Apr 27, 2001
Judge orders woman's feedings to resume
By DAVID SOMMER of The Tampa Tribune
A judge ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding to resume Thursday night after her husband's former girlfriend came forward to say he misled another judge to get the feeding stopped. ``I'm elated. Everyone is jumping up and down and making so much noise,'' Bob Schindler said when told that his daughter would not be denied food for a fourth day.
Fighting back tears, Schindler immediately wanted to know how long a reprieve Terri Schiavo had received. His daughter has been in a comalike, persistent vegetative state since 1990.
That will hinge on what an ex-girlfriend of her husband, Michael Schiavo, has to say when lawyers on both sides take the ex-girlfriend's sworn deposition, said Circuit Judge Frank Quesada.
If Cindy Shook Brashers says what Schindler and a private detective have already sworn she will say, then there is a good chance Schindler and his wife, Mary, can prove that Michael Schiavo committed perjury, Quesada ruled after an emergency twilight hearing.
In separate conversations Wednesday, Brashers told Schindler and a private detective that, while she and Schiavo were dating in 1992, he twice told her that Terri Schiavo and he never talked about what should be done if she ever ended up on life support with no hope of recovery, court records state.
That directly contradicts what Michael Schiavo testified to at a January 2000 trial that resulted in him getting permission to stop feeding his wife .
After ordering the feeding to resume late Thursday, Quesada said he is mindful of Schiavo's concern that disconnecting his wife's feeding tube Tuesday and then reconnecting it Thursday night is ``put ting everyone on an emotional roller coaster.''
Brashers' deposition needs to be taken swiftly, and any appeal of his order resuming feeding needs to be done ``first thing tomorrow morning,'' the judge said.
The ruling capped an unusual day in which the Schindlers tried to get two local judges to order the feeding resumed.
Shortly before noon, the Schindlers filed a petition asking Circuit Judge George Greer to reverse his verdict in the January 2000 nonjury trial. Greer is the judge who originally ruled that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be disconnected and she should be allowed to die.
That verdict, which was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, came after Michael Schiavo and two relatives testified that his wife, prior to a 1990 heart attack, had spoken of not wanting to be kept alive artificially should she ever be incapacitated with no hope of recovery.
The 37-year-old woman sleeps and wakes but cannot speak and is fed liquid nutrients through a tube into her stomach.
A doctor hired by Michael Schiavo said Terri Schiavo's brain is destroyed and she hears, feels and sees nothing. He was the only doctor to testify at the 2000 trial.
The Schindlers say their daughter reacts to them with laughter, smiles and moans during visits. They contend Michael Schiavo stands to inherit about $700,000 remaining in a trust fund set up after the Schiavos won a 1992 malpractice award against doctors who treated Terri Schiavo prior to the heart attack.
Michael Schiavo could not be reached for comment.
His attorney, George Felos, characterized Brashers as a ``disgruntled ex-girlfriend'' and said he wanted to hear what she had to say under oath.
`I don't think there are any words to can express the outrage that he feels and the pain in the heart that he feels'' because his wife will now continue to suffer, Felos said.
Greer, who was asked to overturn his verdict Thursday, did not comment on what he was told Brashers had to say.
Instead, the judge denied the request because state law sets a one-year limit on challenging verdicts with new evidence.
After Greer's ruling, the Schindlers' volunteer defense team quickly filed a lawsuit against Michael Schiavo, accusing him of deliberately causing the couple emotional pain and suffering by lying about Terri Schiavo in court.
That new case was randomly assigned to Quesada, who called an emergency hearing.
In 1992, Michael Schiavo told jurors in the malpractice case that he intended to learn nursing so he could care for his wife for their rest of their lives together, Schindler attorney James Eckert told Quesada.
`I wouldn't trade her for my life. I believe in my wedding vows,' Eckert quoted Michael Schiavo as saying in 1992.
Quesada said he ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding to resume to protect the Schindlers from additional harm should their claim against Schiavo turn out to have merit.