Terri Saved: Celebrate, but Not Too Long

Patriot Paradox ^ | Nick Queen

[sonsofliberty2000]

Gov. Bush today has finally got, with the assistance from the House and Senate in Florida, permission to save the life of Terri Schiavo, despite the intentions of her husband to end her life. We should celebrate, thank God and then get right back to the action people. I have no apprhension in saying that Michael Schiavo will immediately start trying to overturn this, and I do mean fast. Back to the battle stations! Terri's family needs to be allowed to go back and see her and the heat needs turned up on Michael.

[Dixielander]

Lead the way.

[afraidfortherepublic]

And keep praying that this court ordered interval without food or hydration has not further damaged this unfortunate woman.

[sonsofliberty2000]

Isn't there a law saying immediate family MUST be allowed in to see family members in a hospital? I don't see how Schiavo can legally bar them.

Also here is something I found:

Who is Terri Schindler-Schiavo?
I asked this question of Bobby, her brother. He recalled how he remembers Terri prior to the night her mysterious illness was to change her forever.

"Terry was a sweet girl, very compassionate, caring, and loyal to her family. Our grandmother was in a nursing home, and Terri would devote time 5 and even 6 days a week to go visit her. She is an animal lover, and one of her strongest desires was to become a veterinarian. She is also extremely shy, in fact, Michael, her husband, was the first person she ever dated."

Only 13 months apart, Terri and Bobby were very close, and would talk 2 or 3 times a day, and it was very common for them to go out together on the weekends.

The night before she collapsed, they had been with each other, and Bobby saw no signs of illness, nor did she state that she wasn't feeling well. They made plans as usual for that weekend. She did state that her relationship with Michael was deteriorating, and that she was contemplating divorce. Later that evening, Terri called Bobby to cancel their plans to go out, feeling it wouldn't be a good idea because her and Michael had been fighting excessively that day. It wasn't until after that day that Bobby found out from her coworker that the fight must have been worse than had been let on-it was bad enough that the co-worker had tried to convince Terri to spend the night at her house.

Then came a late night phone call from Michael, saying something was wrong with Terri. As Bobby lived in the same apartment complex, he arrived before the paramedics. Terri was on the floor in the hallway outside of the bedroom, on her stomach, with her arms under her chest and her hands around her neck/head area and apparently unconscious. Michael seemed frantic, stating that he had heard a loud thump and woke up to see Terri on the floor. Bobby's first thought was that she may have just passed out, it wasn't until long afterwards that he realized that this was an odd position for her to be in, and it wasn't until the paramedics arrived and began trying to revive her and get back a heartbeat that he realized that his sister hadn't simply passed out, but that she was in a life and death situation.

Apparently the hospital also didn't know exactly what to think. They found that she had had a heart attack and passed out, depriving her brain of oxygen for approximately five minutes. The most they could say was that it may have been brought on by an eating disorder.

Michael appeared to the Schindler family to be a caring husband who wanted to bring his wife home and take care of her and provide her with therapy. In court he recited his wedding vows and cried along with stating his wishes to bring her home. He settled out of court with one doctor he sued for a quarter of a million dollars. In court with another lawsuit, he was awarded $300,000 personally for "loss of consortium" (this term usually refers to the loss of companionship and sexual relationship with one's spouse) Terri was given $750,000 for her care and rehabilitation. Guardianship of Terri's fund was given to a bank, however it could not be touched or used for any care of Terri that Michael did not approve of.

At this point, and still as sad as it would be, I've love to be able to report that Michael did what he said he was going to do, or at least used the funds for Terri's rehabilitation.

What actually happened was that Michael forgot to mention in court during his professions of love and commitment was that he already had another girlfriend.

What actually happened was that when Michael received this money in January of 1993, he ordered that Terri's therapy be stopped.

Bob Schindler Sr., Terri's father, contronted Michael in Feb. of the same year, asking what was going on with her therapy. Michael seemed angry, stating that it was HIS wife and he would make all of her decisions. He then severed the relationship with Terri's family, and they were no longer allowed access to any information regarding her. He would later imply that he believed Terri's father just wanted money.

A few months later Terri's parents did receive a telephone call from the nursing home their daughter resided in. They were informed that she had a urinary tract infection, and that her husband was refusing to allow her to be treated with anti-biotics. Without treatment it was likely that she might die. The nursing home informed Michael that this was illegal, and provided the treatment. At this point her parents attempted to get legal guardianship of Terri, but the courts denied it. Michael quietly moved her to another nursing home without informing the parents, where the same situation with him trying to withhold persmission for anti-biotics was repeated. The family was not told about this until well after the fact.

