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Lately, Americans have been quick to disparage other countries for their approach to life and death issues. In particular, many Americans have been outraged at the Netherlands’ policies regarding euthanasia, assisted suicide, infanticide and the killing of those with mental illnesses. As Americans, we haven’t been entirely intellectually honest in addressing why these things have become so prevalent in Europe. After all, we would never allow that kind of immorality or degradation of human life. Not in this great nation. Right? Wrong. Americans had better look again and take the time to rethink their value systems. Because if you honestly...

An American doctor argues in the latest issue of the leading journal Bioethics that artificial nutrition and hydration should be withdrawn from all patients in a permanent vegetative state – unless there is clear evidence that they want to be kept alive. Dr Catherine Constable, of New York University School of Medicine, studied bioethics at the Ethox Centre at Oxford University. She argues that the current presumption in favour of maintaining ANH is misguided. It is not in the interests of the patient nor, because of its cost, in the interest of society.However, her argument is not based upon cost,...

LifeNews.com Note:  Bobby Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo and he and his family now work for Terri’s Life & Hope Network to help disabled and incapacitated patients like her. The anniversary of the death of his father, Robert Schindler, was earlier this week. The passing of both Terri and my father is what helps inspire my family and the work we do at Terri’s Life & Hope Network to continue fighting for our most vulnerable every day.My father was a man of incredible strength, and loved his family so much that he essentially gave up his life...

he death of Terri Schindler Schiavo in 2005 is a distant memory for most Americans. But for the family that spent seven years fighting Terri's estranged husband and the court system to stop the starvation of their daughter and sister, recollections of the 13 days Terri lingered without food or water before finally succumbing to death remain vivid and painful. And the knowledge that other brain-damaged patients could suffer a similar fate has propelled this once-ordinary family into around-the-clock activism. "It was almost like there really wasn't an option," said Terri's sister, Suzanne Schindler-Vitadamo, when I interviewed her last weekend...

ST. PETERSBURG, June 3 / -- Today marks the end of Jack Kevorkian’s reign of terror over vulnerable and needy patients. For decades Jack Kevorkian spent his life advocating for assisted suicide, helping dozens of mostly non-terminal persons kill themselves. “It was clear that this man had a dysfunctional obsession and infatuation with death and that his true involvement in these deaths was never properly reported,” stated Terri Schiavo’s Life and Hope Network’s Executive Director, Bobby Schindler. In an October 2010 MSNBC interview with Jack Kevorkian, he was asked to weigh in on Terri Schiavo’s two-week court ordered dehydration death....

I recently read an article in the London Free Press (March 22nd) about the highly publicized Joseph Maraachli situation titled, Baby Joseph Case Becomes Political Issue in U.S. As the Executive Director the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, I was personally involved in helping Baby Joseph’s parents keep control of the medical treatment decisions that were being made for their son.Joseph was diagnosed with a brain condition that doctors believe will eventually cause his untimely death. Joseph's parents, Moe and Sana, understood that their son’s case was terminal. Their only request was for a simple procedure to be performed that...

  MUMBAI, February 1, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Doctors at Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital are concerned for the life of Aruna Shanbaug, a former nurse at KEM who suffered serious brain damage when she was strangled and raped in 1973, and who has been cared for by hospital staff ever since. The Indian Supreme Court ordered an investigation into Shanbaug’s condition after a journalist, who wrote a book about Shanbaug, filed a petition seeking to have hospital staff discontinue feeding her.Journalist Pinki Virani said through her lawyer that Shanbaug had been “virtually a dead person” for the last 38...

There was not a dry eye in McGivney Hall's Keane auditorium Wednesday as more than 150 students watched a short video of photos and footage from the life of Terri Schiavo-a Florida woman whose tragic medical condition riveted the nation and Congress five years ago. The video presentation followed a talk given by Bobby Schindler, the late Terri Schiavo's brother and advocate from the Terri Schiavo Life and Hope Network, sponsored by the CUA student organization Students for Life. Schindler's talk addressed the misconceptions surrounding Schiavo's death, its treatment by the media, and its ongoing impact in today's culture, in...

