Lawyer: Terri still in danger

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | October 22, 2003, 5:15 p.m. Eastern | By Sarah Foster

[nickcarraway]

Family barred from visiting brain-disabled woman, judge drags feet on appointment of new guardian

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Posted: October 22, 2003

5:15 p.m. Eastern

ven though Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and state legislature yesterday halted the court-ordered starvation death of brain-disabled Terri Schindler-Schiavo, her family and legal counsel are afraid her life will be increasingly at risk as long as the courts allow her husband to remain her guardian and do not appoint a guardian ad litem as demanded by the special legislation that was passed.

"My greatest fear is that Michael [Schiavo] will order Terri out of the hospital before she is medically stabilized and rehydrated – as he did three times last August when she had pneumonia," said Patricia Anderson, attorney for Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler.

"That is why we need a guardian ad litem," she added. "That is what Terri's Bill is about. We've got to have a guardian ad litem to put a stop to that kind of hijinks, because his primary objective is to kill her."

Schiavo very nearly succeeded in his five-year quest to end his wife's life by court-approved starvation. With only a few hours remaining before she slipped beyond the point where she could be saved, Florida lawmakers yesterday delivered to the governor legislation empowering him to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, and Bush signed the life-saving law as well as an implementing executive order.

"Terri's Bill" specifically directs the chief judge (David Demers) of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court to appoint a guardian ad litem to represent Terri "upon issuance of a stay," but he has not yet done so – which Anderson views as a matter of urgency.

"Terri will be out of danger only when Michael is no longer her guardian and no longer has access to her," she said bluntly.

Crowds of demonstrators cheered wildly, as Terri was transferred by ambulance from Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., to Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, about 25 miles away, where upon her feeding tube was reinserted and rehydration begun after her six days ordeal of judge-ordered starvation.

Family locked out

No sooner was his wife admitted to Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, Fla., than Schiavo sent an order barring Terri's parents and siblings from visiting her.

The Schindlers were not informed of Schiavo's action, and only learned of it late that evening from Terri's brother, who had driven to the hospital to visit his sister and was escorted from the premises by an armed security guard. Bobby Schindler, 38, told WorldNetDaily he was told by the administrator on duty that Schiavo had left instructions that "no family members, no anybody is to visit Terri," and that they were to be given no information about her medical condition.

Schindler was too exhausted by worry over the fate of his sister and the events of the past seven days to express anger. But he said he's not surprised by this recent action by Schiavo.

"Michael's been doing this kind of thing for almost as long as he's been guardian of my sister," he exclaimed. "It's been going on for over a decade and it continues. Even after the governor stepped in and did what he did today, [Schiavo] continues to use his power as a weapon against our family and Terri."

It's one of many times her husband has ordered Terri isolated from family and those close to her. In mid-August, he barred a Roman Catholic priest from visiting her at Morton Plant Hospital where she was taken due to a sudden medical crisis.

Schiavo said his action that time was prompted by a late-evening visit by Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, a former Army chaplain, who had been asked by Terri's father to drop by the hospital to see how she was faring.

Even though the monsignor was on a court-approved list of visitors and regularly visited her at the hospice where she has been a patient for three years, Schiavo had a long-standing policy that no one could visit Terri unaccompanied either by himself or family member and that Malanowski had knowingly violated his order.

Schiavo's attorney Deborah Bushnell told WorldNetDaily that her client was concerned about Malanowski's "integrity" and felt the 81-year-old priest was not "the kind of person that he wanted visiting Terri or that he felt comfortable visiting Terri." Eventually he relented slightly and the monsignor was allowed to resume his visits subject to week-to-week approval by Schiavo.

Last Wednesday, the day Terri's feeding tube was removed, Schiavo's attorneys ordered family members barred from being alone with Terri at the hospice following Robert Schindler's release to the media of a videotape distributed in evidence that the woman is not in a "persistent vegetative state," as Schiavo's advocates claim.

Schindler admitted the tape was made surreptitiously in violation of a court order by probate Judge George Greer of the Pinellas-County Circuit Court. The video, which shows Terri alert and laughing and trying to speak, further indicates attempts at rehabilitative therapy, also banned by the courts.

