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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...

Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of Phoenix issued a new document in September to help Catholics make tough decisions concerning artificially administered nutrition and hydration that are consistent with church teaching. Titled "Directives for Catholics Concerning Artificially Administered Nutrition and Hydration," the document specifically addresses providing artificial hydration and nutrition for those facing illness who require artificial assistance. It comes at a time when the faithful have questions about their obligations vis-a-vis end-of-life issues, said Father John Ehrich, an expert in bioethics who serves on the ethics committee at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. "People have a desire...

Five years ago the beginning of the end of Terri Schindler Schiavo’s life was transforming America into two battle camps, which fought bitterly over to preserve the life of who Terri’s father Robert Schindler told me he lovingly called his angel, Terri or to let government let her be starved to death. Yet after five years should America just simply move on? Would you simply move on if it were your child who suddenly was incapacitated and went through Terri Schiavo’s experience? It is an interesting question because there are those in the media and even probably in your office,...

I received a telephone call telling me a friend died of a heart attack. His name was Bob Schindler. His death certificate may say he died of cardiac arrest but those of us who knew Bob know he really died of a broken heart. I first met Bob, his wife Mary and their son Bobby in 2001 while I was in Charlotte, North Carolina to deliver the keynote address at the U.S. National Right to Life Prayer Breakfast. Bob and MaryÂ’s daughter was Terri Schiavo. They approached me to ask for help to save Terri from being starved and...

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...

Contact: Margaret, Priests for Life, 888-735-3448 ext. 251   STATEN ISLAND, NY, Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, today issued the following statement on the passing of Robert Schindler, Sr., father of Terri Schiavo.   "Bob Schindler remains an inspiration. In spite of enduring the heartbreaking, court ordered killing of his daughter, Terry Schiavo, Bob never stopped fighting for the rights of others who were disabled or medically vulnerable. His quiet strength in the face of persecution and his compassion for those who were too weak to defend themselves will forever serve as examples...

Contact: Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation, 727-490-7603   ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Aug. 29 /Christian Newswire/ -- The family of Robert Schindler, Sr. releases the following statement:   Robert S. Schindler, Sr., of Gulfport, Florida, father of the late Terri Schindler Schiavo, passed away August 29, 2009 from heart failure at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.   Robert fought valiantly to save the life of his brain-injured daughter Terri in the landmark right to life case that culminated in her imposed death by court-ordered starvation and thirst on March 31, 2005. After Terri's death, along with his wife Mary, daughter...

Patriarch Bob Schindler has passed awayjillstanek.com Jill Stanek I just received the sad new from Schindler family friend Bro. Paul O'Donnell that family patriarch Bob Schindler passed away early this morning in a FL hospital. Bob was 72 years old and died of heart failure. His health had been deteriorating somewhat, but his death was still unexpected. He was admitted to the hospital only yesterday complaining of shortness of breath. I'm so sad for this dear family, who has endured so much. Bro. Paul told me Bob was never quite the same after Terri was killed by denial of hydration...

Terri Schiavo's Father Robert Schindler Dies, Pro-Life Group Mourns His Death St. Petersburg, FL -- Robert Schindler, the father of Terri Schiavo, whose former husband subjected her to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death, died overnight. Schindler, 72, had been battling health issues and he died of apparent heart failure. http://www.LifeNews.com/bio2943.html

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The brother of Terri Schiavo, the disabled woman whose former husband subjected her to a painful 13-day starvation and dehydration death, is speaking out against a guide the Obama administration is distributing to veterans that critics say promotes euthanasia and assisted suicide.The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently promoting a guide called "Your Life, Your Choices" that was first published in the Clinton administration.The VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care brought back a 52-page end-of-life planning document that was suspended during the Bush administration.A worksheet on page 21 lists various scenarios and asks...

Obamacare and the Ghost of Terri Schiavo Why Americans Worry About The Democrats Pulling Grandma's Plug Dan McLaughlin Wednesday, August 12th at 4:54PM EDT 2 Comments NPR’s headline on yesterday’s town hall on health care by President Obama: Obama Says His Health Plan Won’t ‘Pull The Plug On Grandma’ The NY Daily News had a similar headline using that quote in this morning’s print edition, as does this Reuters item; the NY Post less delicately shortens the headline to ‘WE WON’T PULL PLUG ON GRANNY’.This is not the place the White House wanted to be in right now. Even George...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo, knows a thing or two about health care rationing. Forced to sit idly by as his sister's estranged husband deprived her of food and water for a period of 13 days before she died, Schindler is concerned the government-run health bills in Congress will foster rationing.In a new editorial, appearing on the conservative web site Townhall, Schindler talks about the problems associated with the health care restructuring bills.Schindler responds to a comment from Republican party chairman Michael Steele who said the rationing components are so bad that they...

