjoys listening to music, and if you turn it off she becomes agitated. That's not the actions of a person in a persistent vegetative state."

Asked if this was not an unusual offer from a stranger, Herring replied: "We're spending millions of dollars trying to kill people," referring to the war in Iraq. "There may be better ways of spending money than I'm proposing, but I don't know what they might be."

Herring and his high-profile attorney, Gloria Allred, appeared last night on Fox TV to publicize the offer, saying $1 million has been placed in a special fund.

Herring, founder of WealthTV, said his offer does not include the rights to Schiavo's story.

"But if she is cured, I would love to run that show," he added. "She has nine more days, and if someone doesn't do something, they will pull the plug and starve her. . . . That's not a very pleasant way to go."

Attorney: $1 million offer to Terri Schiavo's husband 'offensive'

Associated Press | March 11, 2005

TAMPA, Fla. Terri Schiavo's husband is rejecting a one (m) million dollar offer by a San Diego-area businessman who wants to keep the brain-damaged Florida woman alive.
Robert Herring announced yesterday he would pay Michael Schiavo the money if he transfers the legal right to decide his wife's medical treatment to her parents. For nearly seven years, he's been fighting to get permission to stop his wife's artificial feedings so she can die. Her parents oppose removing the feeding tube.

The businessman said yesterday the offer will remain on the table until Monday, but Schiavo's attorney is calling the proposition "offensive."

He says other such offers -- including one for 10 (m) million dollars -- have already been made and rejected by Schiavo, who contends he once promised his wife he would not keep her alive by artificial means before she suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago.

The case has drawn international attention, particularly among religious conservatives who are supporting the woman's parents

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