House Votes to Move Schiavo Case

WP ^ | March 17, 2005 | AP

[FairOpinion]

The U.S. House passed legislation late yesterday to delay removal of the feeding tube that is keep- ing alive a brain-damaged woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to allow her to die.

The House bill, passed on a voice vote, would move such a case to federal court. Federal judges have twice turned down efforts by Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to move the case out of Florida courts, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated today, a GOP aide said.

[Nitro]

Look, of course we care for our young and I am not calling for a death march........

but, at some time it must behoove us to cease "extra-ordinary" measures.

I would like to see you perform CPR on an 80 year old without making it worse.

You save his/her heart and now we get in touch with Boeing Aircraft Corp to get new Titanium ribs that you just shattered.

OK, that 80 million and ..........................

[FairOpinion]

"I always wanted her to live, but what is living?"

What if people had decided that you would never become healthy and vital and wouldn't have bothered to save you?

Nobody knows what Terri would have wanted, but if she may show awareness and her parents want to have her with them and take care of her, why should one allow her husband, who may have caused her condition, have the right to pull the plug, just by claiming, without any evidence, that Terri wouldn't want to live like this.

If her parents were her guardians, they would just quietly take care of her. This is NOT a right to live or a "right to die" issue, because we have NO evidence that Terri wanted to die. It's really the issue of a greedy husband, who may have murdered Terri, wanting her to die, to make sure she wouldn't get well, and reveal his crime.

What reasonable person wouldn't just step aside? Terri's parents offered that he can keep the money, he should just let them take care of Terri. Apparently someone offered him $10M and recently $1M, to just step aside, and he won't.

He certainly is NOT devoted to Terri, he's had a girlfriend and some children from this girlfried.

There are only two reasons: he is just so incredibly evil, as to defy imagination or that he did indeed try to kill her, which is how she ended up in this condition, and he doesn't want to take any chances of her recovering any of her faculties and let the world know, how he tried to kill her in the first place.

[justche]

What does she do that isn't life like? She doesn't hold a job, she doesn't speak at the level that one without an injury does, her husband (I use that term loosely) has with held the physical therapy that could have allowed her to walk again someday. She breathes, she smiles, she loves, she is loved, what else matters?

[JubJub]

You are asking for a reply from a person that has lost her language skills. I am a person who has lost a lot of other skills, but I can eat and I can talk. And even though my husband's insurance and his income keep me alive, I am still your dependent. No, I have not requested governmental assistance - even though I qualify for it, but I still drive up the cost of health insurance.

When my Dad had esophageal cancer he could not eat and was fed by a tube. Perhaps you should have cut off his life. The fact of the matter is that he worked even the day he died. He was very lucky none of us tried to put him out of his misery earlier to collect that big life insurance policy.

[FairOpinion]

"Judge Greer allowed Schiavo to use Terri's trust money to fund his bid to remove her feeding tube."

I didn't know that. Judge Greer is long overdue for impeachment or recall, or whatever they do in Florida.

[Xenalyte]

One hopes not.

[Nitro]

OK, I say she lives.

Now what?

[ApesForEvolution]

Do you feel like eating tomorrow?

'Cuz, it sounds like you like killin innocent, defenseless people.

How bout we vote no more nutrition or water for you. I vote take it up with the village about the idiot. What say the idiot?

[Nitro]

You didn't read all the way.

[FairOpinion]

Her parents take her home, love her, give her therapy and maybe she improves, maybe she doesn't, but she will be among people who love her, and comfortable, instead of cruelly starved to death.

[Xenalyte]

Ahem.

The proper term for Jodie Centonze is "concubine."

[Nitro]

What does she do that isn't life like?

I didn't say anything like that.

[Nitro]

No, I will fry a little ham and then slide a few 'sunny-sides' right on top!!

[TheOtherOne]

U.S. House Passes Bill Designed to Delay Schiavo Case

By Jesse J. Holland Associated Press Writer
Published: Mar 17, 2005 WASHINGTON (AP) - The House passed legislation late Wednesday intended to delay the removal of the feeding tube keeping alive a brain-damaged woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to allow her to die.

Earlier in the day, a Florida appeals court refused to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. For years her husband has battled her parents over his efforts to allow her to die, which he contends she would prefer rather than live in a vegetative state.

The House bill, passed on a voice vote, would move such a case to federal court. Federal judges have twice turned down efforts by the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to move the case out of Florida courts, citing a lack of jurisdiction.

Senate Republicans are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated on Thursday, a GOP aide said.

Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law. It would apply only to incapacitated people who had not left directives dealing with being kept alive artificially and for whom a state judge had authorized the withholding of food or medical treatment.

Schiavo, 41, suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped temporarily, and court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents disagree that was her wish and say she could improve with proper treatment.

Florida Circuit Judge George Greer has granted Michael Schiavo permission to remove the feeding tube, a ruling a state appellate court upheld Wednesday. Without the feeding tube, which the state court allowed to be removed as early as Friday, Terri Schiavo would likely die in one to two weeks.

"What's going on in Florida regarding Terri Schiavo is nothing short of inhumane," said House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who introduced the bill with Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla.

Some House members criticized the bill, which Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., called "a dangerously reckless way to deal with some serious issues."

"It does not deal just with feeding tubes. It would allow intervention in any decision affecting any kind of medical care. Read the bill," Nadler said.

The Florida appeals court said in Wednesday's ruling that the issues the Schindlers' raised were not new ones and had been dealt with previously by numerous courts.

"Not only has Mrs. Schiavo's case been given due process, but few, if any similar cases have ever been afforded this heightened level of process," Chief Judge Chris Altenbernd wrote.

The court also rejected the Department of Children & Families' request for a 60-day stay while that agency investigates allegations that Terri Schiavo has been abused.

The Schindler's planned to ask the Supreme Court to consider whether their daughter's religious freedom and due process rights have been violated. Federal courts have declined to become involved the case.

In Tallahassee, the House and Senate were considering competing proposals to prevent the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

The bills would block the removal of feeding tubes from patients in a persistent vegetative state who didn't leave specific verbal or written instructions otherwise. But the Senate plan would only affect cases where families disagreed.

AP-ES-03-17-05 0009EST

[FairOpinion]

Yes I did.


"I always wanted her to live, but what is living?"


That is not for you or I to decide. People who want to make sure they don't live, unless they have all their faculties, can make living wills, stating, that they don't want to be kept alive by artificial means.

But other people may want to live, no matter what.

Terri has loving parents who want to take care of her. That makes a big difference.

[DJ MacWoW]

Judge Greer is long overdue for impeachment or recall, or whatever they do in Florida.

I'd settle for investigation and jail time. :)

[ApesForEvolution]

You could always choke on it...life is dangerous, especially in a lawless nation overrun by Death Cultists hiding behind Judicical Activisits.

Sounds like a purge could be in the works, ham and egg eating Death Cultists first? Since murder is legal now.

[Nitro]

Yo Fair, I am on your side.

Most of the responses are quick.

Read all the way thru.

[DJ MacWoW]

A hospice is a palliative care center for the terminally ill. It's illegal for Terri, who is not suffering a terminal illness, to be there. The normal stay is about 6 months. They make the dying more comfortable with pain meds etc. Terri has been there 5 years.

[Nitro]

I do not need instruction.......

I watched my Mother die from pancreatic cancer.

I have, what could be called skills in this area.