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Why I Believe in Divorce, Re: Terri Schiavo
Faith2Action ^ | 10.13.03 | Janet L. Folger

Posted on 10/14/2003 9:49:03 AM PDT by Coleus

Why I Believe in Divorce

By Janet L. Folger

 

"Why I believe in divorce" is not a column I would have anticipated writing-especially at the unveiling of National Marriage Protection Week. You see, divorce is at the root of many societal ills; just not this one.

The case is regarding Terri Schindler-Schiavo-a 39-year-old Florida woman who became disabled following an unexplained incident 13 years ago. Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have spent their retirement fighting for her life. But it’s worth it, they say, when they see her smiling face light-up every time they see her.

They love her, but don’t have any say in her care because she is still legally married to Michael Schiavo-Terri’s legal guardian.

The problem? Terri’s husband, Michael has been living with another woman he calls his "fiancée" for nearly ten years. He’s even fathered a child by her, and there’s another on the way. Can you say "conflict of interest?"

According to a sworn affidavit, Carla Sauer Iyer, R.N., who cared for Terri at the Palm Garden of Largo Convalescent Center from April 1995 to July 1996, Michael isn’t all too pleased that his wife is still alive. He was frequently overheard to say statements like: "Has she died yet?" and, "When is that b---- going to die?" Just the kind of guardian any father would want for his daughter.

Why doesn’t he just divorce her and move on?

Well, one theory is that not only is Michael her legal guardian, he is her rich legal guardian. He was awarded over a million dollars in a malpractice settlement-$750,000 of which was earmarked for Terri’s rehabilitative care. Except the money never went for Terri’s rehabilitative care; it is being spent on legal fees to remove all of her care-including her food and water.

Question: How do you get rid of your wife and still keep all of her money?

Surprisingly, it takes only three easy steps:

1. Hire an attorney that thinks starving a disabled woman is a good idea. Enter George Felos. At an appeals court hearing in August 2001, Felos set a high standard for personhood: "The litmus test," he said, "is whether or not a person can bring a spoon to their mouth." Nice guy-setting a standard for personhood that would empty out every nursing home, rehab and daycare center in the country.

2. Find a neurologist who thinks starving a disabled woman is a good idea. Enter Ron Cranford. He’s declared more people to be "vegetables" than you’ll find at the salad bar in a Bob’s Big Boy. A clever strategy when you want to throw people away as easily as you would scrape off your plate.

3. Find a judge who thinks starving a disabled woman is a good idea. Enter Judge George Greer of Florida’s 6th Circuit Court who has ordered Terri to be starved to death on Wednesday, October 15th at 2:00 p.m.-despite the plea from Terri’s parents and Governor Jeb Bush to try and feed her by mouth before starving her outright. But Judge Greer didn’t know if that would work. He doesn’t know, because he wouldn’t let them try it. By the way, Judge Greer is up for re-election. Not sure how you’d vote? Try skipping food and water for a week and see how you feel.

But wait, there’s more. According to Iyer’s sworn affidavit, "Any time Terri would be sick, …with a … fluid buildup in her lungs, colds, or pneumonia, Michael would be visibly excited, thrilled even, hoping that she would die. He would say something like,

‘Hallelujah! You've made my day!’ …‘I'm going to be rich!’ and would talk about all the things he would buy when Terri died, which included a new car, a new boat…among
other things."

Starvation and dehydration is so brutal, so agonizing, we wouldn’t do it to the most hardened criminal on death row. In fact, if you did it to a dog, you’d go to jail for cruelty. But for a disabled woman, that’s another matter. When Terri made her wedding vow, "till death do us part," I’m pretty sure this is not what she had in mind.

So let’s review our choices:

Starve a dog: go to jail-Do not pass "go;" Do not collect $200.

Starve a disabled woman-Collect $1.3 million, a new car, a new boat, and a new family.

But before Michael can take that new boat for a test run, lawyers on Terri’s behalf are filing for divorce. Pick a reason, any reason, adultery and starvation, are two that come to mind. Don’t get me wrong, I’m against divorce as a rule, but if given a choice between divorce or death by starvation and dehydration, I can tell you which curtain I’d pick. My closing argument before the court? Duh.