  NEWS ALERT! Brain-Injured Wife Goes Without Food or Water for Seven Weeks September 17, 2010 (Statement from Terri's Life & Hope Network) - It has been 49 days since Trisha Duguay has gone without any food or water after her feeding tube was removed. Her husband made this decision shortly after Trisha had unsuccessful surgery for a brain tumor that was discovered just after the couple was married.The family has started a Facebook page to lend support to Trisha and her family titled, "From Bride to Angel." So far, over 4,000 people have supported the family.While what is...

March 31st will mark the five-year anniversary of the needless death of my sister, Terri Schiavo. It is difficult to believe this much time has passed since that horrible event which will be forever seared into my memory. I wish I could say things have changed for the better since my sister’s death or that people with cognitive disabilities are now better protected in response to the horror she had to endure. Tragically, however, it seems the rights of the brain-injured, elderly and others are still being violated. All one has to do is look at what happened just last...

St. Petersburg, Fla., Feb 4, 2010 / 08:32 pm (CNA).- Reacting to news of a breakthrough in brain scanning technology, Terri Schiavo's brother Bobby Schindler is calling for a halt to removing hydration from brain-damaged patients who are thought to be in a persistent vegetative state. An “unscientific, inaccurate” diagnosis of unresponsive patients is being used as “a criterion to kill,” Schindler charged. Schindler was responding to news that researchers from the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Liège have used a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map a patient’s brain activity while he was...

LifeNews.com Note: Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute and a special consultant to the Center for Bioethics and Culture. His most recent book is the Consumer's Guide to a Brave New World. This opinion column originally appeared in the Church Report.Terri Schiavo continues to prick our collective conscience, our sensitivity to the way she died -- deprived of all food and water, even the balm of ice chips for nearly two weeks -- as raw today as on the day she drew her last breath five years ago next March. Usually, the trauma remains...

WASHINGTON – A proposed revision to the directives that guide Catholic heath care facilities would clarify that patients with chronic conditions who are not imminently dying should receive food and water by “medically assisted” means if they cannot take them normally. “As a general rule, there is an obligation to provide patients with food and water, including medically assisted nutrition and hydration for those who cannot take food orally,” says the revised text of the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services” proposed by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. “This obligation extends to patients in chronic conditions...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (BP)--I envied Terri Schiavo for her father, Bob. There were times I thought: What a waste, she doesn't know how good she has it. Not like it was her fault, but if only she knew. But of course she knew. From all the firsthand accounts and the vivid description of my friend David Gibbs, the attorney who fought for the right of Bob Schindler's daughter to live, Terri herself knew what it was like to feel the whiskered face of her father rough up against her cheek and tickle her until she smiled. She knew when he...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Terri Schiavo Story, a highly-regarded documentary on the life and euthanasia death of the disabled Florida woman, continues to rack up new awards. Meanwhile, the Schindler family continues to help disabled patients whose lives are threatened by doctors or families. Schiavo was killed in a painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death over the course of nearly two weeks when her former husband won a court order to kill her and the documentary presents facts that the mainstream media distorted.Earlier this year the Terri Schiavo Story won the 2009 Jubilee Award at the San Antonio...

I spent a lot of time watching news coverage of President Obama’s recent speech at Notre Dame. I couldn’t help but be reminded of my sister Terri’s two-week ordeal that took place at the hospice facility where she was killed in March of 2005. The was so much that was eerily similar—from the amount of media present and the pro-lifers who were there in prayer, to the dozens of people who were arrested for protesting against what was taking place. Along with so many other Catholics, I found it profoundly disturbing that President Obama was not only invited to speak...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Schindler family attended a special Mass on Tuesday, which marked the fourth anniversary of the painful starvation and dehydration euthanasia death of Terri Schiavo. Ave Maria University, a Florida-based Catholic college, hosted the mass, which saw the entire Schindler family attend.Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri's parents, joined their other children Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Vitadamo for a ceremony in Terri's honor.As the Schindlers prayed with participants for other disabled people who face the same euthanasia concerns, they placed a picture of Terri on her wedding day on the altar and joined more than...

