Sacrament Pits Family Against Hospice [Terri Schiavo]

Tampa Tribune online ^ | Oct. 20, 2003 | STEPHEN THOMPSON

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

PINELLAS PARK - After a priest said he was blocked from giving Terri Schiavo her last holy communion at the hospice where she is cared for, her family demanded the hospice administrator produce a court order stipulating she could not receive the sacrament orally.

Sunday marked the fourth day Schiavo, 39, has gone without food. Her feeding tube was removed Wednesday at the behest of her husband, Michael Schiavo, who has long said his wife would not want to live in her current condition, described by some physicians as a persistent vegetative state.

Saturday afternoon, Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski was to give Schiavo a small bit of wafer as part of the rite of Viaticum, the last communion for a Catholic before death. But he was warned not to by a Pinellas Park police officer because of a doctor's order that nothing be placed in Schiavo's mouth to prevent choking.

George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said Malanowski spoke with the Rev. Tony Plathe, a Roman Catholic priest and hospice chaplain. Plathe maintained patients such as Schiavo, who are unable to ingest anything, can receive spiritual communion - the equivalent of communion without oral administration of the sacrament.

Malanowski was insistent he give Schiavo the wafer through her mouth but was warned he would be physically restrained from doing so, Felos said.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 823-3303.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Finally - some coverage in the Tampa-area news (Pinellas County). If anyone has any facts to share with this reporter, please feel do so!

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Patience that can't ingest food, my eye. They haven't even tried! Of course, if she can take communion, that puts the lie to the whole case for murdering her, anyway.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Patients! Not patience. Darn.

[nickcarraway]

ping

[nickcarraway]

They don't just want her life- they want her immortal soul!

[EggsAckley]

Ping!!

[victim soul]

What are these people afraid of killing her or a miracle that keeps her alive?

"A nation that kills its children is a nation without hope." ...Pope John Paul II

[deannadurbin]

What hypocrites that Schiavo and Felos are....concerned about her "choking."

What utter nonsense. They are counting the minutes and days until she is dead so they can celebrate.

[lonevoice]

They are counting the minutes and days until she is dead so they can celebrate.

By many reports Michael Schiavo started celebrating as soon as he received the million dollar jury award for Terri's "rehabilitation". No doubt he and his mistress will pop a champagne cork to commemorate Terri's passing. Probably Dom Perignon...courtesy of Terri's trust fund.

[Vinnie]

sick, really sick.

[MarMema]

My husband said the largest talk radio morning show here covered this for hours this morning. Seattle area....

[MarMema]

Us perceiving her as a real person is what they are afraid of...

[T'wit]

I would sooner believe the combined works of Benedict Arnold, Joey Buttafuco, Ted Kennedy, Jane Fonda, Nina Totenberg, any three network news anchors, any two Democratic presidential candidates, Terry McAuliffe, Michael Moore and Hillary Clinton, before I would believe one word from Michael Schiavo.

[nfldgirl]

But he was warned not to by a Pinellas Park police officer because of a doctor's order that nothing be placed in Schiavo's mouth to prevent choking.

What lying hypocrites!!!! It's OKAY to STARVE the poor woman, but heaven forbid she may choke to death! WHAT SCUM! To hades with them all!

[Possenti]

Just found this.

[harpo11]

I thought that the State could not interfere, prohibit, or deny Religion. What happened to the so-called division of church and state?