Posted on 03/24/2005 5:26:02 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
By the time you read this, Teresa Schiavo may be dead of starvation as required by Florida Judge George Greer. Thousands of people have produced millions of words on this subject. I should write nothing, unless I have more to offer than the MSM (mainstream media). I do.
Personal experience colors what I say. On 1 January 1994, my mother was taken to Mission Memorial Hospital in Asheville with serious injuries from an auto accident. She’d suffered both a heart attack and a stroke after the accident. She was in a coma, but still alive.
Seven years before, her life was saved in that same excellent hospital, by emergency surgery to repair an aorta aneurism. She spent a week in intensive care, and told both her sons that she did not want to be “hooked up to tubes again.” In 1994, my brother was in a different hospital after the accident; decisions on my mother’s care rested on me alone.
Four different medical specialists were called in. I took their advice. I talked to all the grandchildren. Ultimately I made not just one decision, but a series of them, leading directly to my mother’s death, four days later.
I have not yet steeled myself to write the complete history of those four days. Someday I should, because advances in medical care mean that many more Americans will face similar decisions about family members. I understand what Terri Schiavo’s family are going through except the extraordinary time those burdens have been on their shoulders and their hearts.
That said, what can I offer on this subject? For the best medical discussion, I recommend Charles Krauthammer’s excellent column this week. On the legal side, events now are a direct consequence of a legal failure seven years ago, and the arrogance of judges who cannot admit error and merely dispense with the case, rather than take the tougher path and decide it.
The attorneys for Terri’s family should have filed for her divorce from Michael Schiavo seven years ago. He was clearly guilty of adultery. She was clearly blameless. I’m unaware of any divorce action brought by a “next friend” for a woman who cannot speak. But I am aware of divorces the other way – husbands and wives who obtained divorces from spouses who were profoundly disabled, or in prison, or who had disappeared. Turnabout is fair play.
Had Michael been removed as the husband, he would not have been named, or continued, as her guardian. Therefore, what is happening now would not have occurred.
Then there are Michael’s reasons for bias. He had three personal reasons at home (a “wife” and two children). He had hundreds of thousands of reasons in the bank (a million-dollar malpractice settlement). But Judge Greer also had reasons for bias.
In Florida, judges are subject to retention elections. In his last election, Judge Greer received substantial contributions from at least five lawyers who have represented Michael over the years. This is a matter of public records in Florida. None of the MSM have bothered to research and report on this.
Speaking of bias, ABC had its own mini-Rathergate this week. ABC touted a “memo circulated among Republican Senators” which sought to make political hay from Terri Schiavo. The memo is a fraud. It contains references any Senator or staffer would have known not to use concerning legislative business. It also lacks the standard cover sheet and initials of sender for all intraSenate memos. This fraud story was broken by www.Powerline.com; they have the details.
Like CBS, ABC rushed to broadcast with a forged document because it didn’t ask competent experts whether it was false. ABC was in a rush (dare we say biased?) to attack the Republicans. The bias has continued in an ABC poll that misstates the facts of the Schiavo case to produce false results. A day after this memo was exposed as a fraud, Lanny Davis cited it as true on Fox News. Given Davis’s history, that was predictable.
Lastly, on the Internet I’ve seen a brain scan of Terri Schiavo She has a larger gap of fluid than in a normal brain. But I’ve also seen the scan of a woman with a similar void – who was given up for brain dead – who recovered, and who corresponded with me and others and released her medical records, to present an alternative to the assumptions of “experts.”
What we have here is a gross failure of common sense and decency in state and federal courts. Terri Schiavo should be in the physical custody of her parents, who love her, not in the hands of her “husband,” who wants her dead. Her soul now and forever is in the hands of God.
About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
Good writing. Do you have sources for the Krauthammer's column and the campaign contributions?
Well said!
ping
It's going to be just like the abortion debate. I wonder if this mess will be leaped on as stare decis (sp?), in future cases. Michael had a hell of a plan cooked up.
After all, the SCOTUS said, "Not it" when asked to rule. And the "Men in Black" are firmly entrenched.
Where is Gandalf when we really need him?
Thanks John. Nice post.
God have mercy on us...and may Jesus return soon.
Thank you.
The traditional 30 pieces of silver?
"And I suppose you know what's best for Terri, right? Check the mirror: I think you've turned into a nanny-state liberal."
With so much coverage and info available about Terri's case, yes-- naturally we all have our opinions. It wasn't said that the state be in charge of Terri, but her parents. HOW does that advocate a nanny-state? ??
I haven't flown my flag in 3 years, but I may fly it once more, for 24 hours, just like you. Then it too will never fly again.
I know that the best thing for Terri is to have her body in the hands of those who love her, and her soul in the hands of God. The second part is always true, or so I believe. The first part is obviously false as of this moment.
John
Thank you for posting. This was an article that offers much solance and wisdom.
What's a town or village justice? Do they exist in Florida?
Very well said, John.
Likewise I do not grieve so much for Terri. It is her family who need comfort and her tormentors who need one's prayers: for the judgment against them is terrible.
Greer puzzles me. I don't think he's doing this for money. His rulings are so partial and bizarre, it seems to me more and more suggestive that he is covering up a crime -- and is himself part of this crime. What the crime might be, I don't know. I'm just observing his increasingly frantic behavior and weird decisions. I can't see that "follow the money" can explain actions this desperate. Fwiw.
...and finding it.
"Upon learning of her death I will lower the flag outside my home, turn the union down then raise it again and fly it again for 24 hours. After that I will never fly it again....."
Please reconsider. Agreed at half-mast in mourning. But then, please RAISE it with a 'terrible resolve' to RESTORE AMERICA to being worthy of that FLAG. Let us all ensure that the evildoers take no more ground and that rather, we begin quickly re-taking our lost ground.
What I've come way with, in addition to your excellent point about the absence of common sense and decency that permeates this matter, is the sense of being exposed to an overwhelming amount of what is best summed up as sheer propaganda. The finances of Terri's care, the sinister origins of her injuries, the true actions of her husband throughout her care, the reality of her medical condition, the 'Real' expressed wishes of her regarding heroic measures to maintain life and on and on. What all of these subplots have in common is the virtual absence of clear, objective and factual supporting details or citations of source.
Instead we are treated to what appears to me to be a continuous stream of rumor, estimation, anecdotal information and raw speculation that masquerades as certifiable Truth and this inaccuracy and obfuscation has left me very, very upset.
I'm upset with the Judicial System for failing to gain control of this situation by conducting a true 'de novo' revue of this matter, ordering definitive tests by recognized and objective examiners and publishing these findings in the record. I'm upset with the Congress for wading in and basing much of their actions on incomplete and clearly disputed information. Finally, I'm upset that both sides of this issue (M Schiavo and the Shindlers) could not reach your common sense resolution of this matter, if for nothing more than their oft expressed love and caring for Terri Schiavo.
IMHO It is not surprising that people are seriously worked up - Both sides of the issue find support in the form of this baloney.
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