Posted on 11/18/2003 10:53:57 AM PST by NYer
TAMPA, Fla. - An attorney for the husband of a brain-damaged woman is trying to convince an appeals court that Gov. Jeb Bush should not be allowed to delay a challenge to a new law that restored her feeding tube.
In a brief filed Monday, Michael Schiavo's attorney argued that his constitutional challenge to the new law should not be held up any longer while Bush takes issue with failing to be served with a formal notice of the lawsuit.
Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, also argues that if the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland sides with Bush, then the constitutional case should proceed against Attorney General Charlie Crist, who was also named as a defendant.
Schiavo contends that the hastily passed law that allowed Bush to order reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is unconstitutional because it violates her right to privacy and separation-of-power provisions of the Florida Constitution.
Michael Schiavo has been fighting his in-laws in court for years for the right to remove the tube, saying his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. She suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart temporarily stopped, cutting off oxygen to her brain.
Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, dispute that she is in a vegetative state and believe her condition could improve with therapy.
Florida courts had repeatedly affirmed the right of Michael Schiavo to remove the tube. It was removed for six days when Bush ordered it restored Oct. 21.
Attorneys for the governor insist Felos must serve legal papers as required and argue the lawsuit must be filed in Tallahassee, the seat of state government.
Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird issued an order Friday to let the lawsuit move ahead, but the appeals court issued a stay hours later on Bush's appeal.
"The governor should not be allowed to hide behind alleged procedural deficiencies to support further delay," Felos wrote.
Bush denies trying to delay the case. State attorneys say they are just trying to make Felos follow proper procedure for suing the governor.
Calls to the offices of Bush and Crist were not immediately returned Tuesday.
What about her 1st amendment right to life under the US Constitution?!
Consider it done, LadyPhoenix. Here's a ping you missed.
To anyone with a reasonable mind, his constancy in fighting for his wife's death by starvation is an act born of desperation. After all, he has taken the easy way out in everything else regarding his wife:
He's publicly and shamelessly committed adultery against Terri, acquiring unto himself a concubine (the woman he dares to call his fiance)
He has neglected his wife's proper care
When it may hurt his stance that Terri must die since he claims she is in a persistent vegetative state, he has abused his role as legal guardian and denied his wife the spiritual comfort of the Church
He is not ashamed to let the world know he has fathered illegitimate children (disgracing his innocent wife and her family, his concubine - although she appears to be too foolish to realize she has disgraced herself - and the poor children)
He's lied about his in-laws, the Schindlers, and has cast dubious motives upon their loving regard for their daughter's life
He's ordered Terri into a hospice (a place to die) when she is not terminally ill
He's withheld medical information about Terri from her parents
He did all he could to defy Gov. Bush's orders to restore Terri's feeding tube.
And more...
This whole fight is exhausting, and both sides keep up the fight because the stakes are high. For the Schindlers, it is their daughter's life that is at stake. But as for Michael Schiavo, what are his real motives, his stakes?
Since Michael Schiavo clearly does things the "easy way," it stands to reason he has an underlying motive for sticking with this long, difficult, drawn-out case which is taking everything he has - his time, energy and the money he could inherit.
Even the motive of money he stands to inherit at Terri's death is not as strong as his motive for wanting her dead and cremated (not dead and buried). Consider: Terri's parents made it clear they don't want the court-awarded money originally intended for Terri's care, but only Terri herself. To acquiese would be another easy road for Schiavo, but he refused it. Why?
As already proven by Schiavo's life since Terri's "collapse, Schiavo's motive is certainly not undying, faithful love for his wife. It's not desire for a "new life." Although it would have been wrong for Schiavo to divorce Terri and civilly marry another woman, it would have been the lesser of the evils he has instead committed. It would seem that Michael Schiavo does not desire freedom to marry his concubine. If he did, he could have acquired that freedom by now. Nor is he concerned to lift the stigma of the word "illegimiate" or "bastard" from his children.
One thing is certain. Michael Schiavo is a thoroughly selfish individual, as proven by his life choices since Terri's "collapse." So his motive(s) is constantly agitating for Terri's death must also be thoroughly selfish.
Only God is the author of life, and only He gives and takes it. Even the U.S. Constitution has something to say about "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Ironic, isn't it, that Schiavo has life, liberty and some kind of (earthly) happiness - but he wants to take his wife's life and any hope she may have of liberty and happiness? Why is that? Might it be that Terri Schindler knows something, something that her HINO Schiavo does not want her to tell anyone? Something that might take away his liberty if the law knew?
It seems to be a basic human understanding, one that crosses all cultural and language barriers, that the worst thing one can do to a person is to take away his freedom, his "sweet" liberty. And perhaps that is what at stake for Schiavo: his continued "liberty" may very well be the hidden motive behind his desperate actions, a motive more important to him than a wife's life or agonizing death, a concubine's shame, the stigma of illegimate children, or a healthy pile of money.
Murder most foul!You are right.
Someone needs to offer Michael a retirement home on an extradition-proof island. That, Terri's death, and his own death are the only things that will be able to keep him out of prison.
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