Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates) November 5 -7, 2003

Various | November 5, 2003 | sweetliberty

[sweetliberty]

TERRI'S FIGHT (Thread 5 - November 5-7) (Link back to Thread 4 - Nov. 3-4)

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Contained in Thread 4:

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Resource links to search business and criminal records in Florida, info on special guardian ad litum meeting (attempt to change qualifications?), Michael Schiavo parody, link to referral letter for Dr. Hammersfahr to the Nobel committee, transcript to Abrams Report closing commments - Nov.3, e-mail address for Larry King Live, Florida statutes on guardianship and some damning statements against Michael.

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Click on pic for Terri's website

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This thread serves as a place for posting all new general information and references, along with links following Terri's case, plus information on cable news and talk radio shows dealing with the issue, court cases and press releases. This is also the place to post contact information, prayers and general discussion.

If you have something that qualifies as BREAKING NEWS or FRONT PAGE NEWS, please post it on a separate thread in that category in order to give it maximum exposure and then post a link to the article/thread here so that it will be included in the next update of links. Also, if you post links to articles from original sources and there is also a thread on FR, please link to the FR thread. Many original links become corrupt over time and we want to be able to access the information at will.

I know we're all getting tired, but we have to hang in there. This isn't just Terri's fight anymore. It is our fight too. To everyone who has worked tirelessly to gather information, write letters, make phone calls, spend time in prayer, be at the vigil supporting Terri's family and all the many other offerings you have given for this effort, thank you and may the Lord richly bless you.

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Latest Threads On Terri's Case

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Professor Appointed to Probe Schiavo Case

DFU SONG: Candle in the Wind (for Terri)

Coral Snake Song: When Johnny Comes Marching Home (The conspiracy against Terri Schiavo)

Should Terri Schiavo Live or Die?

Michelle Malkin: Starvation nation

Eyes on judge in Schiavo petition>

FL ACLU Files Brief in Effort to Starve Disabled Woman, as Bush Acts to Save Terri Schiavo

Terri Schiavo: Myths and Facts - Dr. Dianne Irving, PhD

Recovering from a 'Persistent Vegetative State'

Husband in Right to Die Case Moves to Block Parents in New Trial

Terri's Law Support Contested

Pro-Lifers Link Euthanasia to Abortion

Florida Court Prohibits Terri's Parents From Joining "Terri's Law" Battle (ACLJ)

Terri Schindler Schiavo Guardianship Hearing Wednesday November 5, 2003

Join the Terri Schindler Life Ribbon Campaign!

[TigersEye]

Very well said. This issue is about the right to life and self determination. Freedom to exercise religion has even become a part of it. If you take those three things together you have pretty much covered liberty and the pursuit of happiness too.

All are absolutely fundamental ground level issues of what it is to be a human being. All were principles expressly cited as the core reasons to reject Britain's rule over us and become sovereign unto ourselves. Those were the underlying principles that guided every step in writing our Constitution and constitute its very purpose.

If our government wishes to depart from those principles, if the Constitution is to be read as supporting something other than those principles, if half our country is intent on abandoning and defiling those principles then let them state it clearly. Let them declare what is evident in their posture, that they oppose in every way the principles this nation was founded upon.

If they choose not to do that openly, like honorable men, then let us put it to them clearly that their actions are treason, shall be called treason and will be dealt with as treason.

If our elected representatives (those who claim loyalty to this principled nation) have not the stomach to call treason 'treason' and do what duty demands then we must releive them of office and replace them with those who will.

The issue then today is not 'this right' and 'that right' or 'balance of powers'. It isn't 'rightwing' or 'leftwing' philosophy or 'Republican view' or 'Democrat view'. It's 'American' or 'subversive'. 'Loyalist' or 'enemy'. It is quite simply 'patriot' or 'traitor'.

The right to life is as fundamental as it gets and traitors have undermined our law to deny it. The right to speak and worship freely is as human as it gets and traitors are working to destroy that freedom.

George Felos seeks recognition of 'the right to die'. He's a traitor.
The ACLU seeks to end religious freedom. They are traitors.
The whole Democrat leadership, save a few, seek to undermine our President in a war that they voted to fund. They are traitors!

No quarter nor refuge, public or private, should be given to traitors of our own country. No deference made to the words they speak. No excuses made on their behalf. No tolerance, save our own compassion for the sanctity and dignity of human life, for their presence among us.

If they seek to destroy the principle of respect for life do they not also seek to destroy life? If they seek to remove all visible sign of religious expression do they not also seek to destroy religion? If they seek to destroy the power of the man who directs our military to defend us, because he directs our military to defend us, do they not also seek to help our enemies destroy us?

That's treason.

