Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates) November 24-30

I agree totally. Who is Al Ruechel, and why does he sound
excited about what is not really any progress? Dr. Wolfson may or may not be a great guy, but we are supposed to think all is well because someone by a hidden process is going to select "independent experts", and all discussions by these experts will be hidden from the public. Will we even know whether there is another Dr. Bambakidis out there who pretends to be neutral but is picked precisely because he is not?

421 posted on 12/03/2003 8:24:56 PM PST by wildandcrazyrussian

WOW! Go terrasol....! That's the most articulate enumeration of the travesty of justice in Judge Greer's court I've read. Well done.

422 posted on 12/03/2003 8:48:52 PM PST by msmagoo

To: wildandcrazyrussian

Ideally, Terri should be given the rehabilitiation she's been denied whether or not it results in any improvement. It was HER money, awarded for HER rehab, and instead it was siphoned off to pay legal fees to have her 'put down'...since the clock can't be turned back, we'll never know if she could have recovered her swallowing ability if she was given rehabilitation consistently from the time of the malpractice award. Giving it to her now is not quite the same as if she had been given the rehab then. So, I think she should be allowed to live whether she can recover any ability to swallow food or not. She's been punished enough and has managed to survive against the odds. Let her live in peace without the threat of further abuse through litigation, seems like the fair thing to do.

423 posted on 12/03/2003 8:57:14 PM PST by msmagoo

I found this post by phenn. The article in the
Tampa Tribune is straightforward and fairly neutral
as far as Terri is concerned. What it talks about
is however not so nice. I wrote and sent the post
below this cut and paste section from phenn's post.
The basic idea is that a Senator wants to get a bill
passed that would prevent the situation in which
Terri wound up, which is to have her feeding tube
pulled (after having been habituated to it) on
nothing but the cockamania hearsay baloney by
Mr. Sleazeball himself. The proposed law is looked
upon with disfavor by Senate President Jim King, who
as you know managed to get feeding tubes included in
the definition of "artificial life support" in the
1999 Florida Statute amendment, something he considers
"his legacy". My response is focused on this unjustified
sabotage by King.

clip from phenn's post:
Changes Proposed In Right-To-Die Laws - Your help is needed NOW in Florida!

From the Article: Senate Bill 692, introduced by Republican state Sen. Stephen Wise of Jacksonville, would prohibit courts from ordering feeding tubes removed from any mentally incompetent patient in Florida who doesn't have a living will or other advance directive stating otherwise. Experts predict fewer than 12 percent of American adults have living wills.

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAN946WQND.html

My response:

Dear Editor,

In “Changes Proposed in Right-to-Die Laws” (December 3,
2003), Jerome R. Stockfisch does a more creditable job
reporting factual information than can be seen these days
in most articles that contain the name Terri Schiavo.
I felt heartened reading about Senate Bill 692 being
introduced by Senator Wise. Seeking to remedy a gap in
Statutes that currently leaves nearly 90 percent of all
citizens in a legal gray area makes perfect sense. It
is always a relief to see a lawmaker doing the job to
which he was elected, amending inadequate laws or
crafting a new one.

I was not surprised reading that Larry Spalding of the
American Civil Liberties Union suspects a constitutional
problem in SB 692. Spalding’s resistance attests in
itself to the proposed law's wisdom, because the ACLU
would certainly not be against it unless it was a good
thing. Mr. Stockfisch picks up pace when Senate President
Jim King surfaces with all the grace of hippopotamus
amphibius. “Not so fast, King said.”

Mildly bewildered, I thought to myself “isn’t this that
dying-with-dignity champion? What could he possibly have
against a bill intended to prevent undignified, because
possibly undesired death? My spirit began to sink.
Thankfully, King himself restored me to mirth in his droll
homespun way. “As soon as you put something on the floor,
as well-intended as it may be, anybody can amend it. Then
all of a sudden I'm sitting there facing a bill or bills
that can dismantle what I consider to be my legacy.''

