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Terri Schiavo Begins Receiving Fluids and Hospital Care - (Current Status Alert!)
LifeNews ^ | October 22, 2003 | Steven Ertelt

Posted on 10/22/2003 6:17:38 AM PDT by NYer

-- Thanks to the executive order issued by Governor Jeb Bush, Terri Schiavo is receiving fluids and medical care at a local hospital to prepare for the reinsertion of the feeding tube that provides her with food and water.

Staff at Morton Plant Hospital began rehydrating Terri intravenously according to Pat Anderson, lead attorney for Terri's family.

As long as Terri did not have kidney failure, she should be able to return to the state of health she was in prior to the removal of the feeding tube, one pro-life doctor told LifeNews.com.

Terri was taken by ambulance from the hospice where she had been staying to the local hospital and a crowd of supporters cheered. Dozens of dedicated supporters have been holding a round-the-clock prayer vigil and protest in support of Terri and her family.

"I'm ecstatic she's being fed again,'' said her brother, Bob Schindler, Jr. "I don't think I can describe the way I feel right now. It's been unreal.''

However, Terri's family said she has had a noticeable change in condition during the 24 hours prior to her transfer to the hospital Tuesday evening.

Suzanne Carr, Terri's sister, said Terri looked "very, very gaunt.''

Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, who was denied the opportunity to provide Terri a possible last communion, said her skin, when pinched Monday night, didn't retract -- a sign her condition had deteriorated.

Bob Schindler Jr., Terri's brother, said, "Every second here is an hour.''

Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials said that hospital workers faced arrest if they did not act on Bush's executive order and care for Terri.

Meanwhile, Michael Schiavo was "deeply troubled, angry and saddened that his wife's wishes have become a political pingpong,'' said Michael Schiavo's lead attorney George Felos, an assisted suicide advocate. "He, as many others, is absolutely stunned at the course of events.''

Felos, filed a motion with Circuit Court Judge George Greer asking for an injunction to overturn Bush's order.

Greer, who originally granted Michael's decision to remove Terri's feeding tube, denied Felos' motion, but only on technical grounds. Felos refiled the motion but State Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird also refused to grant his request.

"We won. Terri won,'' Terri's father Bob Schindler said after the ruling.

Felos has five days to file additional arguments in a revised petition to overturn Bush's order. Once he does that, the state has five days in which to respond -- potentially granting Terri as much as a 10 day reprieve from further action denying her right to live.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case, as has the U.S. Supreme Court. However, either side could appeal decisions regarding the legislation and Bush's executive order to those courts.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: comatose; euthanasia; florida; prolife; schiavo; schindlerschiavo; terri; terrischaivo; terrischiavo
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Felos, the lawyer for the woman's husband said angrily Wednesday that she was "literally ... abducted from her deathbed."

What a piece of work!! He is a member of the Hemlock Society.

1 posted on 10/22/2003 6:17:39 AM PDT by NYer
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To: american colleen; sinkspur; livius; Lady In Blue; Salvation; Polycarp; narses; SMEDLEYBUTLER; ...
As long as Terri did not have kidney failure, she should be able to return to the state of health she was in prior to the removal of the feeding tube, one pro-life doctor told LifeNews.com.

Please keep praying for Terri!

From Pete Vere @ EnvoyEncore blog ...

Tonight was an emotional roller-coaster at the vigil for Terri.  Fortunately, God heard our prayers and the evening ended with much rejoicing. Like everyone else who was there, Sonya and I are emotionally drained.  This means I will have to blog the details over the coming days. But the important thing tonight is that God worked a miracle, Terri is alive, and the doctors are now rehydrating her.

Not too long after the ambulance took off with Terri in order to bring her to the hospital, I happened to find myself with Terri's father.  So I gave him the rosaries blessed by the Holy Father.  Terri's father was in tears, and asked me to extend the gratitude of his family toward St. Blog, FreeRepublic and the Alhambra.  He also asked me to make known his gratitude to St. Therese and Bl. Teresa of Calcutta.  Since beginning the Novena to St. Therese, he has encountered roses and rose petals everywhere he goes, even in the most unusual of places.  In fact, Terri's feeding tube was pulled on the feast day of her namesake, St. Therese, and the critical point in Terri's starvation and dehydration would have taken place last Sunday -- the day the Holy Father beatified Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

He then called Chris Ferrara over and introduced us.  Chris and I shared a good laugh and exchanged some candid words on the whole situation.  He looked a lot better and was much more upbeat tonight.  We pretty much agreed that what had happened tonight was a miracle.  However, we also agreed that while the battle was won through the grace of God, the war is far from over.  Subsequently, as jurists we need to remain vigilent in protecting the innocent and the defenseless.  Although he still insists that most of the credit for Terri's legal defense go to Pat Anderson, he is both humbled by and grateful for our prayers. 