[wisconsinconservative]

Just a few questions:

Terri and MS lived and were married in PA if I'm not mistaken.

What year did they move to FL?

Is it possible this "alleged" 3rd child had anything to do with the move to FL?

Just wondering...

[Krodg]

I know that the article doesn't come from a mainstream news source, but they don't seem to give this much coverage. That will probably change as the case against Bush heats up.

I'll post another article with a quote from Anderson. Sure sounds like she thinks all of the petition will be heard.

[Krodg]

Wednesday, November 5, 2003
LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR
Court to hear petition to remove husband as guardian
Terri's family argues Michael Schiavo guilty of abuse, neglect, adultery
Posted: November 5, 2003
6:55 p.m. Eastern

By Diana Lynne
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Charges of neglect, abuse, adultery and conflict of interest on the part of Michael Schiavo in his capacity as the guardian of his brain-damaged wife, Terri Schindler Schiavo, will finally get their day in court, after a judge agreed to hear a petition filed by Terri's family seeking his removal.

Circuit Judge George Greer, the jurist who has primarily handled the 10-year court battle between Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers and has consistently ruled in favor of Michael Schiavo, today denied a request by Schiavo's attorney to dismiss the motion.

"We're astounded," Pamela Hennessey, spokesperson for the Schindlers, told WorldNetDaily. "I'm kind of surprised but very relieved that these issues will finally be addressed. They should have been addressed long ago. So there's hope that Terri will be put in a much safer position than she is now."

WorldNetDaily reported the motion, originally filed in November 2002, seeks the appointment of Terri's sister or brother as the successor guardian and chief decision maker.

WorldNetDaily has reported that though severely brain-damaged, Terri breathes and maintains a heartbeat and blood pressure on her own. She can see, and video shown in court apparently demonstrates she can move her limbs on command, vocalize and respond to her mother. But she needs a feeding tube to sustain her life. Its removal would cause her to die by dehydration and starvation. Michael Schiavo has successfully achieved its removal twice through rulings by Greer, most recently on Oct. 15.

Terri has no written directive on the matter. Schiavo says she told him during a casual conversation a year before her injury she would not want to be kept alive through artificial means. He insists he is carrying out her wish to die.

Unprecedented intervention on the part of the Florida legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush restored her feeding tube six days later. Schiavo's attorney, partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union, has filed an appeal of what is known as "Terri's Law," calling it an unconstitutional breach of the separation-of-powers principle of government.

Adultery

Schiavo told WND he is engaged and has fathered children with his fiancee, but that he would not divorce Terri.

"I moved on with a part of my life. I'm sorry that the Schindlers can't move on with any of theirs," Schiavo told WND at the time the motion was filed.

Schiavo has repeated this admission and made similar statements on numerous television programs, most recently on CNN's "Larry King Live" last week.

The petition to remove Schiavo as Terri's guardian cites his admissions in accusing Schiavo of failing to "discharge his duties in protecting the interests of the ward" per Florida Statute 744.474, by violating her right to be treated with dignity and respect and her right of privacy. The petition argues Terri deserves a divorce.

"Fidelity is a key component of the respect and dignity that our society expects one spouse to afford the other; yet, this guardian believes that Terri’s disability releases him of his legal and moral responsibility," reads the petition.

According to deposition testimony, Schiavo lives with his "girlfriend" – the mother of his child. The petition asserts this violates Florida Statute 798, which makes living in open adultery a misdemeanor, and proscribes lewd and lascivious cohabitation.

Under Florida Statute 744.474, a guardian found guilty, regardless of adjudication, to any offense prohibited under Florida Statute 435.03, which includes lewd and lascivious behavior, should be removed.

"I cannot understand how anyone would take that seriously," Schiavo attorney George Felos told WND in response to the adultery charge. "Most people would say that it's understandable that a healthy spouse shouldn't be sentenced to life without companionship," he said. Felos compared Schiavo's situation to that of other clients dealing with spouses afflicted with Alzheimer's who have been institutionalized and no longer recognize their healthy spouses.

Conflict of interest?

The petition claims Schiavo also has a conflict of interest in serving as her guardian because he stands to inherit what's left of monies awarded in a malpractice lawsuit. As WND reported, $1.2 million was placed in a medical-care fund for Terri in 1992. Schiavo says only about $50,000 remains in the fund and that the money was spent on Terri's medical needs.

WorldNetDaily has reported Felos has received reimbursement for attorney fees totaling $358,434 from Terri's fund and another Schiavo attorney, Deborah Bushnell, has received about $80,000. Bushnell also filed a petition last year seeking authorization of pre-payment for Terri's cremation and burial expenses out of the fund.