[spookie]

I think we in the states need to reflect on reality. Especially in view of the recent poll that says 2 to 1 want socialized medicine.

IN England, when a patient is such a state, they pull the plug. In fact they only give comfort medication to critically ill above the age of 65.

If you think our medical costs are excessive now, then you haven't seen anything yet.

Some body has to make the hard and difficult decisions that it seems so many in support of Terri continuing in the veggie state refuse to acknowledge. So flame away children. The facts and truth are there for everyone to see but refuse.

[First_Salute]

Fact: A poll is an estimate, it is not a fact, though the data of the study is termed "factual."

Fact: A poll result, if calculated properly, demonstrates significant probabilities of a correlation of occurences, but it does not prove cause and effect.

That is one reason why, the poll that counts in a democratic-republic, is the summation of all the voters' decisions, instead of "a studies show."

[pollywog]

Source of information is????????

[ElkGroveDan]

PING #4

[nickcarraway]

BUMP

[msmagoo]

http://www.baynews9.com/site/NewsStory.cfm?storyid=26500

Breaking News

Gov. Bush issues order to reinsert feeding tube in Terri Schiavo

Tuesday, October 21^st

Breaking News Gov. Bush issues order to reinsert feeding tube in Terri Schiavo

The Florida House and Senate passed the bill Tuesday afternoon.

Invoking a law rushed through the Legislature only an hour earlier, Gov. Jeb Bush ordered a feeding tube reinserted Tuesday into a brain-damaged woman at the center of one of the nation's longest and most bitter right-to-die battles.

The bill was designed to save the life of Terri Schiavo, whose parents have fought for several years to keep her alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she would rather die.

Florida House Bill 35-E
	Click here to read the bill Gov. Bush signed.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order at her husband's insistence last Wednesday, and doctors have said the 39-year-old woman will die within a week to 10 days without food and water.

A round of cheers rang out at Terri's hospice in Pinellas Park when the news was announced.

The Senate voted 23-15 for the legislation, and the House passed the final version 73-24 only minutes later. Bush signed it into law and issued the order just more than an hour later.

After the Senate's vote, a cheer went up among about 80 protesters outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park.

''We are just ecstatic,'' Bob Schindler said after Bush told him he would issue the order. ''It's restored my belief in God.''

Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister, called the development ''a miracle, an absolute miracle.'' Terri's mother broke down crying when she heard the news.

Felos says he and his client will fight the legislature's actions.

George Felos, a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, took steps to stop Bush even before the governor received the bill. He filed a request for an injunction if Bush issued an order. Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer denied it on technical grounds, but said Felos could refile the request.

The family's lawyer, Pat Anderson, said Schiavo would have to be placed on an IV to rehydrate her before the feeding tube is reinserted.

''It ain't over until its over. ''Until I see that IV running she is not out of the woods,'' Anderson said.

In the Senate, even some supporters of the legislation expressed concern about their actions.

''I keep on thinking 'What if Terri didn't really want this done at all?' May God have mercy on all of us,'' said Senate President Jim King, a Republican.

Lawmakers were already called to the Capitol for a special session on economic development when they decided to intervene in the case.

Bush said he did not think lawmakers were motivated by politics.

Terri's been without nutrition for almost a week.

''This is a response to a tragic situation.'' Bush said. ''People are responding to cries for help and I think it's legitimate.''

Opponents said government was stepping in where it had no business being.

''I do not believe the governor of Florida should be making a decision of life and death rather than the next of kin,'' said Sen. Steven Geller, a Democrat.

Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister, called the development ''a miracle, an absolute miracle.''

Earlier in Tampa, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday denied a request by an advocacy group that Schiavo be kept alive so it could investigate whether removal of the tube was abusive.

Merryday wrote that federal courts other than the U.S. Supreme Court are forbidden from interjecting themselves into matters already decided by state courts. He also said the group failed to provide enough evidence to support its request.

The bill sent to Bush was designed to be as narrow as possible. It is limited to cases in which the patient left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance.

Bush last week promised the woman's parents that he would help them if he could find a way.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case, and the U.S. Supreme Court also has rejected it for review. Last week, a Florida appeals court again refused to block removal of the tube.