Following the video's release, her family was told they were barred from visiting the dying woman "unless [Schiavo] or his representative is present."

In at least one instance, the "representative" that accompanied Robert and Mary Schindler to the bedside of their daughter was none other than the mother of Schiavo's mistress, Jodi Centonze, with whom he has been living for a number of years. He and Centonze have a 1-year-old daughter and are expecting a second child.

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Schindlers had been fighting their son-in-law for 10 years over the lack of care and therapy Schiavo as her guardian provided for their daughter, who suffered massive brain damage when she collapsed at her home 13 years ago under mysterious circumstances at the age of 26.

The ongoing dispute escalated five years ago when Schiavo petitioned the court for permission to end his wife's life by removing her feeding tube, insisting she is in a "persistent vegetative state" and had told him years before she would not want to be maintained "by tubes" and "artificial means." Although Terri breathes on her on and maintains her own blood pressure, she requires a simple tube into her abdomen to her stomach for nourishment and hydration.

The Schindlers fought tenaciously to keep their daughter and the case alive in the courts, but they have been basically blocked at every turn, in particular by Greer, who has had charge of the case almost from the beginning. When the seven-member Florida Supreme Court in August turned down a petition to review the case, the way was clear for Schiavo to starve his wife to death.

On Sept. 17, Greer scheduled Oct. 15 as the day Terri's feeding tube would be removed. At the same time, in separate rulings, he denied any rehabilitation for the disabled woman or a chance to be spoon-fed.

Information on Terri's fight for life is posted on the family's website.

[jwalsh07]

Post the law and we'll see how unambiguous it is Mr Palpatine. Futhermore the Judge has no more access to the evidence than I do and I find his decision woefully inadequate and approaching lunacy. I'm leaving work now so when I get home I expect I'll find the "unambguous" law posted to me right here.

When I get there I'll post for you the unambiguous stament in the COnstitution of Florida requiring the state to defend the rights of the disabled.

And we'll debate from there. I am sincerely looking forward to it.

[TheAngryClam]

Yay! New blood! I was getting tired of suggesting that Michael Schiavo tried to kill his bulimic wife, and then somehow bought off Judge Greer.

Now we have more people to hate! Judge Napolitano is a baby killer! And he likes to kick puppies!

[Chancellor Palpatine]

How can Demers just ignore what has been mandated by this law?

It isn't as if the law in Florida is meaningful anymore, so why should anyone follow it or care?

[maxwellp]

I don't know about "constituional provision", but I do know about "common sense". Terri responds to her Mom and certain other stimulus. She has been denied, by her so-called "husband" any sort of rehabilitation. Now the so-called "husband" denies her parents visiting her. Get the husband away from Terri and let's see where we can go with Terri. Terri certainly deserves a chance at mental and physical therapy. The husband has stopped this for many years and now he needs to be stopped in his tracks! This is "common sense" - not some crapoola legal crap.

[First_Salute]

Don't trouble yourself.

Some folks here, do not understand that the people are sovereign and their authority flows through the Legislative and Executive branches of our government(s).

The courts do not have the final word on anything that is not approved by the laws made so, through the democratic-republican process respecting that flow of authority.

The Congress of the United States has entirely the power to set the jurisdiction for the U.S. Supreme Court, not to mention that the Congress can remove any or all of the Justices.

The same power of the Legislative branch is that of each state's.

Now, certainly their are judges who are legends in their own minds. Most of that is because their legal proceedings are very much formal and traditional, to lend to the matters before them and all, the seriousness of the tasks they undertake. There is much pomp and circumstance.

As the lights shine upon Dan Rather and Peter Jennings, the limelight at court cannot help but puff up the vulnerable; that is, the ego-inclined are ready candidates for believing themselves to be the law makers.

When they most certainly are not; and, under penalty of starting up an American Revolution all over again. Liberty, our sovereignty, will not be given up by court order, to put it so mildly it is impossible to even qualify the importance of this field.

I don't happen to think that there's any need to visit there, other than in respect of what our forefathers and mothers endured, so that we may be blessed by limited government.

Which is all the rigorous review of what is really, quite beautifully simple: Our governments' agents are all public servants. We, not they, proscribe through our laws made in the House and Senate of our Legislative branches and signed by the Chief Executive(s), what laws we will live by, and how the judges shall practice at the bar, in addition to where judges are limited right down to the number of times that they use the gavel.

