Is Jeb About to Intervene!?!

AP via Miami Herald ^ | Posted on Wed, Oct. 15, 2003 | MITCH STACY

[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.

[angelwings49]

Thank you, LP -- I'm really trying to keep the faith, but it's just really hard right now.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

The only positive outcome of Terri's ordeal is that people are now making their wishes known to their loved ones.

Last night my husband said, use all the life support you have to, no measure is too extreme, unless he is declared brain dead.

Interesting, I thought.

[itsahoot]

This woman is, for all practical purposes dead. Only her anatomic nerves function. She can breathe. Her heart beats and her eyes blink when they dry out. That is (in my opinion and the opinion of many others) not “living”. It isn’t even existing.

And her being alive effects you in what way?

[Don Joe]

"Would you have him subvert the constitution he is bound to uphold?"

That would be, if I'm not mistaken, the Constitution that obligates him to prevent a helpless, innocent woman's life from being snuffed out by a pack of vile scoundrels?

Benjamin Franklin said that the Constitution is not a suicide pact.

I'll add to what he said, by asserting that it isn't a murder pact either.

The ol' Public Hand Washing Ritual may be an ancient ritual, but it is as disgusting today as it was two millenia ago.

[Don Joe]

"I've been reading people rant and rave about how one man should wave a magic wand and make it all better for a long time now on these threads. It's sickening."

No, it's not sickening.

It's his job. And as of today, he is in dereliction of duty.

Come election day, he'll find out what that means. It means he'll have to work for a living.

[LadyPilgrim]

Honey, I'm right there with you. My heart is breaking, and
is heavy for the parents of this woman.

Our hope is that there is something that can stop the continuing murder of an innocent girl.
We have until Friday maybe. At the most Saturday. Just believe God! I don't know what else to do.

[Poohbah]

Some people don't want a governor or a president.

They want a man on horseback.

[Theodore R.]

Jeb is ineligible to seek a third term in 2006.
He is expected to seek the presidency in 2008. I am sure that he expects this case to have been completely forgotten by the winter of 2008, when he runs in IA and NH.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Prayer bump.

[Outlaw76]

Yeah yeah, what are you doing Don Joe?
Crying about how another man should break the law for you.
nice.
I am not a Lawyer, I feel very strongly that the truth should be known and that the young lady should be given a chance at rehab. That being said I believe in the laws of this land and accept that they are not all encompasing - that sometimes they are used in ways other than intended. But - I am not to the point where I would break those laws myself. Until I am, I will not expect, nor demand that anyone else do so.

If you think someone else should break the law for you, your a coward.

[Theodore R.]

It'll be interesting to hear Jeb tell the IA cauci people and the NH primary voters about all the great things he has done in the Sunshine State. I doubt a single protestor will show up anywhere with a sign referring to Terri Schindler. If they do, people will ask, "Who is Terri Schindler, and what was her connection to Jeb"?

[sanchmo]

She responds to her relatives' speech and touch, she follows them around with her eyes, she smiles when her relatives touch her, talk to her, and kiss her (all of this is clearly visible on the videos). I don't know how well she understands everything that is going on around her, but she can certainly understand that certain people care about her, certain people don't, and certain people want to cause her harm.

Based on your description of Terri's condition, I kindly ask that you stay away from my sister's Developmentally Disabled Citizens Center - I'm afraid of what would happen to a lot of lovely and loving people if you were in a position to make life-and-death decisions about them.

[Marie]

I know how you feel. It's like our nation is being flushed down the toilet right before our eyes. As terrible as I feel for Terry, this issue isn't just about one life. We're crossing the Rubicon, people. Now, people like my great grandmother (who spent the last ten years in a wheel chair after a stroke and who got to hold and kiss over fifty great grandbabies after that incident) will never get the chance to live. It's only a matter of time before a shot will be available in the ER to end lives quickly and cheaply.

Stay healthy, folks.

[itsahoot]

Would you have him subvert the constitution he is bound to uphold? Yes
Would you have him perform an illegal act? Yes
What man seeing an ox in the ditch would not stop and render help......

All legal orders are not legal, because some are immoral. We killed many a German who was just following lawful orders.

[logic]

I agree, but the hard part is finding a rightous man, remember what lot went through?

[itsahoot]

Italians off!

[Outlaw76]

Then change the laws.

We are Americans, we have the means and the process in place to change things. DO IT!

"All legal orders are not legal, because some are immoral. We killed many a German who was just following lawful orders. "

How immoral was it for Mr. German Citizen to watch his neighbor's house get broken into and watch as that family was draged into the street. How imoral was it for Mr. German Citizen to watch his former friend loaded onto a train destined for hell?

Your watching it now my friend and all you do is whine.
Use the system to ensure it never happens again. Make it your life goal. Don't demand that the local Burgher take action while you sit in your warm house during crystalnacht.

[itsahoot]

Your watching it now my friend and all you do is whine.<p Nothing I can do at this point would make the slightest difference, the Governor however can do something, but chooses not to.