Terri's Story

Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation ^ | December 3,2006 | Schindler Foundation

[8mmMauser]

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 and remained close to her faith throughout her life.

In 1983, Terri met Michael Schiavo at Bucks County Community College and the two began dating. He was the first romantic interest Terri had.

The couple was engaged within a few months and married a year later at Terri’s church in Southampton, Pa. She was 21.

In 1986, Terri and Michael relocated to Pinellas County, Florida and her parents followed three months later.

In 1990, at the age of 26, Terri suffered a mysterious cardio-respiratory arrest for which no cause has ever been determined. She was diagnosed with hypoxic encephalopathy – neurological injury caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Terri was placed on a ventilator, but was soon able to breathe on her own and maintain vital function. She remained in a severely compromised neurological state and was provided a PEG tube to ensure the safe delivery of nourishment and hydration.

On March 31, 2005, Terri Schindler Schiavo died of marked dehydration following more than 13 days without nutrition or hydration under the order of Circuit Court Judge, George W. Greer of the Pinellas-Pasco’s Sixth Judicial Court. Terri was 41.

[8mmMauser]

When I "ping" you, I am telling you there is something I think you must be interested in reading. I have Terri's List of people I ping to topics that appear regularly. You see them most every day with my Terri banner at the bottom.

When I pinged Terri's List yesterday you were not on the list, but I thought you may be interested anyway, so I "pinged" you and referred to the topic.

If you would like to be on this list and be reminded of topics as they appear, I would be glad to add your name.

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[8mmMauser]

This one is amazing, Judge Greer, authority on Jury trials as if it were Ted Bundy starting up a charm school for Girl Scouts. Ping to the BykrBayb post at #1,199 on this article.

.......................

National Jury Summit to Address Threats to Jury System

DALLAS, Jan. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Saving the jury trial will be the focus of next month's National Jury Summit hosted by the American Board of Trial Advocates. The Summit will be held at the Wynn Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nev., Feb. 8-9.

A myriad of issues raised by the threats to the system will be addressed. "The American jury system is dying. It is dying faster in the Federal Courts than in the State Courts. It is dying faster in the civil side than in the criminal, but it is dying nonetheless," said Chief Judge William G. Young, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The presentations will deal with the civil jury system, factors causing its deterioration, the benefits of preserving the jury trial, and what changes are needed to bring about recovery. The Summit will also cover the media's reporting of jury cases.

Speakers include:
-- The Hon. George Greer of the Pinellas County/Pasco County (Florida) Circuit Court will address judicial independence and the civil jury system. He will discuss how the Terri Schiavo case and other recent events impact and damage the civil jury system in America.

Huh? Since when did greer want Terri to get a jury trial? He did everything in his power to deny her a fair trial, up to and including the denial of a jury. Now all of a sudden he's an advocate for her right to a jury trial, for the crime of being alive? As the judge in her trial, he appointed himself guardian over her, joined the opposing lawyers, convicted her of being a useless eater, and ordered her execution by starvation and dehydration. I don't remember him suggesting that she should get a fair trial by a jury of her peers.

From BykrBayb

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[8mmMauser]

The Terri factor and Senator Johnson...

"You're actually hoping he will die?" I had to ask a friend whose comments on Sen. Johnson's situation struck me as crudely opportunistic and almost ghoulish.

"Well, look at it this way," he countered. "Tim Johnson is a human being, I'll admit—someone I should care for. But he's also a powerful human being. And during his 10 years in the U.S. Senate, he's been on the wrong side at least half the time in all efforts to protect innocent unborn babies. He even voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. He has regularly voted to expand the formal rights of homosexuals. And last year, when he had a chance to vote to protect the life of Terry Schiavo, he looked the other way. Should I get sentimental now about protecting his powerful position? Sure, he's vulnerable right now. What about all the vulnerable people he could have helped over the last 10 years?"

Where depraved hearts are darkest... What to hope and pray for as a Democratic senator clings to life

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[8mmMauser]

This is a follow on the topic posted by wagglebee yesterday, a blog from Scientific American on the ethics of keeping a handicapped child stunted. I am reminded of Joseph Kennedy who had a doctor scoop out spoonfuls of the brain of his retarded girl so she could no longer function and be a nuisance. This stuff is bogus as well. A child so handicapped will not develop to great size anyway, will be naturally limited, unless the child is a nuisance to parents who are too busy with important things to pay much attention.