The Schindlers' petition accuses Schiavo of "wasting, embezzlement, or other mismanagement of the ward's property" by spending the money in Terri's medical-care fund on attorneys' fees.

"While exhausting Terri's money for the purpose of killing her, not one red cent could be found by Schiavo to enhance the quality of her life after receipt of the malpractice award. ... [A]nd the expenditure of nothing for therapy that would reduce the pain of contractures, enhance Terri's ability to swallow, or facilitate recovery of basic abilities is the grossest form of asset mismanagement," the Schindlers' attorney, Pat Anderson, stated in the petition.

"The charge of embezzlement ... is ludicrous given that the payment was done per order of the court," Felos countered.

Perhaps the greatest "conflict of interest" alleged by the Schindlers' petition pertains to Terri's mysterious collapse on Feb. 25, 1990, at the age of 26. Testimony given during last year's evidentiary hearing about her being presented at the emergency room with an "extraordinarily rigid neck" described by one physician as "consistent with attempted strangulation," plus a 1991 bone scan report that suggests she had a history of trauma, prompted Anderson to seek an investigation into the cause of Terri's original injury. Felos slammed the motion as "garbage" and "rife with unattributed hearsay, rank innuendo and libel."

"Because [Michael] Schiavo was alone with Terri at the time of the original injury and has been responsible for her care in the interim and in most cases has been the sole source of information about Terri’s history for her caregivers, there is an obvious and impermissible conflict of interest demonstrated by this failure to investigate these matters," wrote Anderson in the petition.

Schiavo addressed the allegations of attempted strangulation with Larry King.

"If I strangled her to the point of unconsciousness, her trachea would have been crushed," he said, adding that no physician made notations regarding "marks around her neck," which he said would have been there if the allegation was true.

Medical 'neglect' and 'abuse'

The petition further argues Terri's right as an incapacitated person to receive "necessary services and rehabilitation" per Florida Statute 744.3215 has been violated by Schiavo's neglect to seek medical treatment.

"Schiavo has at every turn attempted to increase her incapacity through the denial of basic health and rehabilitative services such as range of motion therapy, other physical therapy, orthopedic evaluations and treatment, speech therapy, standard diagnostic tests and procedures, gynecological care, dental care, rehabilitation evaluations and cognitive therapy," stated the petition.

The petition references court testimony and deposition that Schiavo ordered that Terri not be treated for a bladder infection, a condition he admitted could be fatal.

Victor Gambone, Terri's attending physician hired by Schiavo in 1998, testified at an evidentiary hearing last year he was unsure whether his patient had her teeth cleaned in recent years and said she hadn't received therapy. He said he accepted Schiavo's word that therapy had been deemed unnecessary.

Schiavo said on CNN last week that Terri has had her teeth cleaned "within the last three months."

The petition also takes issue with Terri being "confined to the 'death row' of [a hospice] for over two years while the appeals in this case have been pending."

The charges of "neglect" and "abuse" echo those laid out in an 850-page complaint filed with the Department of Children and Family in 2001. The charges were investigated and DCF officials concluded they were "unfounded with recommendations," according to the anonymous complainant.

They also mirror claims contained in a federal lawsuit the Schindlers filed August 30, which was dismissed.

"The opposition has a pattern of dredging up filth in order to attack my client because ultimately they're going to lose on the merits of the case, which is what the current medical condition of Terri is and what her wishes are. ... They're just attempts by the Schindlers to run an end-run around the ruling to end life support," Felos told WND at the time the motion was filed.

The Schindlers' efforts to remove Michael Schiavo as Terri's guardian, which date back to May 2001, have been consistently rebuffed by Greer, who has belittled abuse allegations as "unbelievable."

Meanwhile, Hennessey described Terri's current condition as "excellent," stating she appears to have fully recovered from six days without hydration and food.

Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, are scheduled to appear on "Larry King Live" Friday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, to tell their side of the story.

Court filings and other information on the case are posted on the Schindlers' website



http://worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35452

[Chocolate Rose]

Michael and Terri moved to Florida in 1986, living in a St. Petersburg Beach condominium owned by Terri's parents.

[Saundra Duffy]

Ditto this: I'm glad to be walking with you!!! (God, family, country. All else is meaningless.)

[Concerned]

THEODORE R. WROTE: "So, even the hearing is labeled as "to dismiss" a petition to change the guardianship. Right after the FL law was signed, many of us thought that this meant that Schiavo would be removed as guardian. Now we know that this won't happen --- probably ever in CORRUPT FL. I assume the Schindler's lawyers can appeal this denial. I don't know how much longer the Schindlers can continue with this protracted legal challenge -- they must really be broke."