Recently in a Washington Times radio interview, RNC Chairman Michael Steele was expressing his concerns regarding health care reform. He commented that the GOP’s handling of my sister Terri Schiavo is an example of what he fears, stating, “It is inserting itself into the very fabric of the decisions that you make, have to make every single day. It’ll make the Terri Schiavo case look like a walk in the park.” I understand the point that Michael Steele was trying to make. He was using Terri as an example of what it would mean if the government was to get...

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...

Former Florida Senate President Jim King, who sometimes fought Gov. Jeb Bush and his own Republican Party over the Terri Schiavo right-to-die battle in 2005, died Sunday after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer, a family spokeswoman said. He was 69

<p>Speaking of judicial empathy, where was the empathy for the helpless Terri Schiavo as she was dehydrated to death by judicial order, without even the simple kindness of allowing the grieving parents to whet her blistering lips as she was being tortured to death?</p>

To the disgust of Florida's left-wing newspapers, Gov. Jeb Bush has tried to save Terri Schiavo from a gruesome, painful death by dehydration and starvation. Now the usual suspects in the pro-death crowd are rejoicing at the latest ruling by the Democrat-run Florida Supreme Court. But the governor said, "I'm disappointed for the moral reasons of the taking of innocent life without having, I don't think, a full hearing on the facts of what her intent was." He observed that courts can delay death sentences for decades. Will the innocent Mrs. Schiavo be accorded the same privileges granted to vicious...

Contact: Bobby Schindler, Terri's Foundation, (727) 490-7603 ST. PETERSBURG, June 10 /- - It is not always clear whether or when Stephen Amidon is speaking in his own crude voice, or if he is regurgitating the prejudice of Charles Pierce in his review of Pierce’s book: Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free.But what is clear is that families caring for their brain injured loved ones have more compassion and understanding for the disabled than these two authors. “To refer to my sister, Terri Schiavo, someone with a profound brain injury, as a 'brain...

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...

TALLAHASSEE -- State Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican and 22-year veteran of the Legislature, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the lawmaker's longtime spokeswoman said Saturday. “During a recent routine post-legislative session checkup, Senator Jim King was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. While Senator King plans to seek additional medical counsel and aggressive treatment, he is aware that this particular type of cancer is difficult to treat and manage, and that the outcomes are, at best, guarded," said Sarah Bascom, a political consultant and longtime spokeswoman for King, in a statement.

Trapped inside their bodies, apparently switched off to the world, but still alive: they are the undead. Or so we thought. Forty per cent of patients in a ‘vegetative state’ are misdiagnosed. Now British scientists are leading the field in trying to put that right. Kate Bainbridge is a lively 37-year-old former schoolteacher. We are communicating in the conservatory of her parents’ home in south Cambridge. She has expressive eyes and a broad and ready smile, but she can utter only occasional single words with difficulty. She sits in a wheelchair “speaking” with the aid of a letter-board, using her...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Following the death of Terri Schiavo, the mainstream media and community groups like AARP promoted the signing of living wills. On the heels of the fourth anniversary of Terri's husband subjecting her to a painful euthanasia death, two pro-life groups are working together to promote a pro-life advanced directive.The National Right to Life has championed the Will to Live since 1992 and now the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group, has climbed on board to help promote it.As part of the project, thousands of attorneys allied with ADF across the country will make themselves...

The smiles on their faces mirror the sweetness of their newfound friendship. For Sarah Scantlin, it's a Friday, the day her friend Stacia Thrash comes to visit. Thrash will do Sarah's makeup, and maybe they'll talk about what Sarah had for lunch. In their hour together, they'll sing a song and read a story. Thrash, a volunteer through the Reno County Volunteer Center, will paint Sarah's fingernails. Nancy Wilson, activity director at Golden Plains Health Care Center, wiped away the tear that rolled down her cheek as she watched the two women together - Thrash, 20, a sophomore at Hutchinson...

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...

