Posted on 06/05/2005 11:45:26 AM PDT by 8mmMauser
DiVito obit: http://www.sptimes.com/2005/06/13/Tampabay/Ex_counsel_for_dioces.shtml
He died of cancer; his obit asks that donations be sent to Hospice of FL suncoast.
A google search on hospice of florida suncoast divito turned up (and you may already have seen this):
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2005/cover040505.htm
Director of Michael Schiavo insurance company contributed to Senator King's political campaign
by Judi McLeod, Editor,
Tuesday, April 5, 2005
Conflicts of interest among key players in the Terri Schiavo controversy could give the United Nations oil-for-food investigation a run for its money.
The conflict of interest-ridden Schiavo case goes beyond membership on the board of directors of the hospice where Terri Schiavo died and even beyond the ties of key players to the right-to-die movement.
Conflicts of interest crop up in the Jerger & Centonze Insurnace (sic) Agency established in January 2001 at the home of Michael Schiavo and girlfriend/fiancé Jody Centonze.
Michael, reported to be on the lam since his wife’s death, is listed on the Board of Directors for the Clearwater, Florida Corporation.
The mailing address for Jerger & Centonze Insurnace (sic) Agency Inc. is 2807 Marrie Court.
Listed as directors of the insurance agency at the Marrie Court address are Richard M. Jerger Jr. and Catherine M. Quinn-Jerger.
Campaign contributors to the political campaign of district 8 Florida Senator James W. "Jim" King include Richard M. Jerger of Jerger & Centonze Insurnace Agency (sic).
Senator King seemed in a rush for Terri Schiavo to depart planet earth.
"I believe that there is a heaven and that’s where Terri is going to go, and that’s a trip that’s long overdue," said Senator Jim King, the Jacksonville Republican who authored the state’s death with dignity law after watching his parents suffer drawn-out deaths from cancer."
"Had God not wanted what happened today, He would have intervened," King said after the Senate failed to pass legislation aimed at preventing Schiavo’s feeding tube from being removed by a judge’s order." (St. Petersburg Times).
What Senator’s King’s take on the lack of God’s intervention in the subsequent death of Pope John Paul II is unknown.
Senator King is a board member of the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, which oversees the day-to-day operation of Woodside Hospice where Terri died, last Friday.
Commenting on the passage of "Terri’s Law", which he originally upheld, Senator King said it was "probably one of the worst votes that I’ve ever done."
It seems that potential for conflict of interest embraces even Florida’s Catholic clergy. Bishop Robert N. Lynch, was out of town the day Terri died. In Indonesia when last week’s earthquake struck, he was surveying damage of December’s tsunamis.
The law firm employed by both the St. Petersburg and Venice Diocese is DiVito & Higham. Joseph DiVito is allegedly a personal friend of Bishop Lynch and has contributed to the re-election campaign of Florida circuit Judge George Greer.
If no one much noticed that the bishop was missing during the time of Terri’s death, actor/director Mel Gibson did and criticized the cleric for "being quite indifferent" to the plight of Terri Schiavo--even in the face of strong comments from the Vatican against death by court-ordered dehydration.
Still another conflict of interest was revealed by a local newspaper: "The Empire Journal has learned that days before leaving office as Pinellas County Sheriff, Judge (Everett) Rice hired (Michael) Schiavo, a registered nurse, to work in the Inmates Medical Care Division of the Pinellas County Jail.
Rice’s hiring of Schiavo came at the same time that guardianship proceedings were being heard in the courtroom of his long-time friend, Judge Greer.
Meanwhile, if there are any key players in the ongoing Schiavo controversy who do not have a hospice board of director, right-to-die membership, or political campaign contribution conflict of interest to declare, would they please stand up?
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com.
Joe DiVito didn't die. His father, John DiVito (age 76) died. His father was also an attorney for the diocese.