  DOCUMENTARY REVEALS NEW DETAILS IN TERRI SCHIAVO CASE   By Gina Adams Story Published: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:31 PM CST Story Updated: Feb 25, 2009 at 5:34 PM CST The story of Terri Schiavo caused a nationwide uproar that garnered the attention of the worldwide media, the U.S. Congress, and even the office of the President of the United States.   The ethical and cultural implications of her case are still being felt throughout society and continue to spark debate. In the newly-released documentary, The Terri Schiavo Story (Franklin Springs Family Media), previously unexplored facts of the...

ROME, February 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Eluana Englaro, who is often referred to as “Italy’s Terri Schiavo,” was transferred late Tuesday night to a hospital that has agreed to participate in her killing by removal of her food and hydration tube. Television news coverage showed a group of pro-life activists gathered outside the clinic in Eluana’s home town of Lecco at about 1:30am, as an ambulance took her away, some shouting “Eluana, wake up!” and “Don’t kill her!”Eluana Englaro, 38, suffered brain damage in a car accident in 1992 and has since been in a state of diminished consciousness....

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- An attorney who won an award for representing Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife is now an advisor to the transition team of incoming president Barack Obama.Thomas Perrelli, who raised over $500,000 for the pro-abortion presidential candidate and is the managing partner of a Washington law firm, Jenner & Block LLP, is helping advise Obama on putting together a Justice Department team.However, Perrelli provided Michael Schiavo with legal advice during his response to the Congressional bill that President Bush signed allowing the Schindler fail to take their lawsuit seeking...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Several pro-life leaders are hoping the majority of Americans who take a pro-life position on abortion will re-charge and re-energize following Tuesday night's election defeats. They say the pro-life movement must prepare themselves to take on a pro-abortion president and renew educational efforts."We have long known that the work of advancing a culture of life is not a short-term project," Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews.com."Recall that William Wilberforce fought against the slave trade for 45 years before he ultimately prevailed in his defense of life," she said."In 2008, it is clear...

Los Angeles, October 1, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Saturday, September 27, the Mexican superstar of Latin America, Eduardo Verastegui, and several of his friends joined the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign outside Family Planning Associates, an abortion business at 601 S. Westmoreland Avenue. He went there for two reasons: to help mothers and their unborn children, and warn people about the number-one abortion celebrity, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL).Verastegui is cofounder of L.A.-based Metanoia Films and lead actor in the company's first feature film, Bella (http://www.amazon.com/Bella-Eduardo-Ver%C3%A1stegui/dp/B0014...), which premiered in American movie theaters last October.Until November 2, citizens of 179 cities in...

LAUREN RICHARDSON - YOU CAN HELP!By Judie BrownIt has been a source of ongoing sadness to read of the difficulties Lauren Richardson’s father has had over the course of the past several months. For those of you who are not familiar with her case, Lauren overdosed on heroin on August 28, 2006. She suffered oxygen deprivation and, as a result of the overdose, is now in a coma and unable to speak out for herself. At the time of the overdose, Lauren was expecting a baby. Her parents honored what they knew would have been her wish and did all they could to...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's family and a leading pro-life group are calling on people to honor the disabled woman whose husband took her life in a painful euthanasia death. Together with Priests for Life, the Schindler family has established the observance of “Terri’s Day” each March 31. That's the day Terri succumbed to a 13-day starvation and dehydration death at the hand of Michael Schiavo, her former husband who won a court order to take her life.“This third anniversary should be an occasion for all of us to both remember the injustice done to Terri, and reach...