Felos said he thinks the legislation would be unconstitutional. It is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially, and the courts have affirmed that, he said.

During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution does not let the Legislature give the governor the power to overrule the courts.

Michael Schiavo insists his wife would not want to live this way.

''This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat.

But many Republicans and some Democrats said they need to be involved in dire cases where judges might be wrong.

''The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state,'' said Rep. Sandy Murman, a Republican from Tampa. ''Who is protecting this girl?''

[supercat]

Some body has to make the hard and difficult decisions that it seems so many in support of Terri continuing in the veggie state refuse to acknowledge. So flame away children. The facts and truth are there for everyone to see but refuse.

This is just a hunch, but I suspect that Felos/Greer may have been engaging in a murder-for-profit enterprise even before Terri came along. They just didn't figure she'd refuse to die like she was supposed to. If that is the case, should laws not be made to protect people from such enterprises?

[supercat]

Michael Schiavo insists his wife would not want to live this way. ''This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat.

Elected legislators, giving a law to be signed by an elected governor, to overturn a corrupt judge, is democracy turned on its head?

[California74]

I could see your point if Terri were in a vegetative state. But, she is not in a vegetative state. People in a vegetative state have sleep and wake cycles, but are not aware. She is severely brain damaged, but AWARE, at least some of the time. Anyone who has seen the videos of Terri on her website
http://www.terrisfight.org
can see this. She laughs, she gets annoyed, she follows commands, she tries to speak.

[edeal]

I think FOX news has finally figured out what she is NOT. Finally after a week of refering to her as a comatose woman, in the very rare cases when they would break away from Rebublic shaking Kobe Bryant updates, for the first time they called her "brain damaged".

The next time you don't think FOX is just like any other news organization, something to be viewed with suspicion and caution, think about that. Perhaps a fund raiser for cash strapped FOX news researchers who apparently cannot afford dictionaries.

In the end, I can only hope that everything is in accordance with Terri's wishes. It is what we all should be hoping for. Not just the wishes that may or may not have been expressed when she was young and healthy, but her wishes today. No one can say for certain if any kernel of sentience is left in her mind, and that state of mind today may be against death. An old saying states that a women has the perogative to change her mind.

The unfortunate thing is that we cannot know enough of either state of mind to pass muster in a criminal case, which is the standard I think we must use any time we end someone's life. Reasonable doubt in a right to die case is enough to tip the scales in my mind.

The sad fact is that if Terry was indeed able to communicate, and stated her wishes to die, she would most likely be prevented because prohibition against assisted suicide.

[supercat]

In the end, I can only hope that everything is in accordance with Terri's wishes.

I do not believe Terri would have wished for Schiavo, Felos, and Greer to get away with her murder.

[msmagoo]

WHEN TERRI SCHIAVO collapsed in 1990, causes unknown, she could have had no idea that 13 years later people the world over would know her name and care very much about whether she lived or died. Yet what began as a private tragedy--a vivacious young woman stricken in the very prime of her life with a brain injury that left her profoundly disabled--has become a story heard round the world. (see No Mercy in Florida)

In case you are one of the few people who still do not know about the controversy, Terri's husband Michael requested--and received from Judge George Greer of the 6th Circuit Court in Clearwater, Florida--the right to dehydrate Terri to death by removing her feeding tube. This despite open and notorious financial and personal conflicts of interest and acts taken in disregard of Terri's welfare that should have caused Michael to be removed as her guardian. These conflicts include his engagement to a woman with whom he has one baby with another on the way and his refusal to allow efforts at rehabilitation that might allow her to eat without the feeding tube--all despite promises to a medical malpractice jury that he would attempt to rehabilitate her. Instead, once the jury award was received, Michael refused all rehabilitation, forcing Terri to simply lie in a bed for 10 years.

Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have fought for their daughter's life tenaciously, spending virtually every dime they have. But over five years, the courts, one-by-one-by-one, turned their backs. And despite testimony by credible medical experts that Terri might still relearn to eat by mouth, Judge Greer refused to even allow her that opportunity. Terri's feeding tube was pulled, per Judge Greer's order, on October 15, 2003.

