Posted on 10/15/2003 9:59:46 AM PDT by oneday
Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2003
Removal of brain-damaged woman's feeding tube to proceed MITCH STACY Associated Press
DOVER, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday he has ordered his legal team to try to find a way to intervene in the case of severely disabled woman who is scheduled to have the feeding tube keeping her alive removed.
Bush's comments came after a 20-minute meeting with the family of Terri Schiavo, who faces a 2 p.m. Wednesday deadline in the removal of the tube. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has been granted permission to remove the tube in a six-year legal battle against her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
Bush said his attorneys are looking for legal alternatives to somehow block the removal of the tube, but did not know yet what they might be.
"We are going to seek whatever legal alternatives are available and seek the best minds to find another avenue to submit to the courts to see if there can be a change in this ruling," Bush said at an appearance in Dover dedicating new housing for migrant workers.
"I am not a doctor, I am not a lawyer, But I know that if a person can be able to sustain life without life support, that should be tried," the governor said, adding the "ultimate decision of this is in the courts."
Bob Schindler Jr., Terri Schiavo's brother, said the family was heartened by the governor's last-minute effort. The Schindlers have pleaded with Bush - who in previous legal findings have supported their efforts to obtain therapy for their daughter - to intervene.
"The family has not given up hope on Terri," Bob Schindler Jr. said following the meeting with Bush. "We have spoken to the governor, and he hasn't given up hope either."
Terri Schiavo, 39, is expected to die within two weeks after the tube's removal. She's been in a vegetative state since suffering a heart attack in 1990. Her parents believe she is capable of learning how to eat and drink on her own.
A state appeals court in Lakeland rejected motions by an attorney for the Schindlers and their legal remedies have been exhausted, their lawyer said Tuesday.
Michael Schiavo says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially. The parents say their daughter has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated.
"In our eyes, it's murder," Bob Schindler said Wednesday on CBS' "Early Show."
George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said that the Schindlers were "still in denial" over Terri Schiavo's wishes not to be kept alive.
Doctors have testified that the noises and facial expressions Terri Schiavo makes are reflexes and do not indicate that she has enough mental capabilities to communicate with others.
Even if the death is ultimately a result of injuries sustained during the abuse? So if I had a child and beat it up which led to it being grossly injured, then put on some form of life support which is at some point removed and the child died, the worst I could be charged with is child abuse?
Just asking. Apologies for any ignorance showing; I'm niether in Florida nor a lawyer.
I hope that this is the case. I heard this morning that 2 pm is the time for the scheduled removal of the feeding tube. I just checked in to see if there was any reprieve for Terri.
George Felos is the same man who
I will be sending a Get Well card to Terri, in care of her guardian, since her parents would need to get his approval for the card to be given to Terri, anyway. There is very little time left for things like that.
We don't know that Terri will be kept at the hospice, so I wouldn't send the card there.
I realize he is busy at the moment, but I think it makes sense to save time by sending Terri's Get well card in care of her guardian. Does anyone have a better idea for where I should send the card?
I certainly can question what's happening here. If God wanted to take Terri, couldn't He find a better way than allowing her husband and doctors to starve her to death?
Do you normally excuse murder as "God's will"? I don't see God at work here at all, I see some cruel and evil people carrying out their plan.
Bonfire has it right...
She is not being "kept alive artificially" any more than a mother feeding newborn baby is "keeping the baby alive artificially." Terri is not on life-support - her heart beats on its own, her lungs breathe on their own, I believe her kidneys and digestive system function on their own, and her brain (although severely incapacitated) functions on its own - all without artificial or man-made medical support systems.
The only "artificial" thing about her medical support system is that she's currently eating through a feeding tube instead of using her mouth.
If Terri is "needlessly on life support" because she is dependent on others, then every infant child of every person reading this thread is also "needlessly on life support."
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