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Doctors defend life for Schiavo
St. Petersburg Times ^ | October 25, 2003 | WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE

Posted on 10/25/2003 5:42:23 AM PDT by 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."


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: euthanasia; felos; prolife; schiavo; schindler; terri; terrischiavo; tsping
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To: TaxRelief
Terri has become God's pawn in a moral war.

Well, I sorta prefer the word "messenger" to "pawn," but you're 100% correct.

81 posted on 10/25/2003 1:24:48 PM PDT by reformed_democrat
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To: NYer
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.

This doesn't tell us anything, does it.

82 posted on 10/25/2003 1:29:46 PM PDT by Budge ( <>< .)
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To: MHGinTN
I have repeatdly asked on FR, in e-mails, in phone calls to many in high places: Is this the "New and Improved U.S.S.R?"
83 posted on 10/25/2003 1:42:26 PM PDT by Budge ( <>< .)
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To: MHGinTN
I have repeatdly asked on FR, in e-mails, in phone calls to many in high places: Is this the "New and Improved U.S.S.R?"
84 posted on 10/25/2003 1:42:56 PM PDT by Budge ( <>< .)
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To: NYer
"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."

85 posted on 10/25/2003 1:43:26 PM PDT by JustPiper (18 of 19 Hijackers had State issued Driver's License's !!!)
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To: trustandobey
"I am so ashamed he hasn't taken up Terri's cause, he could really help."

Well, as terrible as I feel about what happened to Christopher Reeve, and I honestly believe that his is among the most tragic of conditions to have to live in, he is still a liberal and supports with no qualms the creation of human embryos for the purpose of extracting stem cells that might help HIS particular condition. Now, in all fairness, being in that condition might make one rethink certain things in the desire to relieve his own suffering, but regardless, the end doesn't justify the means.

86 posted on 10/25/2003 1:49:08 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: eno_
I would like to have a living will that says "Anyone who unplugs me will be hunted like vermin, and will die in a manner that makes a persistent vegitative state a very attractive alternative

You may do so, have it signed by two witnesses and notarized. that will make them take notice.

87 posted on 10/25/2003 1:49:47 PM PDT by fqued (The mainstream media wouldn't over-rate anyone, would they?)
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To: cyn
[The Honorable Susan Sexton]
419 Pierce St., Room 273-A CH
Tampa, Florida 33602

(813) 272-5211
88 posted on 10/25/2003 1:56:45 PM PDT by firerosemom
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To: amom
So what you're saying is that the only reason he has a lack of credibility is because George (god) Felos said he did and then set out to smear him? Sounds like Hammersahr needs a good attorney.
89 posted on 10/25/2003 2:21:39 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: pickyourpoison
Yes, keep me on the "keep plugged in list, too", for I want no one trying to starve me to death or denying me water.
90 posted on 10/25/2003 2:40:15 PM PDT by tessalu
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To: Agnes Heep
"I wouldn't care if she had a stalk growing out of her head and roots growing out of her bottom. You don't actively kill an innocent person, no matter what condition they're in."

Exactly!
91 posted on 10/25/2003 2:44:01 PM PDT by windchime
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To: NYer
Bump!
92 posted on 10/25/2003 3:19:55 PM PDT by windchime
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To: punster
"In Terri Schiavo's case, her personality is gone. All that is left is an empty automaton. It hardly seems a dignified way to live."

So if Michael decides to go in her room and smother her to death tonight, should he be charged with murder?

93 posted on 10/25/2003 3:20:27 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham; JulieRNR21; Jim Robinson
"Neither can Steven Hawking. (severe muscular dystrophy). This man cannot care for himself at all, yet won a Nobel Prize"

I believe that our own Jim Robinson suffers from MD, if I'm not mistaken. I don't think any of us have any question about the value of his life. But if the courts are allowed to continue to define "quality of life," he could very well be a candidate for the euthanasia hit list, as could many FReepers, I'm sure, in the forseeable future.

94 posted on 10/25/2003 3:26:42 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: TaxRelief
"in all dissolutions of marriage granted on the basis of incapacity, the court may require the petitioner to pay alimony pursuant to the provisions of s. 61.08."

Now wouldn't THAT boil his potatoes? It doesn't seem to say anything about someone petitioning for dissolution of marriage on behalf of the one who is incapacitated though.

95 posted on 10/25/2003 3:55:22 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: sweetliberty
Yup. And my own dear sweet wife lay helpless in a coma for two weeks after having two brain surgeries to repair a burst aneurysm. Her brain functions shut completely down due to swelling and trauma. Then she was in intensive care for several weeks after she finally came out of the coma. Thank God for the doctors and nurses and all the medical equipment they hooked her up to that kept her alive for us. And thank God no one gave up on her and wrote her off as a vegetable.
96 posted on 10/25/2003 3:55:36 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Conservative by nature... Republican by spirit... Patriot by heart... AND... ANTI-Liberal by GOD!)
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To: Jim Robinson
Amen Jim!
97 posted on 10/25/2003 3:58:49 PM PDT by sweetliberty ("Having the right to do a thing is not at all the same thing as being right in doing it.")
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To: sweetliberty
check your mail
98 posted on 10/25/2003 4:04:33 PM PDT by tutstar
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To: Jim Robinson
Another AMEN!!!
99 posted on 10/25/2003 4:05:41 PM PDT by tutstar
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To: Jim Robinson
A lot of us would have to line up for the 'gas chambers,' wouldn't we.
100 posted on 10/25/2003 4:09:05 PM PDT by Budge ( <>< .)
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