2 posted on 10/22/2003 6:24:23 AM PDT by NYer ("Close your ears to the whisperings of hell and bravely oppose its onslaughts." ---St Clare Assisi)
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To: NYer
Hemlock society is now "End of Life Choices"
3 posted on 10/22/2003 6:27:16 AM PDT by TaxRelief (Welcome to the only website dedicated to the preservation of a free republic.)
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To: NYer
Ephesians 6:11-12

Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.

4 posted on 10/22/2003 6:31:18 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard
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To: NYer
Beautiful...
5 posted on 10/22/2003 6:31:30 AM PDT by Sunshine55 (Go Terri! Thank you Jeb, the world is a better place today because of you!)
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To: NYer; ruoflaw
Glenn Beck just announced that Terri Schiavo's father will be featured on his radio program this morning during the second hour of airing.
6 posted on 10/22/2003 6:33:24 AM PDT by Dixielander
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To: NYer
Charles Gibson on ABC's Good Morning America did a piece on Terri and introduced it as "the woman in Florida in a vegatative state and no brain function...". (paraphrased)

Talk about media spin! If she had no brain function, she would be ventilator dependent and clinically brain dead. If anyone is exhibiting "no brain function", it's this clymer who spews liberal venom at the cost of honest reporting.

7 posted on 10/22/2003 6:39:22 AM PDT by Born Conservative ("Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names" - John F. Kennedy)
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To: Dixielander
Imagine you are lying in a bed or sitting in a chair. You can't tell anyone when you hurt or when you want to shift your hips or turn over. You are unable to indicate you need to defecate or void. Maybe you have a catheter to drain your bladder, or maybe you are in a diaper and urinate and defecate on yourself like a baby. Your either have bed sores or are at high risk of getting them. Your arms and possibly your legs are contracted because the muscles have long since dwindled to nothing. Those limbs will always be that way because they have just not been used for too, too long. Everyone seems to be concerned over the pain Terri may suffer from starvation, but no one seems to be concerned about those daily aches and pains that we all get when we are not allowed to move around. Terri is a prisoner in her own body and it is way past time to parole her. The chances of rehab working for anyone after 13 years is slim to none. Regardless of Terri's husbands motives, this woman should no longer be tortured. This is not being alive, this is existing. I don't understand how her family can feel this is better than being allowed a natural, dignifed life and to spend eternity in heaven with Christ in a perfect body.
8 posted on 10/22/2003 6:46:32 AM PDT by nurseinaz
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To: nurseinaz
Just saw a typo.

a natural, dignified death
9 posted on 10/22/2003 6:48:28 AM PDT by nurseinaz
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To: NYer
Apparently the husband's attorney is and or has been a member of the board of the Hospice - this could be conflict of interest if the Hospice offered testimony as to Terri's condition - is their loyalty to that attorney or to Terri?

This conflict of interest should it be true overturn Judge Greer rulings that all sided with the "so-called" husband.

http://becki-snow.blogspot.com/

The death Felos has prescribed for Terri starts with a ban on all but the most basic physical care - the once beautiful woman rots in her "Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" bed; Terri's advocates claim her teeth are unbrushed, her nails untrimmed, her infections untreated. This was not always the case - even after her brain injury, Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, kept her groomed and pretty. Terri was even starting to speak again - words like "yes" "no" and "stop that" - but that was before Michael Schiavo hired George Felos to help his wife "die with dignity". Now, Terri's parents have been safely removed so as to avoid "false hope". All media and medical access is tightly controlled by Micheal Schiavo and Felos; in response, Terri finally physically and mentally degenerated to the level where she may be exterminated by polite society.

