Has anyone seen this yet? Looks like trouble is on the way.
ACLU joins husband in Schiavo battle
By Megan O'Matz and Diane Lade
Staff Writers
Posted October 24 2003
The American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday that it will aid
Michael Schiavo in his fight against Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida
Legislature, which earlier this week took the remarkable step of
passing a law to prevent the Pinellas County man from
disconnecting his brain-injured wife from a feeding tube.
For months, the ACLU resisted meddling in the dispute that has
pitted a husband against his in-laws, believing that the courts were
following the long-held legal right of an individual to refuse
extraordinary medical measures, even if it hastens their death.
The intervention of
the governor,
however, altered the
landscape, said
Howard Simon, the
organization's Florida
director. Several
other significant
advocacy groups on
the sidelines, such
as the AARP, say
they, too, are now
looking at the issue.
The entry of the
ACLU and possibly
other influential
players into the
life-and-death drama
playing out in
Tallahassee and the Tampa area underscores the growing
dimensions of the coming court battle over whether the state's top
leaders acted unconstitutionally in sidestepping the courts in the
high-profile right-to-die case.
By substituting his judgment for the judgment of the courts, the
governor "set aside the role of the whole judicial system," Simon
said, warning that a precedent has been set for Bush and legislators
to write laws gutting any court decision they don't like.
Pamela Hennessy, a spokeswoman for the parents of the impaired
woman, Terri Schiavo, said she was "outraged" at the intervention
of the ACLU, the nation's largest defender of individual rights.
Schiavo's parents, Mary and Bob Schindler, are trying to keep their
daughter alive.
"I've been contacting the ACLU since the beginning of my
involvement in this case to have them speak out against what's
going on with Terri," Hennessy said. "It's going on against her will.
She's had her religious freedoms stripped from her. She's had her
civil liberties stripped from her. And they're defending the husband?"
Leaders of theAARP, the huge lobbying group that claims 2.6 million
Floridians age 50 and older as members, are discussing whether to
weigh in on the issue, said state Director Bentley Lipscomb.
The organization remained silent several years ago as the state's
Supreme Court debated whether terminally ill, mentally competent
patients should be allowed to end their lives with their doctor's
assistance.
"Our members tell us that [medical self-determination] is a very
important issue to them," Lipscomb said. "They're telling us they are
very disturbed to think they could sign a living will or do not
resuscitate order and have it overridden by the Legislature."
During a special session, the Legislature briskly passed a law
Tuesday, crafted to apply only to Schiavo, 39, enabling the
governor to order her feeding tube reconnected so that she may
not die. It had been removed on Oct. 15 by court order. In response
to the governor's order, Schiavo began receiving nourishment again
Wednesday at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater.
Schiavo's parents visited her Thursday in a Pinellas Park hospice
where she was transferred after the tube was reinstated. The family
had been concerned that the days without food and water may
have damaged her kidneys and other organs, but said she appeared
to be doing well.
In a news conference Thursday, Michael Schiavo's attorney, George
Felos, said Terri Schiavo was "generally stable," with good color and
complexion. Her kidneys appeared to be working.
Her husband is committed to continuing the legal fight, taking it to
the state Supreme Court if necessary, Michael Schiavo's other
attorney, Deborah Bushnell said.
"The action of the Legislature and the governor has actually firmed
his resolve. He's upset about what happened," Bushnell said. "It has
raised this situation from one of personal importance to one of
statewide and national importance. If this law is allowed to stand, it
creates an incredible bad precedent. It potentially paralyzes the
judicial system."
Doctors say Terri Schiavo has been in a "persistent vegetative
state" since 1990, when an undetected potassium imbalance
stopped her heart briefly. Her parents, believing there's a chance
she can recover, mounted a fierce legal campaign to keep her alive.
Her husband, seeing no hope, has argued that she would never
want to live in a vegetative condition. The courts have sided with
Michael Schiavo consistently.
His legal team faces a Monday deadline to submit briefs on their
constitutional challenge before the Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court.
Meanwhile, some members of the medical profession on Thursday
expressed concern that the Legislature's intervention may cause
doctors to disregard the wishes of dying patients.
"We are afraid of lawyers all the time," said Dr. Lofty L. Basta, a
retired Clearwater cardiologist and founder of Project Grace, a
non-profit group devoted to educating people about end-of-life
planning. "We practice defensive medicine. We do things that we
know are wrong to protect our behinds. So this ruling from the
legislators makes us very leery to carry out any order for dying
patients."
Terri Schiavo's doctor, Victor Gambone, faxed a letter to Morton
Plant Hospital this week, shortly after the passage of what has
become known as Terri's Law, saying he was resigning as her
primary care physician, Bushnell said.
Michael Schiavo's lawyers, about the same time, sent a letter to
area hospitals warning that, although the new law promised shelter
from civil liability, the prospect that the measure is unconstitutional
opened doctors up to a future lawsuit if they dared to reinsert the
feeding tube.
Dr. Juergen Bludau, medical director of Morse Geriatric Center in
West Palm Beach, said the threats of lawsuits could scare away
caring physicians.
"I can understand how doctors would pull back and say: `This is not
what we're here for.'"
Members of the Florida Bar Association's elder law section were
planning an emergency telephone conference within the next few
days to discuss whether they should get involved in the upcoming
constitutional challenge, said section President Stephanie
Schneider.
"We wonder if we'll see a domino effect," said Schneider, a Broward
County elderlaw attorney. "If a party doesn't like what a court does,
they'll say, `Let's just go to the governor's office.' "
Members of End of Life Choices, the pro assisted death group
formerly known as the Hemlock Society, expressed surprise that a
debate has resurfaced over whether vegetative or terminally ill
patients should be tube-fed against their own or families' wishes.
The last landmark Florida cases on the issue were 13 years ago.
"We thought we were done with forced sustenance," said Choices
Chief Executive Officer David Brand. "This opens a whole can of
worms that places people's wishes about their end of life care in
jeopardy."
Orlando Sentinel reporter Sean Mussenden and Sun-Sentinel
researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.
Megan O'Matz can be reached at
momatz@sun-sentinel.com or 954-
356-4518.