Tampa, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The foundation that Terri Schiavo's family created after her death is continuing its efforts to help the elderly and disabled obtain appropriate medical care. The foundation is launching a new radio program on a Tampa station that will be simulcast on the Internet and later expanded to other Florida stations. The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation will start the new America's Lifeline program this weekend life from the Tampa studios of Talk Radio 860 WGUL, a Christian station.Prominent radio health care advocate Cary Hall will co-sponsor the program along with Terri's brother Bobby Schinder and her sister...

A Delaware woman has become the next Terri Schiavo as her parents engage in a massive legal and philosophical debate about whether to subject her to euthanasia. Richardson is a 23-year-old woman who overdosed on heroin in August 2006 while she was three months pregnant with a baby girl. Doctors kept Lauren on life support until she delivered her baby in February 2007. Shortly thereafter, her parents began a fight that is reminiscent of the battle over Terri's life and death. As in the Terri Schiavo case, physicians have been quick to label Lauren as having a persistent vegetative state...

Bronx, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The battle over the life and death of a teenage girl in New York has drawn the attention of pro-life advocates in recent days. The fight to save Javona Peters reminds some of the struggle of the Schindler family in Florida to save the life of Terri Schiavo, a beloved daughter and sibling whose former husband eventually took her life. In this case, Peters' parents are disagreeing on whether or not to remove her feeding tube and take her life.Peters fell into a coma in October while she had a routine medical procedure at Montefiore Medical...

NEW YORK, December 10, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation and Priests for Life have jointly announced the establishment of the "International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters" ("Terri's Day"), to be observed each year on March 31, the date of Terri's death. The purpose of the day, the groups explained, is to foster education, prayer, and activism regarding discrimination against the disabled, and advocacy for people in situations similar to what Terri and her family faced. Fr. Frank Pavone said, "Those of us who were...

For the past two years, analysts have been asking how fast-growing WellCare Health Plans of Tampa has been able to make so much money running government health plans for the poor and elderly. Now government investigators may be asking the same thing. On a rainy Wednesday morning, more than 200 federal and state agents swarmed WellCare's campus on Henderson Road in Tampa, forcing employees onto the sidewalk and into their cars. Steven Meitzen, 51, who arrived at WellCare about 9:40 a.m. for a job interview, said he was initially told it was a bomb scare. "Later on, I talked to...

Tyler Savage: he is fed through a tube in his stomach A boy of 12 suffers from so many allergies that he is able to eat only five foods. Tyler Savage is violently ill every time he is given dishes containing dairy products or wheat, gluten, eggs, lactose and soya. The sole foods he is allowed are chicken, carrots, grapes, potatoes and apples. To help him survive, minerals and vitamins are pumped directly into his stomach through a tube. Tyler started to fall ill at the age of six when even a morsel of food would leave him writhing...

Gainesville, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The family of Terri Schiavo is continuing its efforts to block a speech by Jack Kevorkian scheduled for the middle of next month. The speech would be the first for the former assisted suicide crusader following his release from prison for killing a disabled man and showing the death on national television.Kevorkian would speak to students at the University of Florida on October 11 and receive $50,000 for the talk, as long as his parole officers approve the trip.The family of Terri Schiavo has been leading an effort to stop the speech by gathering petitions...

A great FReeper and close friend passed. T’wit, also known as Timothy Wheeler passed on. In tribute, I would like to make this the August thread of Terri Dailies, the topic foremost in T’wit thoughts.Tim was a man of great faith, a faith that grew stronger especially in recent months. As I type this, I still am not yet coherent, as I try to awaken and sip a good coffee brought to me recently by Tim. In his usual fashion, he probably figured I would appreciate a little care package and would appreciate the better quality than the usual fare...

<p>Schindler is the brother of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman who died in 2005 after a decades-long court battle.</p> <p>"What is the rush?" he asked. "This is not the first time we've heard of cases like this where doctors want to write off the chance of recovery, and the family, when they're told this, will make a decision to end a person's life.</p>

The Christian attorney who fought to keep Terry Schiavo alive says the three leading GOP presidential candidates don't understand the important disability issues involved in the widely publicized 2005 case. Hear This Report During a recent Republican presidential debate in California, the candidates were asked whether Congress was right to intervene in the Terry Schiavo case by attempting to prevent the state of Florida from removing the disabled woman's feeding tube. The answers varied.Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, said he thought it "was a mistake" for Congress to get involved and the matter should have been left at...

