Dean 'Appalled' That Florida Lawmakers Saved Schiavo

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 11/07/03 | Jeff Johnson

[kattracks]

Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, who begins his campaign website greeting with the phrase, "As a medical doctor...," claims Florida Republicans should be "embarrassed" for intervening to save the life of Terri Schindler Schiavo last month. Earlier in the year, Dean publicly expressed his support for physician-assisted suicide.

Dean accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican state lawmakers of interfering in a "private matter" when they passed "Terri's Law," which allowed Bush to have the 39-year-old disabled woman's feeding tube reconnected after it was removed under court order at her husband's request. The former Vermont governor said he was "appalled" by Bush's intervention.

Terri suffered a brain injury in 1990 under questionable circumstances that left her severely disabled. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, his brother and another brother's wife claim Terri verbally expressed her desire not to be kept alive "artificially" should she ever require life support. Terri's parents and siblings, along with her former co-workers, friends, priests and fellow church members dispute that claim.

"I'm tired of people in the legislature thinking that they have an M.D. when what they really have is a B.S.," the Miami Herald quoted Dean as telling about 200 business and community leaders at the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee Tuesday.

Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said the governor found Dean's remarks "shameful."

"Gov. Bush," DiPietre said, "doesn't think that it's appropriate for a presidential candidate to be so flip about a serious issue that involves not only protecting the rights of the disabled, but also the fundamental right to life that is guaranteed in the Florida Constitution."

Pamela Hennessy - spokeswoman for Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler - called Dean's comments "a monumental display of bad taste in every way imaginable.

"Obviously, he doesn't know every aspect of the case," Hennessy said, "and I think he's using it as platform just to take a swing, verbally, at Gov. Bush."

Hennessy said she is not surprised, however, at Dean's lack of compassion for Terri.

"Mr. Dean is on record as being in favor of physician-assisted suicide," Hennessy explained.

During an Aug. 20 appearance on Oregon Public Radio, interviewer Colin Fogarty asked Dean, "In general, where do you stand on physician-assisted suicide and Oregon's vote on that issue?" Dean said the question posed "a very difficult moral problem," which he believes should be decided by the states.

"I as a physician would not be comfortable administering lethal drugs," Dean explained, "but I think this a very private, personal decision, and I think individual physicians and patients have the right to make that private decision."

By contrast, Hennessy praised Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), who is competing with Dean for the Democratic nomination and who also commented on Terri's case.

"He [Lieberman] was smart enough and man enough to see that not everything that happens in life is a question of politics," Hennessy said. "He recognized that, and he didn't turn it into a political fight."

Lieberman, who drew criticism during his 2000 vice presidential bid for waffling on pro-life issues, told the Associated Press in October that he supports Terri's Law.

"I feel very strongly that we ought to honor life, and we ought not to create a system where people are being deprived of nutrition or hydration in a way that ends their lives," Lieberman said.

Hennessy noted that, in advocating for, signing and implementing Terri's Law, Gov. Bush did something she is not accustomed to seeing politicians do.

"When [Jeb Bush] campaigned for governor the first time, he told the people of Florida that he wanted to be a champion for the disabled," Hennessy said. "I think he kept his promise."

To view CNSNews.com's long-term coverage of the Terri Schindler Schiavo case click here.

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[shhrubbery!]

As of now, Terri has that room. Maybe she wants it, maybe she doesn't. We don't know. We do know that someone else needs it.

"Someone else needs it" ??? What the Sam Hill are you talking about? We have a glut of hospital beds in this country -- so much so, that many hospitals in my area have had to close due to lack of patients.

There's no scarcity in America of hospital beds, and no one here is deprived of a room who "needs" it.

And no scarcity will happen here, either, unless some Dim gets elected and we end up with Hillary-care.

[FatherOfLiberty]

OnStar in cars offers the ability to unlock car doors remotely via satellite. That's what I was thinking about.

[HiTech RedNeck]

If the neighbor asked for it, quite true.

[friendly]

Dean has always struck me as a bright, labile, explosive bipolar. It would not surprise me in the least if he were on Lithium or Depakoate.

Like many bipolars, he was (is?) a bad self-medicating alcoholic to boot. In AA they would call Dean's overall arrogant wacked-out demeaner a "Dry Drunk."

He is not mentally fit to be President.

[huck von finn]

The purpose of the judicial branch is to interpret the law, period.

[Quietly]

Why are all of you wasting so much of your valuable resources responding to an obvious and viscious troll?

[HiTech RedNeck]

The DUTY of all branches is to obey the constitution, PERIOD. They are sworn such on oath. If one egregiously violates a civil right (in this case the right to life) the others have not just the right but the DUTY to step in with all their power whether or not all agree. Belated, fishy, conflicted-interest hearsay which would not have sufficed to send a ritual child rapist torture murderer to Florida's electric chair, is being taken to justify a state sanctioned private execution of a disabled person. If you want your right to life subjugated to such as that, by all means bow down to the court gods. But don't be surprised when they come and get YOU.

[sweetliberty]

Terri doesn't NEED that room, as you say. Terri should not even be in that place. She is in a hospice. Terri is not now, nor has she ever been, terminally ill. She no more requires a hospital or nursing home setting than anyone else who is not sick. She is not hooked to any machines. She is manually fed through a tube.