"Survivors include his wife of nearly 54 years, Gloria; four sons, Joseph A., Seminole, Nicholas and Allyn C., both of St. Petersburg, and Paul F., Roswell, Ga.; a daughter, Helen S. DiVito, St. Petersburg; a sister, Theresa Ciullo, Brigantine, N.J., a brother, Tito, Philadelphia; and eight grandchildren."
I might mangle it and not properly assign the credit, but remember the verse, "As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today. I wish that man would go away."
That is Bp. Lynch. Some time before, when we still hoped, prayed, and expected for the pulling of the tubes to be blocked, a senior K.of C. gentleman showed up on scene. He said he expected the Bp. to come that day, and at least many close to the Bp. would show up. After hours of fruitless waiting, the dejected gentleman left. No bishop, no rep, nobody. It was never to happen.
The Lynch mob never showed.
Not all bishops were like Bp. Lynch although the silence was deafening. Here is an article featuring one Bishop who took the stand obliged by his faith: The article is not particularly pro-Terri, but the picture is worth a look. It enforces my point that what happened to Terri is a topic which just will not go away despite wishes of detractors. http://www.madison.com/tct/features/stories/index.php?ntid=40266&ntpid=2
Will Autopsy Report Make "Outlandish" Claims?
by Fr. Rob Johansen, June 15, 2005
As the previous entry reports, the long-awaited autopsy results for Terri Schiavo will be released later today.
Pinellas County Medical Examiner Jon R. Thogmartin will hold a press conference on the autopsy report at 11:00 AM Wednesday.
What the report will conclude is not yet known, but the Schindler family and many supporters of Terri's right to live hope the autopsy will provide clues regarding the cause of the cardiac arrest which led to her anoxic brain injury in 1990. They also hope that the autopsy will provide evidence of the abuse of which they have accused Michael Schiavo.
I am not terribly optimistic that the autopsy will provide evidence of either the cause of Terri's cardiac arrest or any abuse. I think there was simply too much time between Terri's injury(ies) and her death for any such evidence to still be detectable.
What I am most interested to see is whether or not, as Michael Schiavo and his attorney George Felos hope, the M.E. purports to draw any conclusions regarding whether Terri was in a PVS (Persistent Vegetative State).
As many readers will recall, when George Felos announced that Michael would "permit" an autopsy (the matter was later shown to be completely out of his hands), he said that Michael wanted "definitive proof showing the extent of her brain damage".
Of course, as I pointed out back then, an autopsy cannot possibly "prove" whether Terri was PVS or not. Indeed, Dr. Bernardine Healy, a former Director of the National Institutes of Health and medical columnist for U.S. News & World Report, responded to Felos' announcement, in an appearance on MSNBC, by pointing out that an autopsy can tell us nothing about Terri's neurological function. She lamented the surreal reasoning by which Michael would permit an autopsy when Terri was dead, but refused the medical tests that could assess Terri's brain function while she was still alive.
The inability of an autopsy to retrospectively diagnose PVS did not stop some "talking heads" on cable news shows from offering ill-informed speculation. One pathologist, appearing on Greta Van Sustern's "On The Record" (partial transcript), said that though a determination that Terri was PVS could not be made with 100% certainty, nonetheless an autopsy could confirm the extent of Terri's brain damage - her "loss of neurons" - and whether she was in fact in a PVS.
Neurologists react to statements such as the above with incredulity. Dr. Mack Jones, a Florida neurologist I interviewed for my National Review Online article "Starving For a Fair Diagnosis", characterized such claims as among "the most outlandish statement[s] that I have ever heard". He continued, saying:
Autopsy findings cannot diagnose PVS. I expect evidence of severe brain damage consistent with hypoxic - ischemic injury to the cerebrum with subsequent atrophy. These findings nor any other findings have no bearing on the diagnosis of "minimal consciousness" or PVS.