I purchased this book last year, and found it to be one of the best references for facts in Terri Schiavo's case. Reading this book is like sitting down with Cheryl and Jan, and listening/watching them present the actual evidence and truth about so many things that the mainstream "pro euthanasia" media has refused to tell. You will see the actual hospital documents, police reports, and so much more. I will warn you though, that once you learn about the judicial misconduct, FL laws broken, the details of Michaels malpractice case,(money was paid under the claim that Terri had a...

Theresa Marie Schindler was born to Robert and Mary Schindler on December 3, 1963. She was the first of three children the Schindlers would have. Terri was a shy, but comical, child who had an affinity for music, animals and the arts. She kept a small circle of friends and was dear to schoolmates, neighboring families and her own extended family. Following high school, Terri came into her own. She developed a knack for sketching and doodling. She enjoyed outings with her friends. She was an adoptive mother to the family’s dog, Bucky. Terri attended Catholic School while growing up...

Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die by Robert Schindler, Sr. Posted Jul 31, 2006 As most Americans know, on March 31, 2005, my daughter, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of starvation and thirst after having her feeding tube removed by court order. The sad chain of events that concluded with Terri’s death ignited a media firestorm nationally and internationally. What few saw or heard was the callous inaction of aspiring governor Charlie Crist. Florida Atty. Gen. Charlie Crist let my daughter die. He had it within his authority to save her life, but he turned a blind eye to her suffering....

Terri's Day and nation's independence protects life culture Kevin Fobbs May 29, 2006 America's Culture of Life is truly the legacy of one woman whose death forever changed our nation because of actions that were not in her hands but in those of her husband and his lawyers. Yet for millions of Americans we will forever link our own celebration of our nation's independence to the courage of the Schindler family to go forward past the tragedy, past the personal sorrow, past the searing anguish to help America draw a distinct line in the sand, to issue a clarion call...

Terri's Day challenges the nation to unify Kevin Fobbs March 13, 2006 Terri's Day — A Celebration of the Culture of Life honoring Terri Schiavo with a day of remembrance challenges each and every one of us to stop for a moment and ask ourselves a question, do we respect ourselves, our families, our lives? And if we are faced with the question of the possible certainty of death, does anyone truly know, or even have the faintest clue about, our wishes? That is the greatest good, the greatest legacy that Terri Schiavo's death and an annual "Terri's Day" can...

I don't know about anyone else, but I am still waiting for Michael Schiavo to make a correction on his blog about what "actually" took place in Colorado when he went there (to the debate) to supposedly ask Congresswoman Musgrave one question and she and her staff supposedly tried to have him removed. He called it, "My unreal night in Colorado - with radio link" (Thu Oct 26, 2006 at 08:05:14 PM PST). I'll say (from what I read) that it was his "unreal night". As I said before in "Standing up and Admitting a Mistake: Not Schiavo's Style?",  if...

Republican gubernatorial front-runner Charlie Crist says he was perfectly clear in opposing governmental intervention in the Terri Schiavo case. He spoke out loudly. And he was silent. Loudly silent. The day after limping through a tough nationally televised debate, the Republican attorney general wanted to talk about his plans to slash taxes. Instead reporters questioned him about his debate assertion that, “Yes, I did’’ speak out against Congress trying to force the reinsertion of the severely brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube in 2005. Crist did not publicly express his opposition to the Schiavo intervention until April 2006, more than a year...

Boston, MA (LifeNews.com) -- Haleigh Poutre was the victim of child abuse and was nearly killed via euthanasia when Massachusetts officials gave up on her after she entered a coma. Now Poutre, once termed "brain dead" by doctors, continues to improve and is speaking a few words, her grandmother says. Sandra Sudyka, the girl's biological grandmother, is no longer allowed to visit her granddaughter and now says she is ready to speak to the media about Poutre's condition. She told The Republican newspaper that she last saw Poutre on July 18 but indicated she was "doing well." "She was bright-eyed...

