Posted on 03/26/2005 5:44:58 PM PST by hipaatwo
A Florida lawyer writes:
I have been following the case for years. Something that interests me about the Terri Schiavo case, and that doesn't seem to have gotten much media attention: The whole case rests on the fact that the Schindlers (Terri's parents) were totally outlawyered by the husband (Michael Schiavo) at the trial court level.
This happened because, in addition to getting a $750K judgment for Terri's medical care, Michael Schiavo individually got a $300K award of damages for loss of consortium, which gave him the money to hire a top-notch lawyer to represent him on the right-to-die claim. He hired George Felos, who specializes in this area and litigated one of the landmark right-to-die cases in Florida in the early 90s.
By contrast, the Schindlers had trouble even finding a lawyer who would take their case since there was no money in it. Finally they found an inexperienced lawyer who agreed to take it partly out of sympathy for them, but she had almost no resources to work with and no experience in this area of the law. She didn't even depose Michael Schiavo's siblings, who were key witnesses at the trial that decided whether Terri would have wanted to be kept alive. Not surprisingly, Felos steamrollered her.
The parents obviously had no idea what they were up against until it was too late. It was only after the trial that they started going around to religious and right-to-life groups to tell their story. These organizations were very supportive, but by that point their options were already limited because the trial judge had entered a judgment finding that Terri Schiavo would not have wanted to live.
This fact is of crucial importance -- and it's one often not fully appreciated by the media, who like to focus on the drama of cases going to the big, powerful appeals courts: Once a trial court enters a judgment into the record, that judgment's findings become THE FACTS of the case, and can only be overturned if the fact finder (in this case, the judge) acted capriciously (i.e., reached a conclusion that had essentially no basis in fact).
In this case, the trial judge simply chose to believe Michael Schiavo's version of the facts over the Schindlers'. Since there was evidence to support his conclusion (in the form of testimony from Michael Schiavo's siblings), it became nearly impossible for the Schindlers to overturn it. The judges who considered the case after the trial-level proceeding could make decisions only on narrow questions of law. They had no room to ask, "Hey, wait a minute, would she really want to die?" That "fact" had already been decided.
In essence, the finding that Terri Schiavo would want to die came down to the subjective opinion of one overworked trial judge who was confronted by a very sharp, experienced right-to-die attorney on one side and a young, quasi-pro bono lawyer on the other.
Nothing unusual about this, of course. It's the kind of thing that happens all the time. But it's an interesting point to keep in mind when you read that the Schiavo case has been litigated for years and has been reviewed by dozens of judges . . . yadda yadda yadda.
By the way, I'm guessing that George Felos is probably quite happy to work the Schiavo case for free at this point since it's making him one of the most famous right-to-kill -- I mean right-to-die -- lawyers in the country. His BlackBerry has probably melted down by now, what with all the messages from the hurry-up-and-die adult children you've been blogging about.
I bet Felos was looking for a Michael Schiavo to appear on the scene. I bet he would have taken the case pro bono. Have you read the threads exposing Felos' connection with the Florida Hospice and several lobbying groups who 'helped' legislators write new law specifically about patients with feeding tubes.
It is all too cosy for me. I do not believe that Michael Schiavo is the big gun in this, even if Felos, et al, let him think he is. They are playing him for their ends, which is not to have hospices "cluttered up" with patients such as Terri.
I agree with you about the overreach, the right to privacy and interference. The problem here is that the presumption of life is constitutional in the US--until now. This is the quintessential right to kill case, and abandons the spirit of all that has been America. I believe this case is a direct challenge to the Constitution in its intent, making the enforcer of our laws the murderer.
He's affiliated with the ACLU. I think that says it all.
You say Greer followed the law, but suppose that all evidence supporting the Schindler's position was deemed "inadmissable." That is what I am getting from the stuff being said now.
And the medicaid route, she had a trust that they set up to get medicaid against the spirit of that law. Could they have done anything about that.
And the nursing home board, surely they are regulated. The lack of care, the inappropriate hospice care, could they have approached it that way.
The hospice is already in trouble with MEdicare to the tune of $15million for patients who were billed as terminal who were not terminal.