In a March 31 article at MedPage Today, Dr. Michael De Georgia, head of the neurology/neurosurgery intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, said that the PVS diagnosis "cannot be confirmed by autopsy." Dr. Mouhammed Kabbani, a neurologist at the University of Missouri, concurred with this evaluation, and added that an "autopsy can show the degree of brain damage and how much brain tissue survived the injury", but that "it cannot by any means tell about the patient's clinical status."
In the MedPage Today article, Harvard neuropathologist E. Tessa Hedley Whyte said that "the [pathologic examination of the] brain can't tell if there is a persistent vegetative state or not". But, unfortunately, that won't necessarily prevent excessive claims from being made. Dr. K.J. Oommen, Vice Director of Clinical Neuroscience at the Oklahoma University Medical Center, summed up the problem best, saying that "a pathologist can make such statements, because you cannot disprove them. The patient is already dead!"
While I don't know what the autopsy report will say, I'm going to go out on a limb here: I predict that the autopsy report will, in at least a tentative way, offer a conclusion that Terri was in a PVS. I say this for three reasons: Firstly (and perhaps this is just my cynicism coming out), it would fit the generally unfortunate and dishonest way that the rest of the Terri Schiavo saga has played out. Secondly, doctors with whom I have discussed the Schiavo case share my pessimistic outlook. Dr. Peter Morin, a Boston neurologist interviewed for my March 16 NRO article, said that he anticipated "gross overstatements regarding the implications of the neuropathology." Thirdly, this Philadelphia Inquirer article provides a hint of what is to come:
William A. Pellan, director of forensic investigations for the District Six Medical Examiner's Office in Largo, said the report would address whether Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state.
There would be no point in mentioning the intent to "address" the issue of PVS if the report was not going to draw a conclusion on the matter. Furthermore, the autopsy cannot prove that Terri was not PVS. Thus it seems likely to me that the report will in some way be presented as "confirming" the diagnosis.
Such a conclusion would be in keeping with the way that various "memes" have governed the debate surrounding Terri Schiavo's fate. I discussed some of these memes in my article "The Death of Terri Schiavo", which appeared in the May 2005 issue (available online soon) of Catholic World Report. These memes, such as "9 (or 12 or 16) judges have all reviewed the case and found for Michael", and "all the doctors who examined Terri diagnosed her as PVS", were readily regurgitated by most of the MSM, as part of what Nat Hentoff described as the "disgracefully ignorant" coverage of Terri's case. If, as I predict, the Medical Examiner's report offers anything approaching a "conclusion" that Terri was PVS, then George Felos, the "right-to-die" advocates, and their accomplices in the media elite will have the final meme, with which they can tie up the Terri Schiavo case in a nice, neat bow. The Culture of Death will advance a little further, abetted by self-assured and willing acolytes.
http://thrownback.blogspot.com/
That neatly sums up my take as well. We have seen a solid unbroken effort throughout to wrap this whole event is a tidy package, with not a single fracture. Why would they change now when they can tie up the package with a nice bow?
I suspect the Death Culture is surprised and dismayed that despite their packaging, the truth persists and refuses to be swept away.
STARWISE posted this earlier:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1423090/posts
Watch news conference on Schiavo autopsy report here today
Tampbays10.com will provide a live stream of an 11 a.m. press conference this morning announcing the results of a final autopsy report on Terri Schiavo.
Tampa, Florida — Tampbays10.com will provide a live stream of an 11 a.m. press conference this morning announcing the results of a final autopsy report on Terri Schiavo.
Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Jon Thogmartin will release the autopsy results. The chief investigator for the medical examiner's office says Thogmartin also reviewed police reports, medical records and other documents to try to determine the cause of her brain damage.
Most doctors said Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state. She died March 31st, nearly two weeks after the feeding tube keeping her alive was removed by a court order sought by her husband.
Her parents' efforts to keep her alive reached the halls of Congress and made news around the world.
The autopsy is expected to answer lingering questions about the Schiavo's health. Her parents alleged that her husband abused her.
They also insisted that she was minimally conscious.