Now I understood. It is not about avoiding unnecessary
deaths. It is a legacy issue! I laughed, as visions
passed by of a sword-wielding King defending his legacy
against hordes of howling amenders. That started me
thinking about the course history would have taken, if
others had suffered from King’s legacy mania. I saw
modern business travelers queue up at Kitty Hawk,
fighting to get onto a two-seater plane of the “Orville
and Wilbur Wright World Air Monopoly”. More arrived in
noisy contraptions on which was neatly painted “Henry
Ford’s Petrol Quadricycle”.

My visions of retarded history must have brought on a chill,
reminding me to ask my doctor for another packet of “Sir
Alexander Fleming’s Patented Breadmold Elixier for Microbial
Discomfort”. When I awoke from my reverie, I could not but
thank Mr. Stockfisch for helping me realize how wonderful
it is that most great benefactors of humanity were less
concerned with preserving their legacy, and more with
making it better.

If you want to write a letter to the editor, there is
a link in the upper left on their page that says
"Website Feedback". On the new window, Letter to the
Editor is an option.

Stockfisch can be contacted directly as well:
jstockfisch@tampatrib.com

424 posted on 12/04/2003 4:44:44 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

Brilliant letter!

Was it sent in as a letter to the editor for their journal, and if so will it actually be printed? If not will it be photocopied and mailed to all members of the Bar Association?

425 posted on 12/04/2003 4:50:42 AM PST by wildandcrazyrussian

To: wildandcrazyrussian

wildandcrazyrussian,

Thank you. I sent an abbreviated and proofread
version directly to the author of the slime piece,
Mr. Dickinson III, President of the Clearwater
Bar Association. I doubt that he will find it
complimentary enough to forward copies to the
members of the Bar. I do hope though that some
disgruntled secretary in his office might find
it in her heart to do so. At any rate, I expect
that we can get more mileage out of letters like
these by having people find them through Google
searches on the Web.

If I don't get a response from Mr. Dickinson III,
I might adapt it into a general letter and send
copies to the Bar members. We'll see. There
are so many other things that need to be written,
although I do think that the legal community in
Pinellas County is in the heart of things.

426 posted on 12/04/2003 5:19:44 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

Thank you, msmagoo.

The legally blind but Honorable George W. Greer
unfortunately won't be able to read it, but perhaps
someone will tell him about it and the Justice will
find it clear and convincing evidence.

427 posted on 12/04/2003 5:24:01 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

Another great letter. You write very well, better than most of the columnists who churn out maddeningly ill-thought out pieces on a regular basis. I would like to see your letter to the Bar Association printed in every Pinellas County newspaper; even if they don't print it perhaps reading it will open some eyes!

428 posted on 12/04/2003 5:25:35 AM PST by msmagoo

Has there been any media coverage of Terri's birthday events at the hospice?

429 posted on 12/04/2003 5:53:23 AM PST by Artlover

I love your wit! My emotions tend to boil over when I read something like this from Mary Jo Melone. As usual, it's a pro-Felos piece. I read that the reason Felos backed out of the deal had nothing to do with getting the Schindlers to agree to abide by the results of the swallowing tests. Instead, Felos and MS told Wolfson they didn't recognize his authority to make any agreement, because they believe his position and Terri's Law, through which he was appointed, is unconstitutional:

"Terri's father, Bob Schindler, said his son, Bob Schindler, Jr., suggested the mediation effort with the hope of establishing that Terri could recover and should receive proper medical and rehabilitative care that was stopped years ago.

"Our objective has always been the same, to get her some kind of treatment," Schindler told Knight Ridder Tribune.

However, George Felos, the assisted suicide advocate who is serving as Michael's attorney, says Michael Schiavo never agreed to anything like what Wolfson suggests was discussed.