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I AM RESPONDING:
The Judge dismissed "LOVING" Hitleresque-HINO Michael's argument to dismiss the Schindler's Petition to change guardians---i.e. "LOVING" Hitleresque-HINO Michael now has to DEFEND himself by stating what remedies he has taken to IMPROVE Terri's health and that he has NO conflict-of-interest.

Both are losers for "LOVING" Hitleresque-HINO Michael and WINNERS for the Schindlers because the Judge is FINALLY opening up his VERY BLIND eyes to realize there is something REALLY FISHY-smelling about "LOVING" Hitleresque-HINO Michael.

It does NOT, however, mean that the Schindlers WILL get guardianship---we just don't know yet---so Terri is NOT out of the woods yet.

[Krodg]

Don't miss this part

"I cannot understand how anyone would take that seriously," Schiavo attorney George Felos told WND in response to the adultery charge. "Most people would say that it's understandable that a healthy spouse shouldn't be sentenced to life without companionship," he said. Felos compared Schiavo's situation to that of other clients dealing with spouses afflicted with Alzheimer's who have been institutionalized and no longer recognize their healthy spouses.

He doesn't have a problem with sentencing Terri to death...scumbag

[Saundra Duffy]

Michael Schiavo had America going there for a while, didn't he? And his mini-me lawyer Felos was flying high for a while. BUT THANKS TO FREEPERS AND OTHER RIGHT TO LIFE FRIENDS OF TERRI - they've been exposed for the monsters they are.

[Concerned]

ORLANDO WROTE: "(*** Dec. 3rd is Theresa M. SCHINDLER Birthday ***)"

We all ought to individually send Terri a birthday card. She'd receive a TON of them!!!

[TigersEye]

Amen and ditto the thanks to all FReepers.

...his mini-me lawyer Felos...

ROTFLOL Thank you for a great belly laugh. Everyone needs at least one a day. ; )

[floriduh voter]

Beauty post by Robert Drobot. I knew there were pages and pages re: Terri but to see the actual numbers. MIRACULOUS.

[floriduh voter]

#454 Thanks for joining FR to help Terri. And that's only half of it. Thanks...Thanks...Thanks...

[sweetliberty]

"to see the actual numbers. MIRACULOUS"

Amazing isn't it? Wonder if we've broken any FR records yet. Way to go FReepers!

[Concerned]

LONE VOICE WROTE: "I am rather shocked that my parents want food and water withheld from them. It will be hard for me to do, God forbid I should ever have to, knowing my own beliefs. I personally could not do that, I would make my big brother or my 2 sisters do that."

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I AM RESPONDING:
My Aunt (who had a minor and major stroke a few weeks ago) just recently died after 21 DAYS without food or water (and virtually no ice chips).

I BEGGED and BEGGED my cousins not to let her die that way, but they insisted she had a "Living Will" which said she didn't want to be kept alive. I don't know if it specifically said no food or water, but they at least interpreted it that way. She had some EXCRUCIATING PAIN in her legs, extremely dark, concentrated urine (from no water dilution!) and (I believe) eventually had internal bleeding (from cracking, dehydrated organs).

It was VERY PAINFUL for her, VERY PAINFUL for her children to watch and VERY PAINFUL for me to hear about.

Death by starvation and dehydration is NOT PAINLESS!!!!!

[Chocolate Rose]

I would like to echo floriduh voter's words.

#454 Thanks for joining FR to help Terri. And that's only half of it. Thanks...Thanks...Thanks...And Ever Thanks!

[The Red Zone]

What state did this happen in? If she's in good enough shape to tell the world that her legs hurt, then she oughtn't to have been parchstarved to death even if she swore it on a million bibles in front of the superbowl crowd.

[The Red Zone]

George Felos seeks recognition of 'the right to die'. He's a traitor.

Note that he sure doesn't seem to be in any rush to PERSONALLY take advantage of that "right." And what do you want to bet that when he does get near the end, if he can he will find some way to end it quick by taking poison, not slow by cruel drying and hunger.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

I think they lived in hudington, outside of Pittsburgh. I don't remember the correct spelling. If you do a google search you will find numerous links to articles that mention the town by name.

[Theodore R.]

You are right, George W. Greer surprised everyone Wednesday, probably including himself. He is setting the stage for HIS "graceful" exit from this case. But he may get "courageous" again with prodding from his friend George J. Felos,reaffirm Schiavo as sole guardian, and proceed full speed ahead to starvation and dehyration. I guess ultimately he wonders if proceeding with the "exit protocol" is worth the cost to his judicial future. Let's hope that he backs down and goes into judicial hibernation. Yet, to do so is to admit failure on his part. not something that he would relish. Can he really pretend that he never knew "how bad" Schiavo is as the guardian?