Today is "Terri's Day." It is the fourth anniversary of the end of Terri Schiavo's ordeal of death by dehydration. This cruel end was not a necessary death. It was forced upon her by judicial fiat even though she was not terminally ill, did not require a respirator or kidney dialysis, and had a loving family eager to care for her for the rest of her natural life. Terri's family believed and believes that she knew when they visited and reacted with joy. But even if she was unaware, she remained a beloved daughter and sister, fully worthy of...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Four years ago today, Terri Schiavo succumbed to the effects of the painful starvation and dehydration death her former husband subjected her to over a 13-day period. Terri was killed on March 31, 2005 when her former husband won a protracted legal battle against the Schindler family for the right to disconnect her feeding tube.Now, the Schindler family -- Terri's mother and father and brother and sister -- honors her memory by fighting for other disabled and minimally conscious patients to receive the kind of medical care, rehabilitative treatment and food and water Terri...

.......This nation fought a terrible war so that black Americans would be guaranteed their God-given rights. Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some could decide whether others should be free or slaves. Well today another question begs to be asked: How can we survive as a free nation when some decide that others are not fit to live and should be done away with?...... The Department of Health and Human Services has now published final regulations to address cases such as Baby Doe in Bloomington. The child was denied lifesaving surgery and starved...

Resurrecting the "Useless Eater" Approach to Health Care: Don't Let Consciousness Get in the Way of the Dehydration Agenda So, now that we know that many people thought to be unconscious--are actually awake and aware--some might think that would cause bioethicists to step back from the dehydration agenda. As I have long predicted, not on a bet! An article published in the Journal of Medicine and Philosophy by Oxford bioethicists Guy Kahane and the always crassly utilitarian Julian Saveulescu, makes it clear that demonstrable awareness should be no bar to ending the lives of these disabled patients. This is a...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) will have a special screening of the new documentary, “The Terri Schiavo Story” from Franklin Springs Family Media, at their national convention in June. Additionally, National Right to Life will be endorsing the film in their April edition of the National Right to Life News which is sent out to nearly 400,000 subscribers. NRLC State Organization and Development Director Jacki Ragan stated, “This story is one that pro-lifers ought to review once a year.” The NRLC review of the documentary goes on to say, “The DVD does an excellent job...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- New York Times health columnist Jane Brody is coming under fire for referring to Terri Schiavo as a vegetable in a recent interview. The comment has one bioethicist upset -- saying the term neither confers the dignity and humanity patients deserve nor is medically accurate. Speaking the need for elderly people and terminally ill patients to begin planning for death, Brody told the Times that it is never to early to begin considering end-of-life plans. "You don't have to be old. If you recall, Terri Schiavo was 26 when she suffered a heart attack that deprived...

The use of the "V-word" continues to be used in the most "enlightened" places. Today, it is an interview with health author Jane Brody in the NYT about her new book on planning for death. From the interview:Q: When is the right time to start planning for death? A: Start thinking about it when it's unlikely to happen any time soon. It's much easier to do it then. It's less painful. Get it out of the way. Many people are saying, "I'm going to take action now while I still feel good and I'm still healthy." You don't have...

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's painful 13 day-long euthanasia death began four years ago yesterday and her eventual euthanasia death still sparks a controversial debate. After several years fighting to protect their daughter's right to live, Terri's parents were told to leave, unable to be with their daughter as her estranged husband began the process that killed her. Only Michael Schiavo was present when doctors removed the feeding tube."Please, please, please save my little girl," a tearful Mary Schindler told a news conference.Michael refused and instead took his case to the media. "I am 100 percent sure," that...

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A new documentary about the life and death of Terri Schiavo presents facts that the mainstream media distorted. 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. Though the media maintained the disabled woman was in a persistent vegetative state experts say she was in a minimally conscious state and her family indicated she repeatedly interacted with them. Now, Franklin Springs Family Media has put out a newly-released documentary called The Terri Schiavo Story that...

  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...

          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...

New York, NY -- Rolling Stone magazine is coming under fire for featuring a mock interview with former President George W. Bush in its latest issue. During the interview, Rolling Stone satirizes the death of Terri Schiavo by having the former president supposedly mocking her death, even though he tried to save her life.

Naples, FL (LifeNews.com) -- The Florida-based Ave Maria University will hold a national mass in honor of Terri Schiavo on March 31, the day that has been set aside to honor the disabled woman who became an international inspiration. Schiavo was killed on that date when her husband won a court order to take her life.Terri's Foundation, the group Terri's family put together to help disabled people like her, and Priests for Life have come together for the memorial date for Terri.In conjunction with Terri's Day, Ave Maria University will host “The National Mass for Terri’s Day” at its...

