Posted on 04/18/2004 4:35:26 AM PDT by cyn
When she was a child, she was taught that if she did not brush her teeth, they would rot out. Now her teeth are rotting out, but no one speaks for her.
When she was a child, her parents took her to the doctor when she had an infection. Now, recurring infections and bedsores ravage her body, but no one speaks for her.
When she became disabled, her husband became her guardian and obtained more than $1.5 million from a malpractice case for her rehabilitation and health care. But her funds have been used to warehouse, not rehabilitate her, and to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to lawyers hired by her husband to let her die by starvation and dehydration, a slow, painful, inhumane method of death. But no one speaks for her.
If she were a stray dog or a cat, she would be protected by Florida law from inhumane treatment. Her death would be swift and painless. But as a disabled human being, her death sentence will not be so kind.
When she was a child, her parents instilled in her the need to commit to a relationship before she married. Now her husband lives with a woman and their two illegitimate children in a marriage-like relationship -- and he continues to speak for Terri Schiavo.
If Terri Schiavo was your responsibility, adult protective services would take custody of her and charge you with felony abuse and neglect. And you would be convicted.
But no one will be charged or convicted for abusing or neglecting Terri Schiavo because her lack of care and the waste of her money have been the result of judicial orders issued by Judge George Greer, a publicly elected Florida Circuit Judge in the Tampa-Clearwater-St. Petersburg area.
After Terri Schiavo suffered still unexplained brain damage in 1990, her husband, Michael, was appointed as her guardian because he had priority under Florida law. A guardian is a fiduciary created by law for people who don't have written financial and health care powers of attorney. Because the legislature of Florida created guardianships to be administered by the courts, judges are mandated to strictly comply with the dictates of the law. But Judge Greer hasn’t.
Even though the law clearly requires guardians of disabled persons to file comprehensive annual reports and care plans, and even though the law clearly requires guardians to not deviate from those plans, Judge Greer has virtually excused Terri’s adulterous husband from filing these plans and reports, a clear violation of Terri's rights and the law, especially in light of notes in Terriís records over the years that she has not been properly cared for.
Yet, even without guidelines for her guardian-husband to follow, Judge Greer has authorized payment of expenses to warehouse Terri, but not for one penny’s worth of the rehabilitation that was promised by Michael Schiavo when he sought - and received - large malpractice settlements that were deposited for Terri and controlled under the auspices of Judge Greer.
Rather than pay for swallowing therapy that may have allowed her feeding tube to be removed, Judge Greer authorized payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars from Terri’s rehabilitation money to lawyers hired by her husband to help her die by removing that same feeding tube.
And, of late, at Michael Schiavo’s request, despite the fiduciary obligation of the guardian to grow the account for Terri’s care, Judge Greer has ordered that Terri’s investments be liquidated,- that the annual return be slashed, and that her money set aside to pay still more attorney’s fees in order that Terri’s care would be paid for by Medicaid that’s right, so that you and I can pay for her care while her money is used to put her to death.
Guardian Michael has conflicts of interest and should not be serving as a fiduciary for his wife, not only because he stands to gain financially at her death, but also because he is living in a relationship that is tantamount to marriage with his paramour and their two children.
When Michael’s conflicts were raised by a lawyer then acting as Terri’s guardian ad litem, he was promptly removed, and Judge Greer has chosen not to replace him. Think about it: Terri Schiavo has had no independent representation during proceedings in which her money is being used to pay lawyers hired by her husband to carry out a sentence of death by starvation and dehydration.
Based on recent case filings, Michael Schiavo, as his wife’s fiduciary, is accused of withholding evidence of a bone scan done on Terri in 1991 that substantiates fractures at or about the time of her brain damage. Yet, not surprisingly, Judge Greer has ignored this relevant evidence, even though it touches on yet another facet of Michael Schiavo’s conflict of interest.
Think about it: If Judge Greer has not required the filing of mandated plans and reports, how could Michael Schiavo have acted legally as Terri’s guardian when, by law, the guardian must act within the guidelines of the filed plans? If there were no plans and all of Michael's acts were unauthorized, how could Judge Greer approve payments for Terri’s care?