Felos says Michael, throughout the process, claimed Terri's Law was unconstitutional and, therefore, so was Wolfson's appointment as an independent guardian.

"We don't want to participate in settlement negotiations suggested by the guardian ad litem because we don't agree that his appointment was proper,'' Felos told the Tampa Tribune newspaper.

Yet Wolfson writes that "all three parties ... actively participated in the [mediation] process."

(This excerpt is from Lifenews.com)

430 posted on 12/04/2003 5:53:47 AM PST by msmagoo

msmagoo,

Thank you again. That is outrageous stuff about
George J. Felos, Esq. What Satanic enclave did this
slithering shadow escape from, I wonder. It almost
seems that all the demons from the dark nether regions
are congregating in Pinellas County. I am going to
post some material from an exchange I am having with
a disabled female teacher in Pinellas County who is
going to be fired F I R E D! for having spoken up
about Terri (off school ground and on her own time).
I promised her that I would post her story everywhere
and that action will be taken. Please, anyone who
still has time for anything, contact Rus and/or
use the contact addresses she gave to demand an
explanation for why they are doing this to her.

I am pasting all the exchanges thus far. I only
learned about it last night. Karen was the original
person Rus contacted. Here goes:

I am going to repeat Rus' original letter here, so
that it can easily be read together with the
follow ups below.

There is a disabled teacher who is going to be FIRED for
showing an interest in Terri's situation. Looks like even
the Pinellas County Schoolboard is in with the Dead New
World gang.

In a message dated 12/3/2003 5:31:42 PM Pacific Standard
Time, UUDRE writes:

I am a Pinellas County, Florida exceptional education
teacher with disabilities. I teach middle school students
with learning, emotional and behavioral disabilities.

I am in my 26th year as a teacher.

On the day Terri Schindler-Schiavo's feeding tube was
removed this fall, I did a brief interview about the
disabled community's take on her possible death for
being cognitively-impaired.

It was very brief and done off school grounds on my own
time. The reporter agreed not to mention in any way that
I taught.

I said basically that as a Florida woman with disabilities
Terri's starving was very scary.

The next day administration who had never talked to me
before made it clear that I no longer fit in.

Then the book I wrote "When I Woke Up..." which included
my own Terri-like time in the 1980s, my coverage of her
October 2002 hearing and a meditation I delivered as
minister at a Terri vigil hit my school campus.

After that I couldn't get the most accepted basic support
like needed room supplies, memos about meetings, campus
police help when any of my kids needed to be removed for
violence or assistance for students hurting themselves
regularly.

Finally, I was given less than a day to hand deliver
a resignation for personal reasons or be fired for "not
fitting in." At the time I was home recovering from a
student attack that could have been prevented if I had
only the support other teachers had.

I physically could not get the letter in. I would not
have resigned anyway.

How can a 26 year veteran teacher with disabilities
"not fit in" with students who have disabilities?

In an effort to force me to resign I was threatened with
being fired on tv over and over through December and into
January. The administrator was threatening me with firing
at the televised school board meeting that is rerun until
the next meeting.

As a result --
on December 9th at 5 pm only 20 minutes from The hospice
where Terri remains in danger, I am being fired for "not
fitting in."

And indeed, I will be fired many, many times in reruns in
between hours of new and old holiday student performances.

My contract specifically prohibits being fired for the
reasons I am being fired.

So, there you go.

Rus Cooper-Dowda
uudre@aol.com

My first response to her follows below this intro.
I emailed this poor disabled teacher, offering my
(and our help). She then emailed me back (see
below my letter). In that one, she gives all the
necessary dates and contact information. Please
read her original story in the post above, and all
the other material and take action. The people
in Pinellas County that are doing such things
must be taken to task. We must demand and
explanation for injustices like that.

Finally, all the way at the bottom is my latest
response to her.

to:
Rus Cooper-Dowda

Hello Rus,

I read about your being fired on a Terri support group list to which I
belong. Your story is very touching and I have posted it on another
forum. I think that the action against you is outrageous!!