A severely brain-damaged woman in an unresponsive, vegetative state showed clear signs on brain imaging tests that she was aware of herself and her surroundings, researchers are reporting today, in a finding that could have far-reaching consequences for how unconscious patients are cared for and how their conditions are diagnosed. In response to commands, the patient’s brain flared with activity, lighting the same language and movement-planning regions that are active when healthy people hear the commands. Previous studies had found similar activity in partly conscious patients, who occasionally respond to commands, but never before in someone who was totally unresponsive....

HOLYOKE, Mass. -- Haleigh Poutre's birth mother is expected to file a court motion seeking more of a say in her daughter's medical care. Allison Avrett plans to appear in Holyoke Juvenile Court on Wednesday. Haleigh, 12, has been hospitalized since police say her adoptive mother and stepfather severely beat her in September. About a week after taking custody of the Westfield girl in September, the Department of Social Services sought permission to remove her from life support.

In the court (and courts) of life and death, a little 11-year-old Massachusetts girl named Haleigh Poutre could be the next Terri Schiavo. For those who have not heard the tragic story, Haleigh was beaten nearly to death last September, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather. The beating left her unconscious and barely clinging to life. Within a week or so of the beating, her doctors had written her off. They apparently told Haleigh's court-appointed guardian, Harry Spence, that she was "virtually brain dead." Even though he had never visited her, Spence quickly went to court seeking permission to...

Family members are investigating what they consider to be suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a nursing home patient at the center of a life and death tug-of-war reminiscent of the Terri Schiavo tragedy. Seventy-nine-year-old Jimmy Chambers died in the early morning hours of Oct. 24 after the tracheotomy tubes that deliver oxygen from a ventilator to a hole in his neck became unhooked. Family members were told Chambers, a resident of the Anne Maria Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in North Augusta, S.C., apparently pulled the interlocking tubes apart. "We're having it investigated. We're just incredulous," Chambers' daughter, Deanna Potter,...

The only issue that David Gibbs can ever remember Jesse Jackson and Rush Limbaugh agreeing on was the fact that Terri Schiavo should remain alive. ... Gibbs called removing Schiavo's feeding tube "barbaric and uncivilized." Florida law does not allow the starvation of animals and the constitution does not allow the starvation of convicted murderers, he said. ... Felos said faith-based organizations, religious leaders, priests and rabbis distorted the facts in the Schiavo case. ...

LifeSiteNews.com Wednesday August 31, 2005 Ten Year Old Arrested for Giving Food to Terri Schiavo Apologizes TAMPA BAY, August 31, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Ten year-old Joshua Heldreth, the eldest of eight children, was arrested on Good Friday of this year for trespassing while attempting to bring a drink of water to Miss Terri Schaivo.  Days later Schiavo died of intentional dehydration.  In court Joshua pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 hours of community service and ordered to write an apology for his actions.The boy whose arrest photo was splashed on front pages of newspapers across the nation wrote in...

Floriduh Voter had a serious car accident this afternoon on 66th St. by Hospice and is lucky to be alive. FV's car went airborne after being hit and there were no brakes. She flew north onto a median and the car wouldn't stop - something told her to put the car in park and to take the key out. FV ended up in southward oncoming traffic facing north. Good Samaritans directed traffic around her car. (FV lost downforce when the impact took out the back windshield). The guy who hit FV was a half block south with the cops and...

TALLAHASSEE - It was one of the shortest speeches of Charlie Crist's career, but as a campaign for governor unfolds, it may prove to be one of the most memorable. Two weeks ago, the Republican attorney general and candidate for governor gave a late-night speech to a roomful of lawyers in Miami where he referred to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case as "heroes." Crist insists he wasn't endorsing court rulings that prevented the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube from being reconnected, but critics view it differently. And by appearing to break his silence in the Schiavo case, Crist has...