While most of us think of the courts as the safest place to preserve the rights of disabled persons, Judge Greer has set new standards for judicial undersight. Judge George Greer may well be an aberration, a deviation from the norm, but what he has done to - and not done for - Terri Schiavo shocks the conscience of a civilized society.
Face it: Judge Greer will never be a posterboy for appropriate judicial conduct, but if he and others like him are not dealt with swiftly and appropriately, you and I may someday find ourselves in a position like Terri Schiavo -- with no one to speak for us.
Jan Warner, a matrimonial and elder law attorney, and Jan Collins, an editor and writer, co-author NextStepsÆ, a weekly newspaper column about matters affecting the elderly and disabled (http://www.nextsteps.net)
Jan L. Warner has more than 30 years' experience in helping people plan for various life transitions. He received his A.B. and J.D. degrees from the University of South Carolina and earned a Master of Legal Letters (L.L.M.) in Taxation from the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia. More bio.
Jan Collins began co-authoring Flying Solo® in 1989. She has more than 27 years of experience as a journalist, writer, and editor. She has worked as a reporter for newspapers in Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and since 1983 has edited Business & Economic Review, a quarterly business magazine published by the University of South Carolina College of Business Administration. More bio.
Thanks to Warner and Collins for this article, and to the Tampa Tribune for publishing it.
fiesti notes:
"This is one of the best and most truthful articles I have read... It covered almost half a page in the paper. This was on the editorial page and also had a very nice picture of Terri with it .. It was such a great article I hated not to pass it on. Finally a truthful story..."
Thanks for passing this on, fiesti -- and thanks to all those who are working for Terri. May God richly reward those efforts and prayers with freedom for Terri. As they say, "From our lips to God's ears..."
Several months ago I found a CA organization for the disabled that had an excellent website with a lot of information and links about Terri Schiavo. The national organization had (as I recall, and this is back around December) no information. Worse yet, the FL chapter of the group had NO INFORMATION, not even a passing mention of Terri!
If the FL group still has no mention of Terri, I want to know why the FL group has no concern for what is unfolding right on their doorstep , when a group on the other coast is stepping up to the plate for Terri. Does anyone else know what this group is? I believe I reached it via a posted info link. I’ll check my records later when I get more time.
Terri's family and friends are very concerned for her. Her family is still kept from seeing her. She is still missing 2 (TWO) teeth and has a decubitus ulcer -- either of which can be fatal if a resulting infection is left untreated.
Remember the SCHIAVO V. JEB BUSH HEARING IS MONDAY AFTERNOON AT 3:00 p.m. at the Clearwater Courthouse, barring another unforeseen delay. Anyone in area invited to attend. Will post full info next post.
You have missed our regular updates on her conditions and what's happening.
Perhaps some other Florida Freeper can show you where those posts are. I see them on a regular basis every time I login.
Hi, capt. norm -- sorry for any lack of clarity in my above post; I am on kp. I am referring back to the disabled group there, not to FR.
We want to continue and find even more of the most effective, positive action on Terri's behalf. Situation is of as great concern now as was in Oct. I am inspired by the DC Chapter (see their counter Move on! bake sale yesterday, another WOW moment in FR history).
The writers wisely do not muddy the waters by noting that Michael Schiavo is the only suspect in the attempted murder of his wife in 1990. But there are hints for those who can read between the lines.
I am morally certain that Greer, Felos and Bushnell are all well aware that they are helping Michael finish the murder he botched 14 years ago. They need to be reminded now and then that their own hands are bloody now too.
Where are the doctors, the nurses, the therapists?
Doesn't anyone say, 'screw the court' and be humanitarian anyway?
I know enough about the medical community to say that if you have a legitimate malady, and not necessarily the insurance, doctors write scripts or nurses stamp his signature.
Emergency conditions go to the front of the line, etc., etc.
Did the medical schools teach out the love of life and do no harm?
Heavenly Father, we return to give You thanks that in Your hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. We pray, Merciful Father, that You would sustain this mother's child unto the time of her release from the pit of hell. Hinder those who seek her death ... empower those who seek her life ... turn judicial mockery into judicial justice ... stir the people to outrage ... deliver her up to the love and care of her family, O God. Speak for her, Merciful Father, that she might live. In the Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen ...
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