This present contest of wills, is one half because Michael Schiavo is probably a lier who has tried to kill his wife, and the other half is because judges have themselves confused with the fabrications they wring from extra-Constitutional space.

There is nothing worse, in its effects, than a government agent who abuses their authorized powers, and especially exceeds them. In the case of a judge doing so, such a judge's transgressions against the men and women who have sacrificed much, is terrible ... and every good cop knows it, though I was also referring to those who have served well in our military.

Please, again, do not fret some of the Freepers who are bent on drugs, and they'll say anything so sweetly tasting of anarchy, to spoil the foundations of our peace, because they are unhappily impatient for some cause upon which to toss away self-discipline.

[ambrose]

They were calling Jeb Bush a "murderer" the other day (before he signed the legislation rushed through by senate candidate Jonnie Byrd) - and that was some of the kinder things they were saying.

[The Red Zone]

Diabolically thought out as always from those two. If they don't know her condition they can't raise political or legal cain to address any specific problem. Hopefully the GAL will be allowed this information.

[Dave S]

Associated Press has now upgraded Terri's condition to "disabled

Oh she now knows who she is? What a remarkable cure hydration is.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

So you've reviewed all the tapes and transcripts of every hearing that Greer had, along with all the documents? AND the stuff that was reviewed by the other judges? Wow! Such diligence. That must be a full time job for you.

BTW, since you've reviewed all that material, you've got umpteen copies of that statute laying around, and should have it down by heart now.

Unless, of course, you're lying and didn't review it.

[EggsAckley]

Okay, now they have a GAL. Suppose we'll see some action NOW? Of course, the good doctor is an academe, College of Public Health at Florida State University and the College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, so he's probably a raving lefty and will grant Michael's every wish.

This is not going well.

[The Red Zone]

It doesn't matter if it took only two seconds for the FL legislature to pass this legislation. It's law. How wise or foolish it may be can be brought up for debate, but not its legality. Does not the legislature have the power to fix its own mistakes?

[ambrose]

This is how I feel coming on to these Terri threads:

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[EggsAckley]

Climb back in your hole, Clam. You're not adding anything to this thread.

[The Red Zone]

Who cares if a million years of testimony went before the courts. That was under the old law. The law changed, PERIOD!

[supercat]

Um, hate to point this out, but the findings were made according to an unambiguous law written by those same legislators. And I'll add that the findings were made after evidentiary hearings where the judge could consider all the facts - as opposed to a truncated legislative process where legislators didn't review the record or call any witnesses.

Actually, since Judge Greer allowed George Felos to fire Terri's guardian ad litem and illegally(*) refused to let another be appointed, there was nobody with standing to file any motions on Terri's behalf.

(*) A judge is required to appoint a guardian ad litem in cases where a guardian's interests may conflict with a ward's. There is no way a reasonable judge would find that there isn't at least a potential conflict of interest regarding Terri's care, nor any possibility that the Michael/Felos' handling of her affairs might possibly not be in her best interest. But Judge Greer's the only person who gets to make that determination in Terri's case.

[Catspaw]

Now we hate Judge Napolitano, it seems.

It's transient.

I remember when Judge Napolitano blasted the lawsuit that Jane Roe (McCovey) filed to get Roe v. Wade overturned. He was blasted. He was right, of course, and the case got broomed in weeks.

When he gives his legal opinion that freepers agree with, he'll be back in their good graces.

[The Shootist]

Why did they not have the right to change the applicable law prospectively?

I'm just passing on to you what the Judge said.

"In our system of government the courts are the final interpreters of the Law, not the Executive Branch or the Legislature".

[EggsAckley]

If that's how it makes you feel, then kindly stop coming to these threads. You'll feel a lot better.

[Catspaw]

How wise or foolish it may be can be brought up for debate, but not its legality.

It's law until the courts decide it's unconstitutional. Whether you like it or not, that's one of the functions of the judiciary, part of that checks & balances thing.

[ordinaryguy]

but Michael Schiavo would remain the decision-maker.

Wonderful. He'll decide nothing in her best interest.