Doctors defend life for Schiavo

St. Petersburg Times ^ | October 25, 2003 | WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

[NYer]

PINELLAS PARK - She smiles and cries. She recognizes her mom and dad. She is shy around strangers. She likes music and once smiled broadly when her brother told her he met Bruce Springsteen.

This is Terri Schiavo in the eyes of her family.

Mrs. Schiavo's family, doctors for the family and former caregivers held a news conference Friday to counter assertions by the husband, Michael Schiavo, that Terri is in a vegetative state and has no consciousness.

"It doesn't take a doctor to know that my sister reacts to me," said Mrs. Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler Jr.

"She listens to me," said Mrs. Schiavo's mother, Mary Schindler.

As the family pleaded its case, the American Civil Liberties Union announced it would join in the representation of Michael Schiavo to help overturn "Terri's Law," the measure passed by lawmakers Tuesday that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to intervene in Mrs. Schiavo's case.

Bush ordered Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted after she went six days without food and water.

"Once the governor thinks it is the proper role of the Legislature and he set aside the judgment of the courts, that requires us to get the courts to declare that is just unconstitutional," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.

Michael Schiavo has said that his wife, 39, would not want to be kept alive by artificial means.

Court-appointed doctors and physicians hired by Michael Schiavo's attorneys have testified that Mrs. Schiavo has no consciousness. They describe her groans, the opening and closing of her eyes and her smiles as involuntary reflexes.

That testimony led a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge to order her feeding tube removed on Oct. 15 before lawmakers empowered Bush to intervene.

Felos said family members often project meaning from random movements and sounds.

"That's a common phenomenon," he said.

Felos said his doctors and others appointed by the court have watched the family interact with Mrs. Schiavo and have not seen evidence of cognition.

"If you look at the hours of video there are many instances where the mother says "Hi, it's mom' to Terri," Felos said. "There's no reaction. Absolutely nothing."

Mary Schindler doesn't believe it and sees a daughter's love for her family every day.

"My daughter is not in a persistent vegetative state," she said. "She is not a plastic plant like Mr. Felos says she is. She is extremely brain-damaged, and she's a human being."

Bobby Schindler said his sister likes John Denver music and smiles when it plays. Before her brain was severely damaged in 1990, Mrs. Schiavo knew her brother loved Bruce Springsteen music. She bought him a Springsteen album in 1978.

After he told her he met the rock musician a year ago, Schindler said, "There was a smile on her face to light up the room. ... She showed elation."

Three doctors who have examined Mrs. Schiavo for the family said they are convinced that she retains some level of consciousness.

Dr. William Hammesfahr, a Clearwater neurologist, said Mrs. Schiavo's eyes fixate on her family and she tries to follow simple commands, such as when doctors ask her to pull against their arm.

"This is a case about a judicial system making an error," Hammesfahr said.

But Felos said doctors used by the Schindlers, especially Hammesfahr, don't have the credentials of physicians on the other side.

In a 2002 order by Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer ruling that Mrs. Schiavo could not recover, Greer labeled Hammesfahr a "self-promoter."

The judge noted that Hammesfahr testified that he had treated patients worse off than Mrs. Schiavo yet "offered no names, no case studies, no videos and no test results to support his claim."

"There is no doubt the judge looked at the credibility of the doctors," Felos said.

Mrs. Schiavo's sister, Suzanne Carr, said she believes her eyes.

Carr said: "It's not my imagination."

[Dante3]

bttt

[Aliska]

Please don't forget to vote on this poll:

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/late.edition/index.html

[Republic]

Poll stand at 59% for reinserting the tube.

41% think it was wrong to reinsert it

[Aliska]

Thanks for the poll info. Have tried to do my part. I have to say that the way it's buried on their website, not many people but us will find it. It's not on the home page. Maybe that's a good thing, huh?

[PeyersPatches]

"Neal Boortz has shown himself to be a bigger ass than I ever thought was possible. He's as bad as the damn democrats, as imperial in his thinking as Stalin. And he's flat wrong, as a human being."

I heard him that day and that was the last day I listened to Neal Boortz. I have disagreed w/him almost as much as agreed in the past, but just turned the station for that day. However, he went way overboard on this situation and I didn't make my decision lightly. I can't, in good conscious, listen to him anymore. That "weekend at Bernie's II" crack was just one that was beyond the pale.

[Coleus]

*NEW* Petition to Governor Jeb
Bush to Remove Michael Schiavo as Terri's Guardian
And Open a Full Criminal Investigation.

Sign Conservative Petitions.com Here

 

ReadCatholic Petitions.com Anyone Can Sign CatholicPetitions.com Here
Sign Friends of Terri.org Petition

Today's Update

Terri's Birthday is December 3rd. People have asked how they may participate. Find out here!

WHAT'S NEW,
Our Help is Needed in Florida The St. Pete Times Misrepresenting Terri's Case!
Action Items

Rally in Clearwater, Florida.  Petition to State Attorney Bernie McCabe.  Found! Artwork of Terri's.

Myths about Terri.   The March in Defense of Terri's Life.

See other Action Items here.  Support Senate Bill 692  Join the March in Defense of Terri's Life Petition to State Attorney Bernie McCabe.  John Sipos speaks to attorney Ken Connor about Terri's Law.

Family attorney, Patricia Anderson speaks to Glenn Beck about this case.

Terri's Law Who is Terri Schiavo?

On Atheistic CommunismDIVINI REDEMPTORIS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI
ON ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM MARCH 19, 1937
Read # 27