Posted on 12/02/2003 9:08:38 PM PST by yonif
CHICAGO - (KRT) - On the eve of Terri Schiavo's 40th birthday, an independent guardian appointed at the behest of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush revealed Tuesday that secret talks to hammer out an agreement in the long-running dispute involving the brain-damaged woman broke down over the weekend.
In his 38-page report to Bush, guardian Jay Wolfson, a University of South Florida professor and expert on health-care finances, said his behind-the-scenes efforts resulted in a "platform of understanding" that Schiavo's husband and parents - and the governor - tentatively agreed to before negotiations collapsed Sunday. Bob Schindler, Schiavo's father, said his son Bob Schindler Jr. had initially suggested the talks.
Our objective has always been the same, to get her some kind of treatment," Schindler said, as he prepared for celebrations of his daughter's birthday both inside and outside the hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where she has lived since April 2000.
The preliminary deal, arranged by Wolfson, called for independent medical testing of Schiavo's condition and a private resolution to the matter. But Schindler said George Felos, the lead attorney for Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, backed out of the deal.
Michael Schiavo is his wife's legal guardian and says his wife, who has been in a persistent, vegetative state since collapsing in 1990, wants to end her life. In October a feeding tube that has sustained Terri Schiavo was removed for six days before the legislature and Bush passed a law that mandated the reinsertion of the tube. The woman's parents have battled to keep her alive.
Felos did not return phone calls for comment, though he did win a minor victory Tuesday when a Florida circuit court judge blocked Bush's lawyers from taking depositions from Michael Schiavo and members of his family until he makes a ruling on a motion for summary judgment in the constitutional case over "Terri's Law."
In his report, Wolfson said he found no inconsistency in repeated court findings that Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state, adding there is "no likelihood of improvement." Yet, paradoxically, he said he visited her almost daily as he made his investigation and said Schiavo "has a distinct presence about her."
He concluded that she should be allowed to have swallowing tests to see if she could take food and water orally - even though Schiavo failed several such tests in the early 1990s - and asked to remain on the case until its conclusion.
His conclusions seemed sure to find only limited support from both sides. Attorneys for Michael Schiavo had prevailed in their petition to have a previous independent guardian removed in 1999 and had beaten back previous bids for new swallowing tests.
Bush said he was pleased Wolfson recommended the tests and the continuation of an independent guardianship. But he questioned the qualifications of the medical experts cited by Wolfson and the thoroughness of the Florida courts.
"I am concerned that too many open questions still remain," Bush said.
Wolfson admitted that his findings, based largely on the voluminous court proceedings of the decade-old case, were limited because of the "narrowly constructed" marching orders he had been given by the court when he was appointed at the end of October.
Schindler, who said his family would visit with his daughter on her birthday Wednesday, said Schiavo has struggled to regain her health since a bout of pneumonia in September and the days in October when the tube was removed and she was without nutrition and hydration.
"If she didn't want to live," he said, "she could have thrown in the towel a long time ago."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.