The hospice is acting as a prison, complete with guards....to keep her family out. Terri is responsive. She feels pain. There is testimony that she communicates pain. She responds to her mother. She smiles. She cries. She tries to speak, in fact she was starting to say a few words at one point. She is severely disabled. There have been many doctors who have testified that she could be rehabilitated to some extent, that she could be taught to eat, that she could be taught to communicate.

Her so called husband, who has been in adulterous relationships since not too long after Terri's initial trauma, only allowed her to have therapy until he got the award for malpractice, which, incidentally, he was awarded specifically for the purpose of Terri's rehabilitation and every penny of which he tearfully swore to the jury he would spend for that purpose. Once that money was safely pocketed, he began denying Terri ANY therapy, ANY environmental stimulation, very limited contact with the only people who are looking out for her. Until that time, she had been improving. She went for outings in a wheel chair, to the mall and home for holidays. When her wheel chair broke, he refused to replace it.....or to allow anybody else to replace it. He has kept her a prisoner.

The healthiest of people would suffer tremendously under the stress of the kind of deprivation this man has subjected Terri to. Her parents want to take her home and care for her. They want to get her the therapy she has long been denied. There are specialists who have volunteered to treat Terri without cost and whatever costs are incurred, her parents are willing to pay.

There is a lot of evidence that her "husband" is responsible for her being injured in the first place. The money that was supposed to go for Terri's care has gone instead into paying a legal hitman to have her killed, or to finish the job he started 13 years ago, as the case may be. It is entirely possible that he can't afford to have her learn to communicate too well. And even if he wasn't responsible for her "injuries," he is guilty of abuse and neglect of a disabled person as well as of misusing funds allocated for her care. He gave up his "right" as next of kin when he started bedding and producing children with another woman. He has, and has had for most of that 13 years, clear conflicts of interest. Finally, after all these years, Terri's parents are going to get to present their case.

This picture is how Terri looked BEFORE Michael Schiavo withdrew all therapy, even the most basic comfort and hygiene care, from her.

.

.

The second one is how she looked around the time Michael got the award for her treatment.

.

.

And finally, how she looks now.

.

.

Do you still believe it is acceptable to kill her?

[Ladysmith]

Ummmm, we want the practice?? ;o)

[FatherOfLiberty]

I don't know about Terri, but ten years on life-support seems to me like long enough, I wouldn't want it. That's not so say that she doesn't.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and magnanimously grant that you are simply uninformed about Terri's case. At least 5 people have tried to correct your misunderstanding of Terri being on "life support", but yet you persist in promulgating this misunderstanding.

I am a medical professional, so I will try to explain in simple terms Terri's so-called "life support". You eat and drink food and liquids through your mouth. From your mouth they go into a tube (your esophagus) down to your stomach. Terri's "life support" simply bypasses her mouth and esphagus by inserting a tube (think faux esophagus) through her abdomen directly into the top section of her stomach. Someone has to mix up the food and put it into the tube, but that is the extent of Terri's "life support" for nutrition. Terri's brain works well enough for her to breath on her own, regulate her temperature on her own, regulate her heartbeat on her own - there are no machines helping her to live (unless you count the blender to puree the food and liquids).

Terri is not "using up" resources that could go toward someone else. She is currently warehoused by her unloving, unfaithful HINO (husband in name only) in a Hospice facility. She has parents who want to take her home and take care of her for the rest of her natural life. I encourage you to think carefully about the potential impact of your seemingly careless philosophy toward life. What if someday a god-judge determined that you were "using up" too much food or oxygen?

PLEASE! Go to Terri's Fight website and spend about 15 minutes reading up on her case. Also, view the videos of Terri available there. Then come back and discuss.

Have a good night.

[sweetliberty]

Oh.

[Ladysmith]

I'm curious. Is it possible for you to get any more condescending?

[sweetliberty]

"You have a better idea?"

Yes. Find yourself another line of work.

[FatherOfLiberty]

Many pardons! I entered the link for Terri's Fight website incorrectly. Here, try THIS instead.

[sweetliberty]

Being ignorant isn't the same thing as being a troll. It is important to remember that not everyone has been studying this case in the depth that some of us have and on the threads outside the daily thread, there are always going to be those who are in the same place where some of us started....just not knowing the facts. Some of these folks aren't making a deliberate effort to disrupt. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

[sweetliberty]

"I put the locks on the outside and locked them in."

ROTFL!

[sweetliberty]

"I'm so sorry to ask, but for a physician to be appalled at a course of treatment wouldn't he need to find out what the hell is going on?"

Oh, but George Felos probably TOLD him what was going on....he's psychic, you know. < /sarcasm >

[sweetliberty]

"The Type 0 has been in place for some time. On signal it activates and turns into a type 1, 2 or 3 troll."

That's really good!

[Coral Snake]

Yes I would say that this one is merely ignorant. When I re read his posts he said that Terri is on a respirator, not a feeding tube.

[lonevoice]

Do you still believe it is acceptable to kill her?

SL, that's an amazing post. It's perfect for use whenever someone on a thread seems unfamiliar with Terri. If they still don't "get it" after reading that, nothing's going to help them "get it" and we can move along. Thanks.