In most cases, that would have been that. But the Schiavo case is no normal case. While the story was virtually ignored by the mainstream media--perhaps because the case illustrates vividly the dangers of the so-called "right to die"--talk radio once again rose to the fore and generated a firestorm of opposition to the dehydration. Led by nationally syndicated radio host Glenn Beck, and including other conservative and Christian talk radio hosts such as Janet Parshall, Sean Hannity, Jane Chastain, and Janet Folger, and promoted vigorously by the nation's politically liberal disability rights community as well as by numerous Catholic bloggers, a grass-roots movement in the last few months has produced tens of thousands of emails, phone calls, and letters to Governor Jeb Bush's office begging him to intervene to save Terri's life.

BUSH WAS CLEARLY MOVED BY TERRI'S PLIGHT. He wanted to do the right thing but hesitated, doubting he had the legal authority to order Terri's food and water restored. First, he wrote a letter to Judge Greer asking him to reconsider and appoint a guardian ad litem for Terri. But there had already been a guardian ad litem appointed in this case who had recommended that Terri not be dehydrated. Judge Greer ignored the recommendation, and now Terri no longer has a guardian ad litem. True to form, Greer also ignored the governor.

Then, when Schindler attorney Patricia Anderson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit seeking an injunction against the court order, Governor Bush filed an amicus brief in support of the Schindlers' request. There is "a critical distinction between removing life support and the deliberate killing of a human being by starvation and dehydration," Bush asserted. The first is protected by Florida's right to privacy, he advised the court. But, he stated, "the removal of the feeding tube without first determining by medically accepted means whether the plaintiff can ingest food and water on her own, with or without rehabilitative therapy, constitutes the deprivation of her life without due process of law." This was a remarkable event: a governor asking a federal court to overturn a state judge's ruling, for which Bush deserves great appreciation.

WHEN THAT SUIT FAILED, thousands continued to pressure Governor Bush, demanding that he intervene. Bush demurred, claiming he had no legal authority. But now, six days into the dehydration, a breakthrough has arrived for those desperately striving to save Terri's life. The Florida Legislature is in special session, and at the urging of Governor Bush and the speaker of the Florida House Johnnie Byrd, "Terri's Bill" has been added to the agenda to give Bush the power to issue an executive order suspending dehydrations that are contested by families for fifteen days. The idea is to permit the legislature to take the time to sort this whole dehydration business out.

Late last night, the House passed Terri's Bill. The Senate will take it up this morning. If it passes, Jeb Bush is expected to quickly issue an executive order restoring Terri's food and water.

Will Terri live or die? That can't be known. But this much is clear: The Schiavo case has changed everything. Our government leaders have been put on notice that tremendous numbers of people in this country are determined to halt the erosion of the sanctity/equality of life ethic in the practice of medicine. The routine practice of dehydrating the cognitively disabled who need a feeding tube--which occurs to the conscious and unconscious alike in all 50 states--is going to receive a badly needed review. The bioethics movement, which has been leading us down this treacherous slope, can no longer expect to pontificate from on high in medical matters of life and death and expect the people to just meekly go along.

In a sense, the Schiavo case is a miracle. Because so many people around the country and the world have come to love her, root for her, and yes, pray for her, our country has been given a rare opportunity to look at where we are heading as a culture and reinvigorate a simple moral maxim:When in doubt, choose life. http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/276fpkqk.asp

[edeal]

Begin quote
I do not believe Terri would have wished for Schiavo, Felos, and Greer to get away with her murder.
End quote

I agree. But the uncertainty is that we don't know that to be the case either. Uncertainty demands we err on the side of life, but I the same uncertainty means that we could be completely wrong about M Shiavo, and that he may be indeed acting on her wishes.

As distasteful as the guy appears to be, it does not mean he cannot be right. Hopefully there will be a semi-public airing of the facts, as cockroaches scatter under the light of day.

[freekitty]

I am very pleased that Gov. Bush and the Florida legislature have both acted positively.

[editor-surveyor]

Thanks for posting "The Rest of the Story."

This account needs to get legs!

It's not time to give up yet!

[kaylar]

While the story was virtually ignored by the mainstream media--perhaps because the case illustrates vividly the dangers of the so-called "right to die"--talk radio once again rose to the fore and generated a firestorm of opposition to the dehydration.

I believe the internet prevented the Gore Coup from succeeding.

I believe the internet saved Terri Schiavo Schindler .

I believe the spate of antiFOX newsarticles shows that the media "elites" have finally figured out what we freepers knew years ago : The internet has broken the stranglehold of the lamestream/mainstream media once and for all.

And they are not happy AT ALL.