The school administration must be out of its mind, firing you for
something as vague as "not fitting in". I suggest that you get in
touch immediately with the Teachers Union, the Employment Bureau,
the State Education Department, the local School Board, the TV station
that did your original interview, all local newspapers and the local
chapters of whatever disability groups there are in your area. If
you have any church contacts, inform them also.

You need to demand a letter from the school administration
stating that you are being asked to resign or that you will be fired
and for what reason. If they refuse to give you such a letter, then
communicate this to all the organizations I mentioned above. You
strike me as a kind and gentle person who can be easily intimidated
by the kind of sharks that apparently run your school. Believe me,
these people are not immune. They will throw their weight around
as long as they think that you will take it sitting down. There are
many things you can do now to drum up support. Ask all your
friends and family to help you. Contact an employment lawyer
in your area and inquire what your options are in case that you
do get fired. If you can prove that the school's action is related
to your off-school interview, you may well have a lawsuit against
the school and recover pecuniary damages.

If you provide me with email and/or postal address and name and
phone/fax of the school administration, I am willing to ask all my
forum friends to contact them for an explanation about the school's
action. I think, however that local support will be more effective,
at least at first.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and I keep you in my
prayers.

Warmly,
John Peter

Here is her second email:

UUDRE@aol.com wrote:

Thank you for your letter.
Your support mean much in a difficult time.
Rus

Here is the contact information:
Public School Teacher Fired on TV for Supporting Terri --
Who?
Rus Cooper-Dowda
exceptional education teacher
When?
December 9th at 5 PM
Where?
Pinellas County, Florida School Board meeting
The School sysytem where Terri is struggling to live

Open to Public
Anyone can speak for 3 minutes by signing a speaker's slip by 4:45 pm.
Signs without sticks are permitted.
Address:
Pinellas County School Administration Building
Conference Hall
301 4th Street SW
Largo, Florida 33770

Televised live with reruns on WPDS
GTE Americast channel 14
Time Warner Channel 14

If you want to protest:
Board@pcsb.org
727-586-1818
Pinellas County School Board
301 4th St. SW
Largo, FL 33770

Members of the Pinellas County School Board:
Dr. J. Howard Hinesley
Superintendent
Jane Gallucci
Chair
Carol Cook
Vice-Chair
Board Member most likey to be unhappy about this:
Linda Lerner
Rest of Board:
Mary Russell Nancy Bostock Mary Brown Lee Benjamin

This is my most recent response to her:

Dear Rus,

I feel honored being able to support you. Your letter
will circulate on our list here which consists of people
with heart who are very active in fighting for justice on
Terri's behalf. I will also post this and everything else
you send on several forums where many people will see it.

Of course I myself will begin to contact the addresses you
provided and demand being informed about the rationale
behind their inexplicable behavior.

Keep the faith Rus. What is happening to you should never
be allowed to happen. But we all know that injustice and
unkindness are commonplace things on this troubled planet.
Terri's family has been fighting for justice for over a
decade. It may not seem that they have succeeded, but
look at what has been happening.

First, the dark interests were so far unable to kill Terri.
In the meantime, from her little room in that hospice, and
without speaking a word, Terri has set the hearts of tens
of thousands of people on fire. I say tens of thousands,
because that is how many I am aware of. It could quite
possibly be many many times more than that.

Put yourself in the Light, dear Rus. All of us will keep
thinking of you as being surrounded by that strong,
protective and healing Light.

Please keep us posted about everything.

I know that you are overwhelmed with your own
difficulties. If, however, there is a time when you can
think of other things, our groups would be deeply
appreciate having a contact in Pinellas County.
I cannot think of anything specific right now, but
I am sure that Terri's cause could use someone
like you who is so close to where everything is
happening.