Terri's slow death would have ground down to a brutal, final starvation, executed at Felos' request on Jan 3, 2003. If all went according to plan, upon Terri's death, several hundred thousand dollars that were earmarked for Terri's long-term care and therapy would have finally be released to her husband Michael Schiavo, his new lover and their baby, and existing child together and his attorney George Felos, and quite possibly in turn to the Hospice itself. It is unknown if Felos would advocate quick death for hospice patients who do not have large sums of money lubricating their exit from life; evidently the Hospice has not been forthcoming with clients in regard to George Felos' true role at the Hospice.

"The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" has kept this information largely out of the public eye, but an investigation of the Hospice's annual reports reveals a new twist in the case of Terri Schiavo: George J. Felos was the official but unseen hand of the Hospice - and he advocates death for those in his care. He is a ardent member of the Hemlock society.

Neither George Felos nor "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" have openly disclosed the facts of Terri Schiavo's case to Terri's many advocates - that from February 13, 1997 until at least April 26, 2001, George J. Felos was listed as a member or recent member of the Board of Directors for "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" on the non-profit's annual reports.

Certainly one would hope that if the true role George Felos had been revealed in court, Judge George Greer would have made a much different ruling concerning Terri Schiavo's fate. Without knowledge of this conflict of interest, the Sixth Circuit Judge would be forgiven if he seemed to believe that such a noble institution as hospice - caring compassionately for the dying - could be trusted to make an unbiased report regarding Terri Schiavo's medical condition and with her care. With the information regarding this conflict of interest, the courts will be remiss to believe any evidence that Felos or his "Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" might proffer in reference to Terri.

Considering this new evidence, it is the opinion of this writer that the courts of Florida would be complicit in Felos' duplicity should they not review this ruling.

Conversely, if Felos' chairmanship at the Hospice was indeed known to the courts during the trial, it would have been imperative that the court make this information known to the opposing council, Terri Schiavo's parents, and to the public. Suppression of information regarding the Hospice and Felos' conflict of interest would destroy the integrity of this court, considering that Judge Greer himself was declared by the court to be Terri's guardian ad litem by default. The guardian ad litem is required to act in the best interest of Terri Schiavo - not in the best interests of Mike Schiavo, the Schindlers, Attorney Felos or the Hospice. In the minds of many, no honest court could defensibly argue that Terri's best interests would be served by lawyers, individuals or entities who stand to profit from her death.

This information regarding lack of disclosure of conflict of interest by Felos and "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" should warrant appeal of the Court's Nov. 22 ruling, and should spur a call for further investigation into other cases of conflict of interest concerning the Hospice and Felos. The court's Nov. 22 ruling is based in part on medical information taken from Terri while she was in the care of the Hospice - information which may have been tainted by the lack of full disclosure regarding Past Chairman/Attorney George Felos.

According to The Hospice Patients Alliance Website and the Washington Post, ("Hospices Big Business, Thanks to Medicare; Exploitation of some patients is alleged" 06/14/98) this type of unethical activity is nothing new - it also may be illegal.

If "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" is to cast itself as an ethical entity, it should rectify and resolve this conflict of interest regarding it's Board of Directors and Past Chairman, George Felos:

It is this writer's opinion that:

- The Board of Directors of "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" cannot justify their actions, or the actions of past Chairman, George Felos if The Hospice knowingly placed Terri Schiavo in the care of Felos and his paid/volunteer subordinates without disclosing his role at the Hospice to the court, the public, or the Terri Schiavo's parents.

- The Board of Directors of "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" cannot claim to be advocates for their clients if they are not fully open regarding the past or present roles of George Felos with their donors, the courts, or the clients they purport to serve.

Here's a link to that "Spirit and the Law" article about the attorney Felos at:

http://www.sptimes.com/News/052501/...nd_the_la.shtml

Terri is most fortunate to have survived. Her situation should serve as a RED flag to all of us. Have a LIVING WILL and appoint someone YOU trust to execute it.

10 posted on 10/22/2003 6:49:00 AM PDT by nmh
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To: Dixielander
Glenn Beck just announced that Terri Schiavo's father will be featured on his radio program this morning during the second hour of airing.