Cheryl Ford sends this update with some links to more resources as we await the autopsy results. I remain skeptical of any positives coming from the results but hope, just the same.
8mm
...................
Thank you to Cheryl Eckstein at _www.chninternational.com_
http://www.chninternational.com/
for sending the following article along.
RN Ford comments: Isn't it a true pity that even after Schiavo and Felos
accomplished killing Terri Schindler in a most inhumane way, leaving her family
to live with the horrifying
memories of her writhing in pain as she slowly had the life literally sucked
out of her....Felos still continues to blame the Schindler's for taking on a
"smear campaign" against Michael Schiavo. I guess it should not surprise me
how such criminals will never take ownership for the crimes they do, or
furthermore, how they continue to find rationale for their actions and want to
blame others for negatively responding to them for what they do!
With all the hogwash that continues to spew from Felos' mouth, it wouldn't
surprise me if Felos expected the Schindlers to perhaps give an "awards
banquet" to Michael Schiavo for murdering their daughter! So typical of his kind!
_Click here: Gainesville.com Printer Friendly_
(http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050614/APN/506140984&cachetime=5&template=printart)
_http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050614/APN/506140984&
cachetime=5&template=printart_
(http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050614/APN/506140984&cachetime=5&template=printart)
Article published Jun 14, 2005
Schiavo autopsy report to be released Wednesday
TAMPA, Fla. Terri Schiavo's relatives say they are hoping that her autopsy
results, scheduled to be made public Wednesday, can shed some light on what
led to her collapse and severe brain damage 15 years ago.
The 41-year-old Pinellas County woman, who most doctors said was in a
persistent vegetative state, died March 31, nearly two weeks after the feeding tube
keeping her alive was removed by a court order sought by her husband,
Michael Schiavo.
Her death marked the end of a bitter, seven-year legal battle between
Michael Schiavo and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who desperately tried to
keep her alive. Their efforts reached the halls of the Congress and made news
around the world.
Now, more than two months after her death, the medical examiner's office
said Tuesday that the autopsy report is complete and plans to release it at a
news conference Wednesday morning. Attorneys for Michael Schiavo and the
Schindlers expect to get the report hours before it is made public.
Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, said Tuesday his family is eager
to see if the results will indicate what went wrong when her heart stopped
beating for several minutes at her St. Petersburg apartment Feb. 25, 1990.
The cause of her collapse has never been definitely proven, but testimony in
a 1992 civil trial indicated that she probably was suffering from an eating
disorder that led to a severe chemical imbalance and a heart attack.
The Schindlers, though, don't believe she had an eating disorder and have
accused Michael Schiavo of abusing his wife, a charge he vehemently denies.
"Our family would really like to know what caused Terri's collapse," Bobby
Schindler said. "I don't know what they can and can't find 15 years after the
fact. If we could get some of our questions answered as to how Terri ended up
the way she did, that would be helpful."
During the long legal battle, the Schindlers unsuccessfully sought
independent investigation of their daughter's condition and what caused it. Numerous
abuse complaints to state social workers were ruled unfounded.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said the Schindlers continue to
engage in a "smear campaign against Michael to deflect the real issues in the
case, which were Terri's wishes and her medical condition."
"I think everyone who has followed the facts in this case knows there is no
substance to those (abuse) charges, and I'm confident we're not going to hear
anything differently from the medical examiner," Felos said.
Bill Pellan, chief investigator for the medical examiner's office, said
Tuesday that Thogmartin also reviewed police reports, medical records and other
documents in trying to determine the cause of her brain damage. The issue of
whether she was in a persistent vegetative state "will be addressed," Pellan
said, although he would not comment further Tuesday.
Bobby Schindler said the family still has not been told about plans for
Terri's cremated remains. Michael Schiavo has said he would bury them at his
family's cemetery in Pennsylvania, but it is unknown whether that has occurred.
