Jan 10, 2004
By DAVID SOMMER
CLEARWATER - Gov. Jeb Bush's request for additional independent investigation of the Terri Schiavo case has been denied by Pinellas and Pasco counties' chief judge.
Bush wanted a guardian ad litem to take a closer look at how the 40-year-old St. Petersburg woman became ill and the suitability of her husband to serve as her guardian.
Last month, Bush sent Chief Circuit Judge David Demers a list of questions he said were not addressed in an earlier investigation by University of South Florida Professor Jay Wolfson.
Wolfson served as Schiavo's court-appointed guardian ad litem for about two months before being discharged in December.
The governor said then that Wolfson had not had the opportunity to probe deeply enough into the case.
Bush listed 10 areas he wanted investigated, including what happened the night Schiavo's heart stopped in February 1990, cutting off oxygen to her brain and leaving her in what has been diagnosed as a persistent vegetative state.
The governor also asked about ``statements of law enforcement, emergency medical professionals and staff members of medical facilities where Schiavo was treated.'' He asked what Michael Schiavo, his wife's legal guardian, said ``at the time regarding her condition and how she was found.''
Demers subsequently asked Michael Schiavo and his in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, for their positions on Bush's request.
The two sides have been locked in a 5 1/2-year battle over whether Terri Schiavo should be kept alive with the help of a feeding tube.
Michael Schiavo contends his wife made statements prior to her illness indicating she would not want to be kept alive with no hope of improvement. His doctors have testified that her brain was destroyed and she will never be able to eat normally.
The Schindlers say their daughter reacts to them and could improve. They say their daughter never said she would not want to be kept alive with a feeding tube.
In response to Bush's request, Michael Schiavo argued Wolfson had performed his duties as outlined in Terri's Law, a legislative measure enacted in October to allow for Wolfson's appointment and to allow Bush to intervene in the case.
Bush used the law to order that the feeding tube be reinserted after the woman spent six days without nourishment. It had been the second time the tube was removed with court permission.
The Schindlers supported Bush's request and added some questions, including ``the advisability of the dissolution of the marriage'' since Michael Schiavo is living with another woman with whom he has had two children.
In a three-page ruling signed Thursday, Demers said the 2nd District Court of Appeal recently ruled Terri's Law is presumptively unconstitutional. Demers denied the governor's request without further explanation.
Terri's right to be represented in legal proceedings that affect her is not at issue and should not be overruled by judicial fiat. This judge is prejudiced in the extreme and should be removed not just from the case but from the bench. He is unfit to serve.
I'm not surprised......about questions not being addressed by Wolfson, and by Demer's denial or lack of explanation. This whole thing reminds me of Shakespeare's Hamlet...."Something is rotten in the state of Denmark."