Do you suppose you could post some of his comments to this thread for those of us who are cubicle challenged. Much appreciated. ;-D

11 posted on 10/22/2003 6:49:06 AM PDT by NYer ("Close your ears to the whisperings of hell and bravely oppose its onslaughts." ---St Clare Assisi)
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To: nurseinaz
I guess the thing that I don't understand (and probably never will) and have not succeeded in getting a liberal explain to me is: When a convicted murdered is about to be executed and injected with a lethal coctail of chemicals the left will scream: "inhumane!" Yet, this same left has no problem allowing the slow tortuous death of woman whose only crime was getting ill. Whether Terri has a "right to die" or not -- I don't get how anybody can sanction that type of death through slow starvation.
12 posted on 10/22/2003 6:50:00 AM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: nurseinaz
>>it is way past time to parole her.<<

You are absolutely right ... and that's what the State of Florida did ..

"In his hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." Job 12:10 ~ God's thoughts on the subject ~ I'll let Him handle the situation.

13 posted on 10/22/2003 6:53:54 AM PDT by Pegita ('Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word ...)
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To: MrsEmmaPeel
The only answer I can come up with is those who do not oppose the torturous murder of her have decided, just like in abortion, that they have the knowledge and rights to decide who is worthy of life.
14 posted on 10/22/2003 6:54:49 AM PDT by fml
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To: fml
that they have the knowledge and rights to decide who is worthy of life.

Exactly! They will play God, while purging his name from existence.

15 posted on 10/22/2003 6:56:09 AM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: Born Conservative
Charles Gibson on ABC's Good Morning America did a piece on Terri and introduced it as "the woman in Florida in a vegatative state and no brain function...". (paraphrased)

Yes, I say that interview! It just drives me CRAZY the way the media keeps referring to her as "comatose". The following is fresh off the AP Wire ...

* * * * *


Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, wipes a tear from her eye during her debate against the bill regarding the Terri Schiavo, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003, in Tallahassee, Fla. The Florida Legislature passed the bill which will give Florida Gov. Jeb Bush the power to order a feeding tube reinserted into Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who is at the center of one of the nation's longest and most bitter right-to-die battles.

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) _ The fight over the life of a comatose woman took a dramatic twist when a hospital began rehydrating her on orders from Gov. Jeb Bush after 11th-hour action by the Legislature. The lawyer for the woman's husband said angrily Wednesday that she was ``literally ... abducted from her deathbed.'' Experts said the government's action raises legal issues that could complicate the case even further.

Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed last week, began receiving liquids intravenously Tuesday after lawmakers rushed to pass a bill designed to save her life. A judge later rejected a request by her husband, Michael Schiavo, to overturn Bush's order, at least for now. ``It was just an absolute trampling of her personal rights and her dignity,'' Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said Wednesday on NBC's ``Today'' show. ``We believe that a court sooner or later, we hope sooner, will find this law to be unconstitutional.'' He also said Terri Schiavo was suffering signs of organ failure Tuesday and the reintroduction of fluids in her system after a week without food or water could just make her suffer more before dying. A Morton Plant Hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday she could not release any information on Schiavo.

Observers wondered whether the Legislature and the governor overstepped constitutional boundaries by ramming through legislation that overruled the courts. ``It presents a new legal issue that I've never heard of,'' said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen Grimes. Former Attorney General Bob Butterworth said the upcoming legal wrangling ``could be fairly historic.''

Terri Schiavo, 39, has been in a vegetative state since 1990, when her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have fought to keep their daughter alive and say she still could recover. Her husband says she would rather die than be kept alive artificially, though her parents said she never told them of such a wish. The feeding tube was removed last Wednesday after a court refused to intervene. Doctors had said she would die within a week to 10 days without nutrition and water.

An ambulance took Schiavo from a Pinellas Park hospice to Morton Plant Hospital on Tuesday after Bush issued his order to resume feeding her. A crowd cheered outside as she left. ``I'm ecstatic she's being fed again,'' said her brother, Bob Schindler Jr. ``I don't think I can describe the way I feel right now. It's been unreal.''

Hours earlier, the Senate voted 23-15 for legislation to save Terri Schiavo. Within minutes, the House voted 73-24 to send the bill to Bush. The governor signed it into law and issued his order about an hour later. ``It's restored my belief in God,'' said Terri Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler.

Michael Schiavo, meanwhile, was ``deeply troubled, angry and saddened that his wife's wishes have become a political pingpong,'' Felos said. He told NBC it was ``an absolute horrible tragedy for Terri Schiavo, literally being abducted from her deathbed and her death process.'' Felos filed a request for an injunction, arguing Terri Schiavo's constitutional rights were being violated, but Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer denied it on technical grounds. Felos refiled the request and State Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird also refused to grant it, instead asking Fejos to submit further arguments.