Warmly,
John Peter (a.k.a. terrasol)

431 posted on 12/04/2003 6:34:08 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

Yeah and kudos to the letter writers! If they are published perhaps we can be the voice of change. It is criminal that Terri should not have received the treatment and therapy for which she was awarded funds!

Prayers to Russ. You think it was your involvement with the terrisfight that lead to your dismissal?

432 posted on 12/04/2003 6:49:10 AM PST by a5478 (a5478)

It was definitely the involvement with Terri's fight.
She was told the very next day that she did "not fit
in" any more.

Here is some info about Rus that was posted by somebody
over at the TBI Board:

The teacher, "Rus Cooper-Dowda" is mentioned in a 11/6/03 news article (linked below).

At one time she was in what doctors incorrectly decided was a vegetative state and planned to remove her feeding tube too.

http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-usschi023527678nov06,0,3738951.story?coll=ny-health-headlines

Disabled Rally Around Terri Schiavo
By Hugo Kugiya
STAFF WRITER

November 6, 2003

Unable to speak and barely able to move, Rus Cooper-Dowda could do little to prevent her death. Only 30, she had developed a serious form of lupus that had left her in what doctors incorrectly thought was a vegetative state.

She knew the doctors and nurses had all but given up on her because she could still hear. She said later that she listened to them describe her prognosis as hopeless.

They said that she would never live a normal life and that if she took a turn for the worse, no extraordinary measures should be attempted to save her life.

Contrary to their expectations, Cooper-Dowda, now 48, survived. Over the years, she recovered some use of her body, earned a graduate degree and gave birth to a son who recently entered college.

Doctors couldn't explain why her condition got so bad 18 years ago, nor why it improved so much, she said. Which is why she thinks Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged St. Petersburg, Fla., woman, should be helped, not left to die.

"People say she'll never fully recover," said Cooper-Dowda, a writer and teacher from Florida. "My feeling is, 'So what?' There is something between death and full recovery, and it's called living with a disability."

She is one of many disabled people who see Schiavo as a cause mirroring their own, even if their medical circumstances differ. (Cooper-Dowda was incapacitated for months, not 13 years like Schiavo.) Individually, they have spoken out. Last week, they took a collective stand.

"This is a real scary prospect for us, because there are lots of disabled people who can't communicate verbally," said Andy Imparato, president of the American Association of People with Disabilities.

Imparato and association board members, with the blessing of other disabled rights groups, released a written statement condemning the court's decision to allow Michael Schiavo to remove his wife's feeding tube. Such action should be confined, the statement said, "to those situations in which an individual's condition is terminal, death is imminent and any continuation or provision of treatment, nutrition and/or hydration would only serve to prolong dying ... "

"No one other than Ms. Schiavo, not even a guardian, has the right to make assumptions about the quality of her life," the statement continued.

While Schiavo's case has been seen largely as an issue of the sanctity of life versus personal choice, of conservative against liberal, of religious values against secular ones, the concerns of disabled people are more nuanced and personal and do not depend so much on politics or ideology.

"To us, it's more complex," Imparato said.

Although doctors disagree on her condition, a state court determined that Schiavo, 39, is in an irreversible and permanent vegetative state. After her husband received permission to remove her feeding tube, her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, harnessing the momentum of public outcry, convinced lawmakers and the governor to help. In less than 48 hours, the Legislature passed a bill giving Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order the tube replaced, which he did Oct. 21.

Michael Schiavo is fighting the law in court, charging that it interfered with his wife's right to refuse medical treatment and that it violated the state constitution by passing a law that defied a court order.

While she was incapacitated, Cooper-Dowda tried to communicate by writing in the air with her finger. When she heard doctors discussing the removal of life support, she tried to spell the word "no." She even spelled it backward in hopes they would recognize it as a word. Doctors decided her movement was seizure activity and sedated her. The more she moved, the more she was sedated. Finally, a nurse became curious and put ink on the end of Cooper-Dowda's finger, so she could write the letter Y or N, for yes and no.