...............................

I'm only blogging this on the off chance the subscribers to this feed haven't heard it yet, since I'm quite convinced anything I have to say is about to be buried in an avalanche of commentary the likes of which have not been seen since the Terry Schiavo case.

Here are the facts, as reported by the BBC:

The nine-year-old, named Ashley, has the mental ability of a three-month-old baby and cannot walk or talk.

Along with hormone doses to limit her growth, Ashley's parents also opted for surgery to block breast growth and had her uterus and appendix removed.

They say the treatment will help to improve her quality of life.
...
Ashley's parents say that because she will remain the weight of a child, it will be easier for them to move her around, bathe her and involve her in family activities - movement that will benefit her physical and mental well-being.

Here's what her parents said:

"The oestrogen treatment is not what is grotesque here. Rather, it is the prospect of having a full-grown and fertile woman endowed with the mind of a baby "

And here, I think, is the most revealing quote by an outsider, US medical ethicist Dr Jeffrey Brosco, originally reported the first time this controversy came up, when the case was published in a medical journal:

"This is a technological solution to a social problem.
"I work with severely disabled children and know how hard it is on families, but what we need most is better federal funding so that they can be cared for properly."

In that light, the question becomes:

Is it ethical, moral, or even expedient to treat a child like this in this manner, given the realities of the situation--that is, that we don't have a system of "adequate care" for the severely disabled in this country?

Indeed, isn't this what medical technology is for--improving quality of life and preventing us from having to take measures that will ultimately be more costly and/or less effective; in this case, trying to care for a full-grown woman with the mind of a three-month old, who would be vulnerable to all the abuses that such full-grown-yet-helpless people are vulnerable to?

Or is this intervention too much to stomach? (That is, does it cross the line used by ethics committees in the UK - that is, that if a technology or intervention engages an average person's "yuck" factor, it's too much?)

Read the original blog set up by the child's parents.

Parents Opt for Medical Intervention to Keep Girl Child-Sized Owing to Severe Mental Disability

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[8mmMauser]

The new Speaker of the House has been no friend of Terri and innocents in similar straits...

...................

In the last Congressional session alone, Pelosi compiled a 0 percent pro-life voting record on 10 votes NRLC recorded.

She voted four times against a bill that would help support parental notification laws in over two dozen states, she voted twice to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research and voted three times to spend tax money on abortions in the United States and overseas.

Pelosi also refused to support a bipartisan effort to allow Terri Schiavo's parents to take their case to prevent her former husband from killing her to federal courts for a review.

Pro-life advocates confronted Pelosi about her pro-abortion stance as she went to a morning prayer service on Thursday at St. Peter's Catholic Church near the Capitol.

"You can't be Catholic and pro-abortion," one sign read, but Pelosi and her retinue walked past the protesters and didn't respond to their message.

First Female House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Decidedly Pro-Abortion

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[8mmMauser]

Ping to wagglebee thread on the President's view...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- With the House of Representatives voting next week on a measure forcing taxpayers to fund new embryonic stem cell research, White House spokesman Tony Snow said President Bush still doesn't support that.

He reiterated the president's position against destroying human life for science.

Snow told a Wednesday news conference that "the President has made it clear" that he "does not believe that this kind of research necessitates the taking of a human life."

White House: President Still Opposes Embryonic Stem Cell Research

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[T'wit]

It IS amazing.

* George Greer, a man who refused to allow a jury for Terri, lecturing us about jury trials?

* George Greer, a man who misused his office to issue criminal orders to torture Terri Schiavo to death, lecturing us about abuses of judicial authority?

* George Greer, a man who put a disabled woman on trial for her life without ever charging her with a crime? And found her guilty?

[floriduh voter]

IT IS ALWAYS AN APPROPRIATE TIME TO IMPEACH GEORGE GREER. UNFORTUNATELY, HE IS TOO FAR UP IN THE REPUBLICAN HIARCHY AND THEY WILL PROTECT HIM IN SPITE OF HIS MURDEROUS WAYS.

http://www.judgegeorgegreer.com/

(Greer still thinks he is a giant among men. He is less than manure).