Folger is President of Faith2Action www.f2a.org  



TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: adultery; dehydration; divorce; euthanasia; fl; florida; jeb; murder; righttolife; terri; terrischiavo
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1 posted on 10/14/2003 9:49:03 AM PDT by Coleus
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To: Coleus
This case is just one example of why government registered/recognized marriage is a bad thing.

I don't pretend to know what Terri's real condition is, or whether she should be allowed to die peacefully without further treatment. But I do know that a "medical trust fund" which leaves the remaining amount after the subject's death, to another person to be used for any purpose whatsoever, is an invitation to abuse. That's a practice that definitely needs to be outlawed. Can't the insurance industry dig up some lawyers and legislators to draft laws requiring that such remaining sums revert to the payor after the patient's death?
2 posted on 10/14/2003 10:23:43 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Coleus
If Terry were my sister or daughter my personal plan of action would be this:

1. As soon as all legal means were exhausted I would spirit Terry away to a state where she would be protected from her husband.

2. If for some reason that failed, I would simply kill her bastard husband and care of her would automatically default to her parents or siblings and let God and a jury judge me.
3 posted on 10/14/2003 10:24:22 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
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To: Coleus
Terri’s husband, Michael has been living with another woman he calls his "fiancée" for nearly ten years. He’s even fathered a child by her, and there’s another on the way. Can you say "conflict of interest?>

She is in such dire circumstances right now that it seems to me that divorce from a spouse who has sought and received permission to kill her is permissible. I don't know about remarriage after divorce, but her very life is on the line right now. It's so late now that I wonder why they didn't think of it sooner.

Perhaps a death penalty for adulterers might not be such a bad idea after all. It is interesting to me that a society that views adultery as legally non-punishable is also a society in which the innocent are condemned to death and the guilty go free.

Cordially,

4 posted on 10/14/2003 10:29:20 AM PDT by Diamond
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To: Blood of Tyrants
What you said .... AND IF no. 1 and no. 2 fail, and Terri is killed, each member of Terri's family should sue the SOB individually for wrongful death, etc. and make him spend all the money he gets!
5 posted on 10/14/2003 11:10:22 AM PDT by GYPSY286
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To: GovernmentShrinker
>> This case is just one example of why government registered/recognized marriage is a bad thing.

Oh, Please! What if the situation were reversed and it was a (born) family member wanted her dead, and a husband wanted her alive? It's an issue of who should have control over making the decisions: the spouse, the blood family, or the government. Remove legally-recognize spouses, and the decision defaults to either the blood family, or the government. Personally, in this situation, I think the government should be stepping and saying you can't kill anyone, whether you're related by blood or marriage!

It's an example of wicked judges, period. No form of government and no system of laws can survive wicked judges. Any decent judge would recognize the conflict of interest, and would nullify his intent.
6 posted on 10/14/2003 11:10:53 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Coleus
How is this an argument for keeping divorce laws lax? This was done in spite of lax divorce laws!
I'm a Catholic, I agree with the Catholic Church's position of ecclesiastical divorce. Disbelieving in ecclesiastical divirce doesn't mean one needs to disbelieve in civil divorce, necessarily, however. Ecclesiastical divorce is a moral issue, civil divorce is a contarctual issue.
But the implementation of no-fault divorce was pure evil, not only from a religious viewpoint, but also unjust legally. Under no-fault divorce, one party may break a contract, without penalty. Each state that ratified no-fault divorce, in essence, took it upon itself to nullify pre-existing contracts.
Should the state delegalize marriage? Why should it have that authority? Why shouldn't people be able to enter into a contractual agreement between themselves?
Btw, here's why that reasoning doesn't justify homosexual marriages: marriage law as it currently stands, creates a contract with numerous provisions which have no meaning in homosexual relationships. For instance, shared medical coverage is provided so one partner can care for the medical needs of the other, since there is a significant chance THAT ONE PARTNER HAS REDUCED THEIR INDEPENDENT INCOME POTENTIAL to take care of children, which are the *natural* product of heterosexual marriages.
7 posted on 10/14/2003 11:27:22 AM PDT by dangus
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To: Coleus; MarMema; cpforlife.org; Mr. Silverback; american colleen; sinkspur; livius; Lady In Blue; ..
But before Michael can take that new boat for a test run, lawyers on Terri’s behalf are filing for divorce.

Why has it taken 13 years to file for a divorce? When hubby refused to provide her with rehabilitative services, this should have been the next move! There must be more to this action than we are being told.

