Posted on 10/19/2003 8:59:31 PM PDT by WackySam
Will Terri Schindler-Schiavo, the brain-disabled woman who is being starved to death under a court order initiated by her husband, get a reprieve from Florida lawmakers?
Terri responding to her mother in video clip available on terrisfight.org
Florida's Speaker of the House, Johnnie Byrd, is expected to introduce ''Terri's Bill'' during a special session of the state legislature being held tomorrow in Tallahassee.
The legislation would put an immediate moratorium on all dehydration and starvation deaths currently pending in Florida, according to a press release posted on the Schindler family's website, and confirmed for WorldNetDaily by the family's spokeswoman, Pamela Hennessy.
By Florida law, two thirds majority vote are required to have a topic entered.
Thirteen years ago Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage from a sudden, mysterious collapse. As a result, she has been dependent on a feeding tube ever since. Her other bodily functions are stable, she responds to voices, and is capable of smiling, laughing and crying.
However, her husband, Michael Schiavo, has denied Terri any rehabilitation treatment since 1993, and last Wednesday, after a bitter and protracted court fight, her feeding tube was disconnected at the demand of her husband, subjecting her to starvation and dehydration that is expected to result in a painful death in approximately 10 to 14 days.
Volunteers with the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation are urging all concerned Floridians to contact their senators and State House members and encourage them to support ''Terri's Bill."
More likely, he's already (illegally) spent it and needs to have the trust fund permanently in had so the shortage will never be discovered.
Plus in the (by now very unlikely) event that Terri were to make a substantial recovery when given treatment, Mr. Schiavo and George Felos would find themselves at the receiving end of a very big lawsuit for their earlier mistreatment of her.
I am rushing!!!! Heads up people. Mary just left Terri. Terri is STILL responding to her mother!!!!!! PRAISE GOD!
Tomorrow there is a special session that Gov. Bush is going to attend and Terri's going to brought into it. Mike just called and said this is VERY HOPEFUL IF it is done in time. And for all of us to do everything we can at our end, to have them RUSH it as an emergency session!!! He said STAY ON THE GOVENOR as well.
I also have got the Senator's name who we need to contact NOW and stay on!!! This is HOPE again People, if Terri can fight, so can we!!! They ask that we do everything in our power.
So here's the info to contact the President of the Senate.
James King E-mail king.james.web@flsenate.gov (904) 727-3600 SunCom 841-3600 I have no idea what this # is FAX (904) 727-3603 Fax SunCon 841-3603 AND Keep reading...
I need someone to help me find Rep. House Speaker Johnny Byrd Jr's email and FAX number. He is in Talahassee, Florida. He is staying up all night working on this and IS for TERRI, I have just called his office (850) 488-1450 but his voice mailbox is FULL, so I need his email addy... can one of you help, find it, circualte this with his email addy and fax if you can do that and find it, get this info out NOW!!!! PLEASE this is what we've been waiting for...
PRAY PEOPLE PRAY.
About 60 hours. By the time this bill gets introduced (if it does) it will have been more than double that.
If some attempt were made to give Terri oral food or hydration, many of us (well, me at least, but I suspect others as well) would feel a lot better. Of course, if Terri could eat and drink without a tube, there'd no longer be any excuse to kill her.
Some people are just plain evil.
I am rushing!!!! Heads up people. Mary just left Terri. Terri is STILL responding to her mother!!!!!! PRAISE GOD!
Tomorrow there is a special session that Gov. Bush is going to attend and Terri's going to brought into it. Mike just called and said this is VERY HOPEFUL IF it is done in time. And for all of us to do everything we can at our end, to have them RUSH it as an emergency session!!! He said STAY ON THE GOVENOR as well.
I also have got the Senator's name who we need to contact NOW and stay on!!! This is HOPE again People, if Terri can fight, so can we!!! They ask that we do everything in our power.
So here's the info to contact the President of the Senate.
James King E-mail king.james.web@flsenate.gov (904) 727-3600 SunCom 841-3600 I have no idea what this # is FAX (904) 727-3603 Fax SunCon 841-3603 AND Keep reading...
I need someone to help me find Rep. House Speaker Johnny Byrd Jr's email and FAX number. He is in Talahassee, Florida. He is staying up all night working on this and IS for TERRI, I have just called his office (850) 488-1450 but his voice mailbox is FULL, so I need his email addy... can one of you help, find it, circualte this with his email addy and fax if you can do that and find it, get this info out NOW!!!! PLEASE this is what we've been waiting for...
PRAY PEOPLE PRAY.
If I were her husband, I would do the same thing. My wife, on the few occasions we have discussed it, has shunned the idea of being kept alive via any artificial means. I suspect most reasonable persons harbor similar sentiments. Who can blame them? A life stripped of all dignity is not worth living.
As I stated, there must be something I'm missing. What's the source of all the commotion?
- Absent a living will, we must assume the afflicted party wishes to remain alive at all costs - regardless of contrary testimony by a spouse?
- There should be no living wills?
Or is it something else? Seriously, I don't get it.
And most of us won't "bother" to do this. I'll be amazed if my wife and I ever get around to it. As often as a related story comes up in the news we both promise to "take care of this, make it official," but we never do.
The family signed over all rights to Michael at the beginning. He told them it would help keep everything easier to deal with. They didn't realize what kind of man he was.
Has anyone told Michael that?
People in apparently-similar conditions, including very bad looking brain scans, have on occasion recovered substantially from such conditions given the right treatments; the brain is at times amazingly capable of regrowth. Unfortunately, we'll never know what therapy might have done for Terri because her HINO has prevented her from receiving any.
If therapy had been tried and proven incapable of producing any improvements, then it might be reasonable to begin to ask your question. But until then, no way.
If I were her husband, I would do the same thing. My wife, on the few occasions we have discussed it, has shunned the idea of being kept alive via any artificial means. I suspect most reasonable persons harbor similar sentiments. Who can blame them? A life stripped of all dignity is not worth living.
Again, all that is known is that Terri's HINO has worked to prevent any improvement in her condition. Put a healthy person in solitary confinement for thirteen years, forbid visitors for months at a time, and see how they feel about life then.
If Terri's life is miserable, it is in significant measure because Michael has deliberately worked to make it so. To allow him to then use such misery as an excuse to kill his wife is obscene.
As I stated, there must be something I'm missing. What's the source of all the commotion?
A few things:
- Absent a living will, we must assume the afflicted party wishes to remain alive at all costs - regardless of contrary testimony by a spouse?
How about kept alive at least to the extent that there is someone willing to pay for it, or money specifically earmarked for such purpose (the 750K)? I see no reason why a husband who acts so cruelly toward his wife should deserve one penny of the money which was put in trust for her rehabilitation and which refusese to spend for such purpose.
- There should be no living wills?
If people wish to put their wishes in writing, that's one thing. But to allow someone with a clear conflict of interest to remember a request not to be sustained on tubes only when such a statement suits his interest, and to regard such hearsay as "clear and compelling evidence" of intention is just plain wrong.
Or is it something else? Seriously, I don't get it.
Does the above help?
Were it not for the trust fund, and the fact that Terri's relations with her spouse were less than cordial, I don't think there would have been such a conflict in this case. When there is a clear conflict between Michael's interests and Terri's, however, there's something fishy about Michael "remembering" Terri's claims not to want to be kept alive.
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