One of the things that has prevented other judges from intervening is that the whole thing is being dealt with on a procedural level, since the first judge (Greer) made findings of fact that then prevented the other judges from reviewing the case from that aspect. And given the "facts" that Greer deigned to accept, the procedure is correct and the other courts find it so. While there are good reasons for this feature of the system, in general, there is no good reason for Greer not to allow a review of the facts since it is so obvious that there is much controversy over them (particularly since he obviously cherry picked the facts and disallowed many things that could have led to a different result). No good reason other than his incredible arrogance and the fact that judges know they are really the ones in control in this country and they take every opportunity to show it.
You are correct. The Judge in the case did find as FACT that Terri wanted to die. His conclusion was based on hearsay and is NOT clear and convincing. Judge's have an enormous amount of power. They are by far the most powerful branch of Governement. What i've seen Judges do in controvercial cases like this is exactly what you said, and exactly what President Bush asked for,...allowance of another court/Judge to examine the facts. These Judges have enormous latitude. Judge Bork has said that many trial judges are like "little ceasers" and I agree. It underscores how important it is to get reasonable well balanced Judges elected and appointed. Judge Greer was elected. In fact he took contributions from Mike Schiavo's lawyers. This is not uncommon at all, however it seems to be unethical. We have a real problem which needs to be addressed here. These judges findings of facts ought to be weighed against the implied results of these findings. The Supreme Court case which Judge Greer has used to justify this calls out for Clear and Convincing evidence. Also the case was also about someone on a breathing machine. In the Karen Qunilan case (yet another case) the courts allowed the resperator to be removed, BUT NOT THE FEEDING TUBE. Why? because it was deemed that the feeding tube was NOT extra ordinary. By the way Karen lived after being taken off the machine and lived for another 10 years with the feeding tube in place.