Fighting for Dear Life: The Untold Story of Terri Schiavo and What It Means for All of Us (Hardcover)

~ David C.III Gibbs (Author), Bob DeMoss (Author)
Key Phrases: minimally conscious state, health care surrogate, malpractice award, Terri Schiavo, Michael Schiavo, George Felos (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Promising a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the real story of Terri Schiavo—"the truth which has been withheld from you... that we were not able to introduce as evidence in court"—Gibbs, the lead attorney for Terri's parents, argues that Terri's court-ordered death was a gross miscarriage of justice. She was, he claims, able to respond to people and stimuli. She was not on life support or in a coma and she was not in a "persistent vegetative state." Gibbs portrays Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, as a villain responsible for perpetrating these ideas in the press and for forbidding cameras in Terri's room so the world could not see that, though disabled, she was not brain-dead. Gibbs raises ethical questions that he says should be of deep concern to all Christians. At times, Gibbs's book reads like the theatrical closing arguments of a courtroom drama, with the obligatory rhetorical flourish. Despite the bias, this is a passionate book about an issue of great importance in our time. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gibbs was Bob and Mary Schindler's last lead attorney in their 13-year battle with Michael Schiavo over whether their daughter and Michael's wife, Terri, severely brain-damaged as a result of cardiac arrest, should continue being fed by tube. He and they lost, and Terri died, but not before Congress barged into, and the Supreme Court bowed out of, the fray. Gibbs is also an evangelical Christian broadcaster, as is coauthor DeMoss, and some tics of that trade (e.g., habitually using wake-up-stupid catchphrases--"I hope you're sitting down," etc.--that may be needed to corral listeners' wandering attention but insult those engaged in the much more focused activity of reading) make a vital though unabashedly partisan key-player perspective on a major social contretemps more off-putting than need be. Gibbs reports as fact primarily his and his clients' and colleagues' actions and tells no tales on Michael Schiavo, his counsel, or his supporters. He does question Michael's behavior, wondering as others have why Michael didn't turn Terri's care over to her parents rather than insist on his right to end her feeding; he contends that Michael, his counsel, and experts among his supporters misled the public about the probable pain of starvation; and he argues that Terri's autopsy is unhelpful for determining her physical condition at any time much before death. The last several chapters are inspirational and hortatory padding, tacked on for members of the evangelical choir. Before then, anyone interested in the consummate brou-ha-ha that was the Schiavo affair will be engaged. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076420243X
• ISBN-13: 978-0764202438
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #770,983 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving account with hope of a future triumph!, July 24, 2006

By	Christian Book Previews.com "Christian Book P... - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Would you like to get the real facts behind the tragic Terri Schiavo story? Here's an opportunity to read the words of the lead attorney on this case, as he valiantly struggled to save the life of this precious young woman.

David Gibbs tells this story, simply and with a remarkable reliance upon God. His law firm got involved in 2003 at the request of Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Candidly admitting that they were up against insurmountable odds, Gibbs aggressively pursued every legal avenue of redress. The lies of the media will be blown aside as readers enter into the private domain of the key people in this drama. Most noteworthy is the author's description of his first meeting with Terri, and the incredible impression she made upon him.

Written with a lawyer's attention to detail and arranged in a concise chronological order, this book contains all the pertinent and powerful facts. Readers' reactions will range from sadness to shock to outrage at the miscarriage of justice shown in this situation. Interestingly, David Gibbs doesn't offer his own heated opinions on this issue; rather, he lets the testimony speak for itself. And with the inclusion of newspaper and magazine articles, legal statements, and actual observations from eyewitnesses, this collection of information leads to only one truth: Terri Schiavo endured an unnecessary and painful death.

Although the book centers on this one woman, the author consistently leads readers to understand the far-reaching significance of this issue, and encourages every American to be aware of the legal ramifications of this case. The final pages offer a Christian response to this tragedy, which is to humbly beseech the living God to change the hearts of those in our great nation. Prayer is more powerful than any legal petition, and that thought closes this moving account with the hope of a perfect and future triumph. - Joyce Handzo, Christian Book Previews.com

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Could Change Your Whole Perspective, August 5, 2006

By	Paul S. Fratianni - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

Though I was down in Penellas Park for 11 days, and most of them at the protest site, the book still informed me of things I had not previously known.

I periodically saw Terri's family and Gibbs, etc, but I did not know in their own words what exactly was going on. Fighting for Dear Life portrays these experiences in an easy to read as well as in an inspiring way.

I believe if the majority of American's read this book, their eyes will be opened in whole new way as the media in general did much disservice in the way they reported this story. I know because the information I was receiving was not the same information that the News would portray. Every night I would watch it to measure their accuracy, and every night me and my companions jaws almost dropped in the sheer deception, and or ineptitude of the reporting.

This is not to say there were not media heroes like Sean Hannity who was one of the few who really asked the right questions focusing the nation's attention to where it was needed. Unfortunately this type of journalism was few and far between. The reporting was so bad in general I truly began to wonder if indeed it was not a conspiracy, and I am not one to believe in conspiracies.

In any case Fighting for Dear Life will give you a side of the story you might not had gotten. If you have a heart at all for humanitarian issues, this is the book for you.

12 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, August 21, 2006

By	Marianne "Marianne" (Florida) - See all my reviews

Fighting for Dear Life by David Gibbs III is an excellent book. Gibbs is an attorney who represented Terri's parents in their fight to save their daughter's life from a cruel death by dehyration/starvation. He writes about his experience with Terri Schindler-Schiavo and her family.

Gibbs details his visits with Terri at the hospice. He wrote, "Here was a lady [Terri] who was brain injured and severely disabled...yet Terri recognized people, enjoyed the company of her family, and struggled to communicate. Over the course of my future visits, Terri even warmed up to me. She'd respond to my presence and appropriately jabber right back at me in her own way."

Gibbs also warns readers that the term "persistant vegetative state" (PVS) is not a formal medical diagnosis. Gibbs wrote, "...the PVS diagnosis is a gut-level guess at best. One 1996 British Medical Journal study suggested that doctors misdiagnose PVS approximately 43 percent of the time." A neurologist told Gibbs that the "number of false positive vegetative diagnosis is higher in patients who are motor or visually impaired."

Gibbs also asks why Terri's estranged husband, Michael Schiavo, didn't allow her family to take care of her instead of working towards ending her life. Gibbs points out that Schiavo had been living with another woman [Jodi Centonze] for 12 years and bore two children with her.

Gibbs devotes a chapter in his book about people who have recovered from comas [Brooke Becker] or those who were falsely labeled as being in a persistant vegetatve state [the case of Theresa de Vera is an outstanding example].

Gibbs encourages readers to never give up hope on family members who have become severely disabled, and to have faith in God.