[T'wit]

>> "Well, look at it this way," he countered. "Tim Johnson is a human being, I'll admit—someone I should care for. But he's also a powerful human being.

Let's not miss an important distinction here: the unnamed "he" is not hoping Johnson will die. I'm far from sure the "he" here even exists. "He" sounds more like an editorial device to present the darker side of the writer's own view. But suppose "he" does exist, his arguments all discuss Sen. Johnson's misuse of power, not his right to life. ("He's" arguments are PRO-right to life.)

This does not mean Johnson should die. Rather, that he should resign or be removed from power because he is incapacitated. I pray for Johnson, regardless of political differences. But I would be very happy to get him out of the senate. In fact I'd be delighted if all the misusers of power were removed from the senate, which would be just about all of them, Republicans as well as Democrats.

[floriduh voter]

Re: JURY TRIALS - Judge Wm Douglas Baird DENIED Governor Jeb Bush a jury trial. The 2nd Court of Appeals in Lakeland denied Terri a jury trial. Terri never got due process. SHE WAS NEVER REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL. Her basic civil rights were violated REPEATEDLY.

Judge David Demers dismissed Jay Wolfson after he recommended swallowing tests and said that Terri had a presence (conscientiousness).

TERRI NEVER REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL! Even Saddam Hussein had counsel before he was executed.

NEW GOVERNOR CHARLIE CRIST, FLA AG was supposed to be the protector of Floridians. He REFUSED to get involved. See thread: Charlie Crist Let My Daughter Die

[T'wit]

It was a JURY in the malpractice suits that awarded the money specifically for Terri's care and rehabilitation. The money was placed in trust for Terri.

It was George Greer who casually overruled the jury's instructions and embezzled Terri's trust fund to the tune of half a million dollars for lawyers. Then he sealed the financial records (at the lawyers' request) so that people would not find out.

Neither the jury system nor the law is any deterrent to the ambitions of a rogue judge.

[T'wit]

>> (Greer still thinks he is a giant among men. He is less than manure).

Would you be willing to consider that he's a giant manure?

[T'wit]

Let's hope the prayer service changed her black heart. St. Peter's should have a sign out front, "Listen and obey. If you wish to remain apostate, kindly go away and give your patronage to the unitarian universalists, scientologists, anthroposophists, or the mother ship.

[T'wit]

#1207 and #1211 should have been pinged to you. Sorry.

[T'wit]

>> ...what we need most is better federal funding so that they can be cared for properly."

The INEVITABLE plea for stolen money. It doesn't hide the truth to call it "federal funding," it's still money taken involuntarily from people who work for a living and given to people who sponge for a living.

Terri Schiavo had plenty of money. The court and lawyers stole it. The problem is not stealing FOR the disabled, it's stealing FROM the disabled.

[T'wit]

"CATCH OF THE DAY," or, Two heroic guys save toddler from being cannibalized for organs

Read down a bit and you learn, astonished, that this bubbly kid has escaped the Organ Monsters twice. He was a preemie, born three months early, weighing only 1 pound 8 ounces at birth. I wonder if the doctors tried to tell mom that Timothy would be a "Terri Schiavo situation" unless they snuffed him. Ha! Now he's healthy, happy, and swinging from the fire escapes.

[Lesforlife]

Perhaps if the Lord spares his life, he will see the light
and repent for all the wrong votes he made and will
join with those who work and fight to protect the innocent!

We can all hope and pray.

[Lesforlife]

Chilling how many thought this a good idea and posted on the
original thread about this aberration.

[rosalita]

Okay, I think I understand. Thanks for the help. Yes, I absolutely would like to be added! I appreciate it!

[T'wit]

>> Perhaps if the Lord spares his life, he will see the light and repent for all the wrong votes he made...

Nice thought, Les. Let him be spared so that he can see the duty and joy of saving others' lives. Let him hear and learn this:

"At the end of our lives, we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made or how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless and you took me in.’" -- Mother Teresa