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MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Terri snatched from hospital
Attorney: Brain-damaged woman still in danger as judge has not appointed guardian ad litem

Posted: October 23, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Sarah Foster
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Attorney Patricia Anderson's greatest fear was realized yesterday when she learned that Michael Schiavo had removed his wife Terri Schindler-Schiavo from Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., where she was taken to have her feeding tube reinstalled, and returned clandestinely to the Woodside Facility of the Hospice of the Florida Sun Coast in Pinellas Park where she has been a patient for over three years.

Just hours earlier, Anderson – who has represented Robert and Mary Schindler in their decade-long legal battle with their son-in-law – told WorldNetDaily she was intensely concerned that Schiavo would remove Terri from the hospital before her condition was medically stabilized and she was rehydrated, in accordance with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's executive order.

This would be completely at odds with the purpose of Tuesday's special legislation by the Florida legislature that empowered Gov. Jeb Bush to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, and halted the court-ordered death of the 39-year-old brain-damaged woman, whose husband had long sought to end her life.

But Schiavo had done that several times in the past, most recently in August when Terri was shuttled back and forth on three separate occasions during bouts with pneumonia and other medical problems. Each time she was kept at Morton Plant only a few days, and returned to the hospice in a much-weakened state.

"I don't have any doubt that she should be in intensive care at the hospital," said Anderson. "But the fact is, Michael's her guardian and if he withdraws his consent for them to treat her there's nothing they can do. Their hands are tied. This tells you a lot about him."

Anderson said she felt that the hospital would have preferred to keep her before releasing her prematurely, but Schiavo is the one who must consent to treatment.

"If he revokes the consent and he is her legal guardian, their hands are tied," she explained. "They cannot continue to treat her without his consent. That is why the appointment of a guardian ad litem is so very crucial," she added.