Judge Greer has given MS a pass for the past 4 years or so on filling out the required paperwork for Medi-Caid re: her condition -- also illegal and this time allowed by "the court" ...
whatever anyone thinks about right-to-die this thing stinks to high heaven and needs someone like -- Don't shoot the messenger now -- "Elliot Spitzer" who has the ba!!$ to investigate...
I do think that people in a pvs or mcs who don't have a living will should not have feeding tubes withdrawn or catheters, or basic care.
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Do you know that Felos and friends got the law in Florida changed so that feeding tubes could be removed without an advanced directive, after Felos met Michael Schiavo.
They have been using him and Terri for their aims ever since.
I doubt that MS could have withstood the pressure from his in-laws all these years without the support of the right to die crowd.
This is about more than an "overworked" judge. I think there is something smelly in this matter.
It's almost as if Felos had sized up Michael Schiavo (naive, lower middle class, extremely controlling, arrogant, greedy, narcissistic, selfish, a wad of cash in his pocket and a lot more to come, and possibly guilty of malfeasance aginst his wife) and chosen Terri Schiavo as the case he woould use to outgame the system and advance his personal passion for the "right to death" to a new plane.
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This is exactly what I think also.
I wondered until this week how Michael could have had so much 'power' both to be calling the shots in the Hospice - most institutions have a line across which the patients family's do not cross - and in the explanation for why she was allowed to stay there for five years = against all medicare/medicaid regulations.
Oh, this was a test case all right.
They must have been furious when the Florida legislature wrote "Terri's Law" 2 years ago.
That's what puzzles me CB, why?
Hopefully there will be an investigation as a result of all this. I wondered for a while why no good federal lawyers stepped forward to help in this matter, but I have a feeling that when Randall Terry got involved a lot of them decided to pass. Just way to dangerous for them.
Have you seen the excerpts from the book written by Felos?
In Felos' own words, he has a "fascination with death and dying."
He also wrote that he thinks he willed a plane to almost crash because, again, in his own words, "I wonder what it would be like to die right now” so he “indulged the thought by imagining the plane starting to lose it trajectory and descend.” He claims in the book that at that point the plane did just that, and was later righted.
The man is a total nut job.
The excerpts can be found here: http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/1782.article
Oh my gosh! One of the MS supporters who was being interviewed on TV earlier made a snide comment, basically blaming the Shindlers for Terri's predicament because they chose to live in Florida.
I'm not surprised!
I watched the Fox show that reviews media coverage of the week's news, and even that was chilling. The two libs were so unsympathetic to anyone wishing Terri to live. They were insulting to people or even articles that they deemed sympathetic to her. It was a small window into the mind of these coldhearted libs that made my stomach turn.
The man is a total nut job.
-----an evil nut job!
I disagree since your analysis does nor explain Greer'continued and persistent refusal to accept new evidence.Nor does it explain the inhumanity or most of his orders regarding care for Terri or visitation rights.
Greer was a lot more then an overworked judge.He was a willing and active participant in making Schiavo the test case for ending life by withdrawing food and water even in cases without written instructions.
Bingo...the industry of death.Why do you think it happened in Florida where they have been muddying all their end of life definitions.
Their Guardian ad litem system is also completely corrupt and is under investigation.It was on another thread.
I think empirejournal.com has it too.
I agree this became for all the judges a turf battle and the courts were not going to let either the executive side as Jbushh intervene or the legislative branch intervene
Congress Act was ignored.
These judges all had remedies including SCOTUS but they failed to use them,becase this was a show down .
First time i"ve heard that mentionned,excellent idea.
Other idea,some judges especially at appellate level should be other then lawyers,to avoid over legalistic rulings.
I watched the Fox show that reviews media coverage of the week's news, and even that was chilling. The two libs were so unsympathetic to anyone wishing Terri to live.
I saw Lanny Davis tonight on Fox twice and he sided with the Schindlers. He's about as lib as you can get. He said Michael has questionable motives. 1-why did it take 7 years for him to remember her wishes 2-why is he refusing to let her have communion 3-why have her medical records been sealed and not released as to why she became this way to begin with. I was shocked to say the least.
I also saw Lanny Davis this week siding with the Schindlers. He must have a soul.
Is your screen name from the great new rules regarding patient information? I'm sure the FL lawyers have used the HIPAA regs as clubs in their manipulation of Terri's case.
People scream about the dangers of the Patriot Act, and yet have no idea how many other ways their lives are being manipulated by government.
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