Michael Schiavo is required by court order to tell the Schindlers his plans,
but they say he has yet to contact them.
Without the remains, funerals were conducted in Gulfport by her family and
by friends in Pennsylvania, where she was born and reared.
Felos referred questions about the remains to Michael's brother, Brian
Schiavo, who did not return a phone call Tuesday.
About 40 judges in six courts were involved in the Schiavo case at one point
or another on its way to becoming the most famous and bitterly fought
right-to-die saga in U.S. history.
Michael Schiavo convinced Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer that his wife
would not want to be kept alive artificially with no hope of recovery,
contending that she made statements to that effect before her collapse.
Her parents doubt she had any such end-of-life wishes and also disputed that
she was in a persistent vegetative state as court-ordered doctors
determined. They believed she could get better with therapy.
Twice Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order and twice it
was reinserted. The second time, in October 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush intervened,
pushing a law through the Legislature authorizing him to resume her artificial
feedings six days after they were stopped. That law eventually was struck
down by the state Supreme Court as unconstitutional.
The tube was removed for the final time March 18 at the Pinellas Park
hospice where she lived. As Schiavo faded, Congress rushed through a bill to allow
the federal courts to take up the case, and President Bush signed it March
21. But the federal courts refused to step in.
____________________________________
Fight4Terri @aol.com
Theresa Marie Schindler
December 3, 1963 ~ March 31, 2005
Light a candle For Terri at her online Memorial Website
_Memory-of.com - Memorial website in memory of Theresa Schindler
(1963-2005)_ (http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx)
_http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx_
(http://theresa-schindler.memory-of.com/about.aspx)
_Visit: www.fight4terri.blogspot.com_ (http://www.fight4terri.blogspot.com/)
Visit Terri's site: _www.terrisfight.org_ (http://www.terrisfight.org/)
Cheryl Ford, RN (Fight4Terri@aol.com) is not affiliated with any other group
and works to protect the rights of the disabled community.
That is the crux of this matter.
Look at what is going on here. The bottom line is felos' assertion that Terri had to die in order to ascertain the level of her brain function. However, as others noted on the CT/MRI thread, some folks function adequately despite atrophied brain; what was needed was a functional (uh, LIVING!) MRI which was repeatedly denied.
>>> and it is unfair to expect that Dr. Thogmartin and his staff can do what felos is saying they can do.
felos is setting them up, as he has also skillfully manipulated public opinion in the past.
felos and michael will try to shift the focus and ire to the ME office. I pray that they are not successful. The blood is on their hands.
the image I still have is of a pseudo shepherd with a bloody lamb in his arms. and that's the worst part of it, that he poses as one who would care for the sheep. what's that about a millstone?
Thanks for pinging us to this thread today
ATTENTION: This guy will be on RON REAGAN JR.'S MSNBC TV SHOW TODAY AT NOON EASTERN TIME. (Rick Scarborough announced Stop Activist Judges on c-span right after Terri was murdered. Turn on MSNBC if you can
TODAY AT NOON EASTERN TIME MSNBC - Watch Rick Scarborough bash rogue judges. He may mention Judge Greer or Judge Whittemore by name.
It says 11:00 a.m. Is that eastern time? What would it be Pacific Time?
Got it. John DiVito not Joe died. They're of the same ilk though.
Ping. I hate to ask anyone to watch Ron Reagan on MSNBC today at noon but Rick Scarborough just might bash Greer and/or Whittemore. He has an e-newsletter. Visit www.stopactivistjudges.org to sign up.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nobody has the guts to impeach George Greer because of the GOP money that flows from Pinellas County.
Jesse sees in black and white and Jesse's benefit.
Don't ever forget - Jesse was down there in Florida in 2000, ready to start his part of the election theft by claiming Bush denied the vote to the poor blacks.
Jesse is not on our side - he is out for the democrats and Jesse. He is just an eloquent speaker.
As if they aren't already intertwined.
11 eastern time.
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