8 posted on 10/14/2003 11:40:07 AM PDT by NYer (Pax et Bonum)
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Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Coleus
Makes me wonder how much money hubby paid the judge !!!

.

10 posted on 10/14/2003 12:19:50 PM PDT by GeekDejure
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To: Coleus
bttt
11 posted on 10/14/2003 12:49:38 PM PDT by tutstar
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To: 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; annalex; ...
`
12 posted on 10/14/2003 1:27:00 PM PDT by Coleus (Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive.)
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To: Coleus
The problem is that there is a very large group who now applaud every effort to kill the unwanted. A bunch of them have taken up their cause at a site called (aptly) morons.org. There's their take on the case:
Terri Schiavo is clinically brain-dead, after a heart attack more than ten years ago. Doctors state she can and will never recover. Her husband has said that she did not want to be left on life support. The courts agree with him, and have repeatedly ordered that her wishes be carried out. Her feeding tube is scheduled to be removed at 2pm (Florida time) this coming Wednesday.

In spite of all this, her maiden family, the Schindlers, have been attempting to keep Terri hooked up on life support. And Randall Terry, who founded "Operation Rescue", is organizing their protests.

I could make smart remarks about Randall Terry having gotten involved, but I'll leave that up to the readers' comments. I will instead say that I understand all too well the grief that drives the Schindlers to this. And because I understand, the Schindlers' actions disgust me that much more. I could never keep a brain-dead relative alive against his or her wishes just to ease my own grief. That would be the height of selfish arrogance. It's better to mourn with a clear conscience.

No, that's too reasonable for the Schindlers, or for Randall Terry. Instead, they're vilifying Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, claiming he abused her and purposefully withheld treatment from her. I guess there's no better way to deal with grief than by slandering someone who's also busy grieving.

The Schindlers and Mr. Terry are also picketing the hospice taking care of Terri Schiavo, carrying signs. Allegedly, one of the signs says, "Is this hospice or Auschwitz?" Don't that beat all? Comparing their family's legal fight to the Holocaust? As if their actions weren't outrageous enough already.

Fortunately for the Schiavos, the Schindlers have used up almost all of their legal options. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has already refused to give them a hearing. Hopefully, Terri Schiavo will soon be granted the dignified death she wanted from the start.

The comments which follow are even more odious.
13 posted on 10/14/2003 1:30:20 PM PDT by madprof98
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To: superflu
This is so terribly wrong, I still can't believe it is happening in America.


Somebody a few weeks ago said, sorry veterans, but I think Hitler did win World War II. At least his culture of death has won out after 58 years.
14 posted on 10/14/2003 1:47:09 PM PDT by Theodore R.
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To: Coleus
It's Tuesday at 5:30 PM, T minus about 20 hours.

Well, did they or didn't they try to file for divorce? There's news about other motions but none about the divorce attempt.
15 posted on 10/14/2003 2:38:34 PM PDT by litany_of_lies
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To: Coleus
Yeah divorce is wonderful - not just for the two stupid adults but it does wonders for the kids!
16 posted on 10/14/2003 2:50:29 PM PDT by nmh
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To: Coleus
It seems to me that Terri's husband has violated the trust of a Sacrimental marriage--in that he wants to end her life--and therefore if they were married in the Catholic Church, they could very easily get an annulment. Now, the real question should be: if they are Catholic, can her PARENTS petition for an annulment (as well as a civil divorce). No, so why would this woman favor divorce when Terri can't sign the divorce papers? It seems to be an excuse to rail against church teaching. Unless I'm reading this wrong.
17 posted on 10/14/2003 4:20:34 PM PDT by Gophack
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To: Coleus
Thanks for the heads up!
18 posted on 10/14/2003 7:36:08 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl (Please donate to Free Republic!)
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To: nmh
Yeah divorce is wonderful - not just for the two stupid adults but it does wonders for the kids!

Did you read the article?

19 posted on 10/14/2003 9:53:45 PM PDT by Denver Ditdat
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To: Coleus
There is a far more expedient solution.



Shoot the Husband. Morally, (Sadly not legally, though a Jury may refuse to convict him...) the father would be justified in defending his daughters life....


With the Husband erased, the Family would revert as next of kin.
20 posted on 10/15/2003 5:50:02 AM PDT by hobbes1 ( Hobbes1TheOmniscient® "I know everything so you don't have to" ;)
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