A California man, who spent four days in a coma and was about to be disconnected from life support, is now on his way to making a full recovery. Mike Connelly’s family had just given doctors permission to turn off the machines keeping him alive when his stepson noticed a tear slide down the side of his face, the North Coast Times reported. Moments later, another family member was shouting that the 56-year-old was responding. "He said Mike was responding," the stepson told the newspaper. "I didn't believe him, but I went back in there, and it was true. You...

Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- Bob Schindler understands the pain of a father who saw his daughter change from a woman full of life to a seemingly lifeless person plagued by the effects of a severe medical condition. Although it may seem hopeless, Schindler urged the father of Eluana Englaro not to give up on his daughter's recovery.

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....

The tragic story of Terri Schiavo has, for most Americans, become a faded memory. But now, thanks to Ken Carpenter and Franklin Springs Family Media, the account of her heart-wrenching ordeal will forever be available to those who believe in the sanctity and value of human life. Narrated by well known Christian author and advocate for the disabled, Joni Eareckson Tada . . .

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- MSNBC anchor and commentator should have stuck to his original career giving out the latest sports news and information. The left-wing media man is coming under fire for bashing pro-life advocates and their opposition to Barack Obama picking a former lawyer for Michael Schiavo for a high post.As LifeNews.com has reported, Obama selected Thomas Perrelli, who is best known as the right-to-kill lawyer who represented Terri Schiavo's husband pro-bono in his suit to euthanize his wife.In the Obama administration, Perrelli will occupy the third highest post in the Justice Department.Tom McClusky of the Family Research...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The family of Terri Schiavo and a leading pro-life Catholic group are set to again mark Terri's Day on March 31. The Schindler family and Priests for Life are urging people to make preparations now to mark the day and to remember the disabled woman whose former husband killed her.The groups are urging individuals, families, churches and and organizations to observe the "International Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Terri Schindler Schiavo, and All of Our Vulnerable Brothers and Sisters" -- otherwise known as Terri's Day.March 31 is the fourth anniversary of Terri's painful 13-day...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The brother of Terri Schiavo, the woman whose former husband subjected her to a painful starvation and dehydration death, is upset that Barack Obama has chosen a top Justice Department lawyer who was the attorney for the man who condemned her to death.Obama has named Thomas Perrelli, who won an award for representing Schiavo's former husband Michael, as the third highest attorney in the Justice Department.Perrelli will be an associate attorney general, but the news isn't something Bobby Schindler likes.Schindler, Terri's brother and one of Terri's family members who fought to be given the right...

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...

As if the topic of Amendment Two, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, was not emotional enough, now the husband of Terri Schiavo has weighed in.Michael Schiavo, in an email to opponents of the amendment, said, ""The same people who thought they knew what was best for my wife Terri, are once again trying to tell others how to live ...As a former Republican, I think if the people behind Amendment 2 really cared about respecting a legal marriage between husband and wife, they would have respected mine." His video on the matter can be seen at...

Rome, Italy (LifeNews.com) -- The brother of Terri Schiavo is condemning the decision handed down today by an Italian court allowing Eluana Englaro's father to starve her to death. Englaro went into a coma after an accident and her father wants to remove her feeding tube and starve and dehydrate her to death.The painful death will be similar to the 13 days without food and water that Schiavo endured before her death.Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler, told LifeNews.com that he thinks the court should not have allowed the Englaro's father to remove her basic care."Today’s ruling will clear the way...

Family photo George Lavers says he and his wife Heather agreed that “Only God can stop your heart." By SHERRI ACKERMAN | The Tampa TribunePublished: October 28, 2008 Related Links Photo Gallery GIBSONTON - Robert Lavers remembers waking precisely at 7 the morning of Sept. 9.He and his daughter had fallen asleep in the living room. His wife, Heather, was still in bed, which was unusual."I went to nudge her and she didn't wake," Robert recalled.She still hasn't.His 38-year-old wife had suffered a cardiac arrest. Doctors say she has been in a persistent vegetative state ever since and likely will...

Still breaking....

It doesn't matter who wins! Seriously, guys, America is about to become, once again, the coolest place on Earth. An era is ending. If you still think the US is home to all that is fatty and unwholesome and militaristic and cloth-eared and generally low-grade, and not much else, it may be time to give the Yanks another chance. Nothing Sarah Palin and her followers can do will prevent America's steady movement away from social conservatism Politically, socially, culturally, America is - as we watch transfixed and, in spite of ourselves, impressed - being born again. Suddenly we are reminded...