"It's still terrifying how close I came to death," Cooper-Dowda said, "because of all the assumptions someone else made about the quality of my life. ... When someone says, 'I wouldn't want to live like that,' it's believing it will never happen to you. When it does, it's not a bad life or a useless life. It's a changed life."
Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

433 posted on 12/04/2003 6:59:52 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

Rus sent this:

Thanks folks.

I am glad for this support from other TBIs.

Rus Cooper-Dowda
(Ms. C-D to my kids)

434 posted on 12/04/2003 7:03:06 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

To: a5478; sweetliberty

>>...can't find a new thread either so I've been keeping up with this one.

SL: I know its a lot of work to restart new daily threads, so
how about following the example that some other 'recurring'
threads use here...

ask AM to change the title on THIS thread from
Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates) November 24-30

to
Terri's Fight - (Daily Thread/Updates) Thread 10
(that way we don't have to restart the thread except
when it gets too huge)

435 posted on 12/04/2003 7:07:30 AM PST by Future Useless Eater (Freedom_Loving_Engineer)

This is the latest email from her. She is offering
her help from on location in Pinellas County. Can we
do something for her too? I hope so.

Thank you so very much for your note.

I would love to keep folks up to date on Terri's situation. it would be an honor.

I live in the hospice neighborhood and am the only writer with disabilities covering the case locally.

I have a booklet out about mine and Terri's story called "When I Woke Up..." that might be of use to you. A non-profit institute puts it out. Let me know if you are interested. No on emakes any money off it. It appears in translation in Germany next month.

I also post Terri's status on my blogs. I would be happy to give you those addresses.

I want to keep the focus on Terri while protecting local right to speak out. That's my sole perspective in this.

I am working on a book aboiut the TBI community perspective on Terri. It is a collection of everything I've written. When I find a publisher I will let you know.

There is also a CBS/A&E documentary in the works by very pro-Terri folks in Miami who retained content control. I'm in that demonstrating blink and communication board conversation. I'll let you know when that is scheduled to run.

Yours,
Rus

436 posted on 12/04/2003 7:11:55 AM PST by terrasol (The fool is not who does not know, but who gives up a chance to grow)

To: FL_engineer; nickcarraway

Well, there are a lot of new articles. I was thinking about going ahead and doing another one, and not using a date this time, just thr thread number, then we can just take it from there and update as needed. I haven't been following as closely as I normally do, so I don't know if all the latest threads have been referenced here or not. If y'all can help me in getting those links referenced, I will do the thread later today.

437 posted on 12/04/2003 8:12:57 AM PST by sweetliberty (Better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt)

To: sweetliberty

438 posted on 12/04/2003 10:30:13 AM PST by nickcarraway (www.terrisfight.org)

To: terrasol; msmagoo; pc93; sweetliberty; floriduh voter

Pinellas County School Board Member most likey to be unhappy about this: Linda Lerner

What are the odds Linda is related to JUDGE Ginger Lerner-Wren?

439 posted on 12/04/2003 10:38:24 AM PST by Future Useless Eater (Freedom_Loving_Engineer)

To: terrasol; sweetliberty; msmagoo; pc93

Here are more Judge Lerner's...

Judge Benjamin
Lerner 1220 Criminal Justice Center 1301 Filbert Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
..........This one makes me suspect Lerner is related to Michael Schiavo, who was also from Philly

....and in nearby New Jersey (right across the river from Philly)

It is ORDERED that, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 43:6A-13, Superior Court Judge Lawrence Lerner, retired on pension, and having given his consent, is hereby continued on recall by the Supreme Court, for temporary service within the judicial system, other than Supreme Court, for one year, effective July 15, 2002, or until further Order;

....and in Florida...
Administrative Law Judge Stuart Lerner

440 posted on 12/04/2003 10:50:32 AM PST by Future Useless Eater (Freedom_Loving_Engineer)

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