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said the action by Bush and the Legislature ``violates the core principles'' of a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court ruled in a Missouri case that Nancy Cruzan, who had been fed through a tube for seven years, could be permitted to die if ``clear and convincing evidence'' proved that was what she wanted. Her parents had fought for the right to remove the tube. ``I've never seen a case in which the state legislature treats someone's life as a political football in quite the way this is being done,'' said Tribe.

Although the Legislature acted swiftly, even some who supported the bill expressed concern about it. ``I hope, I really do hope we've done the right thing,'' said Senate President Jim King, a Republican. ``I keep on thinking 'What if Terri didn't really want this done at all?' May God have mercy on all of us.'' Opponents said the government was stepping in where it had no business being. ``How dare this Legislature and this governor substitute its judgment for the family's?'' said Sen. Steven Geller, a Democrat.

Earlier in Tampa, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday denied a request by an advocacy group that Schiavo be kept alive so it could investigate whether removal of the tube was abusive, a possibility evoked by some backers of Tuesday's legislative action. ``Let us err on the part of not condemning this woman to a painful death that she can feel,'' said Republican Sen. Anna Cowin. The bill sent to Bush was designed to be as narrow as possible. It is limited to cases in which the patient left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state and has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case, and it also has been rejected for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, a Florida appeals court again refused to block removal of the tube.

Described by her family as a shy woman who loved animals and music, Terri Schindler met Michael Schiavo at a Pennsylvania community college in 1982. They wed two years later. After they moved to Florida, she worked in an insurance agency. During the years she has been in a vegetative state, her parents reported their daughter laughed, cried, smiled and responded to their voices. Video showing the dark-haired woman appearing to interact with her family was televised nationally. But the court-appointed doctor said the noises and facial expressions she made were reflexes.

Both sides accused each other of being motivated by greed over a $1 million medical malpractice award from doctors who failed to diagnose the chemical imbalance. The Schindlers also contended that Michael Schiavo should not be his wife's guardian because he has dated another woman for several years and has a child with her. Michael Schiavo refused their calls on him to divorce his wife, saying he feared the parents would ignore her desire to die if they became her guardians.

AP-ES-10-22-03 0905EDT

16 posted on 10/22/2003 6:56:38 AM PDT by NYer ("Close your ears to the whisperings of hell and bravely oppose its onslaughts." ---St Clare Assisi)
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To: nurseinaz
If in doubt, choose life. Miracles can happen.
17 posted on 10/22/2003 6:57:44 AM PDT by MrsEmmaPeel
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To: nurseinaz
No hope? Here's one who came out after 19 years.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3052433.stm

Is Terry in a persistent vegetative state ... you be the judge.

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/vid.html

18 posted on 10/22/2003 6:58:19 AM PDT by tx_eggman
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To: nurseinaz
Imagine you are lying in a bed or sitting in a chair.

Your husband visits you and gloats about how glad he's going to be when he can kill you off and marry his new squeeze--oh, and thanks for that trust fund. Didn't it buy a lovely diamond? Yeah, I know that's illegal, but guess what--I'm your guardian, I control the books, and with you dead nobody's going to be asking questions.

I can certainly imagine someone wanting to be rescued alive from that situation.

19 posted on 10/22/2003 7:00:03 AM PDT by supercat (Why is it that the more "gun safety" laws are passed, the less safe my guns seem?)
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To: nurseinaz
I can imagine all of the things that you have mentioned. I can also imagine having an intense desire to live and not being able to communicate that desire. As for your assertion that her chances of rehab are slim to none, well, let me invite you to my house this Thanksgiving. My brain damaged nephew will be here eating turkey and all the trimmings with us. He will be feeding himself. Oh, did I mention that he was one time in a persistant vegetative state? did I also mention that therapy was withheld from him for years because his father said that it was "too painful"? Did I mention that there was no hope given for him to ever speak again? Well, he just said "mama" last month for the first time in 18 years. No, it wasn't an in depth conversation but it was a start. Are you a mom? Can you imagine hearing your child say "mama" after 18 years of grunts and moans?You say there is no hope. I disagree. God is still on the throne and there is still life in Terri's body. Those two things combined equal great hope.
20 posted on 10/22/2003 7:00:47 AM PDT by PleaseNoMore
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