Posted on 08/26/2004 4:18:28 PM PDT by amdgmary
Fight over brain-damaged woman heads to Florida Supreme Court
By Vickie Chachere The Associated Press August 26, 2004
CLEARWATER — The battle over Terri Schiavo's life has been a captivating saga with almost soap opera-like qualities, but when the Florida Supreme Court hears arguments in the case Tuesday it will also be a day for weighty legal issues.
The seven justices will not be asked whether the 40-year-old brain-damaged woman should be allowed to live or die. Instead, the question before the court is whether the law that Gov. Jeb Bush signed in October to keep her alive violates her constitutional right to privacy and the separation of powers between the branches of Florida's government.
The result of the court's decision will ultimately decide Schiavo's fate.
Some legal experts say the survival of key elements of the Florida Constitution is more immediate.
Schiavo's case will be important for state courts in defending their authority to make decisions, said Steven Gey, a law professor at Florida State University. "It's about the separation of powers and judicial authority," he said. "It's a fight for dominance between the governor's office and the courts."
It has been more than 14 years since Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage when her heart stopped beating, a condition brought on by an eating disorder. She left no written directive, but in Florida a person's medical surrogate can carry out their wishes without one.
Schiavo can breathe on her own, but relies on a feeding and hydration tube to live. Some medical experts have ruled she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
In a decision upheld by an appeals court, Circuit Judge George Greer ruled there was clear and convincing evidence that Schiavo would not have wanted to be kept alive artificially despite her parent's arguments that she had no such end of life issues and could be rehabilitated.
The Florida Supreme Court twice declined to consider the legal battle between Schiavo's husband, Michael, and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
In October, Michael Schiavo withdrew his wife's feeding tube. In a remarkable week of emotion and political activism by her parents' supporters, Bush pushed "Terri's Law" through the Legislature and forced the reinsertion of the tube.
Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird ruled the law violated the privacy clause by allowing the governor to intervene in a person's private medical decision and violated the separation of powers because the governor used the law to override a court decision with which he did not agree.
The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland passed the case on to the high court in Tallahassee.
Terri Schiavo will not attend Tuesday's court proceedings. She will remain in the Clearwater nursing home where she is receiving care, while lawyers 200 miles away argue over the law that keeps her alive artificially. The high court has no deadline for issuing its decision.
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, has argued that what Bush has done amounts to force feeding Terri Schiavo. In court filings, Felos has argued the governor imposed his will upon her, regardless of what Terri Schiavo would have wanted.
In addition, Felos said the law violates the separation of powers because Bush used it to circumvent a properly issued court ruling reached after more than six years of litigation, scores of hearings and an appeals court review.
"At the end of the day, people have got to be allowed to refuse treatment and hasten their own deaths if that is what is their wish," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, which has joined with Michael Schiavo in suing the governor.
But attorney Ken Connor, who is representing Bush, counters that the law is an added layer of protection for the disabled in an unusual case where there is doubt about what the patient might have wanted.
In court papers, Connor argued that the judiciary is not the sole protector of the disabled and it is the governor's obligation to do so as well. He also argued that Judge Baird should not have struck down the law without the benefit of a trial.
Connor said there are many disputed facts in the case. Among those issues that need to be examined, Connor said, are Michael Schiavo's motivations in seeking to end his wife's life, a process which didn't begin until after the couple was awarded more than $1 million in a medical malpractice case. Most of the money was supposed to be used to care for Terri Schiavo for the remainder of her natural life.
The only people who have testified to hearing Terri Schiavo say she did not want to be kept alive artificially are Michael Schiavo's relatives.
Michael Schiavo has said he waited to communicate his wife's wishes because he held out hope for years she could be rehabilitated before becoming convinced she would not.
Nationwide groups also are weighing in on the constitutional fight.
The Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys, a group of 55 of the nation's leading bioethicists and Autonomy Inc., a group which supports the decision-making rights of the disabled, have filed briefs with the state Supreme Court in support of Michael Schiavo's position.
Supporting Bush are groups such as the Family Research Council, a Washington-based conservative Christian group, and Not Dead Yet, an Illinois-based advocacy organization for the severely disabled.
Diane Coleman, president of Not Dead Yet, said those who want to make it easier to end a disabled person's life have dismantled needed protections in the court system.
"They want to misuse the right of privacy to supplant the right of due process so they can kill behind the closed doors of a hospital room or a nursing home room," Coleman said. "We would compare this situation to a death penalty case where courts have dotted their i's and crossed their t's and still made a big mistake."
Ping
Florida Supreme Court - experts on things brain damaged.
Can anyone doubt that a majority of these popularly-elected ultraliberal Chiles-like FL judges have not made up their minds about this case YEARS ago?
The same Florida Supreme Court that ignored the law in the 2000 presidential election? ...With her fate in their hands that poor women is as good as dead.
Prayers for her and her parents.
MICHAEL SHIAVO WILL NOT ALLOW TERRI TO BE TAKEN OUTSIDE HER PRISON LIKE ROOM-FOR ANY REASON....ANY REASON....ANY REASON....
In NY this is CONSIDERED UNLAWFUL RESTRAINT BECAUSE THIS IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT.
BUT MICHAEL SHIAVO CLAIMS IT IS TO PROTECT HER PRIVACY!
SO HE CRUELLY KEEPS HER CONFINED IN HER ROOM---NO SUNSHINE EVER FALLS ON HER FACE....NO KITTENS ARE EVER PLACED INTO HER ARMS....SHE IS NOT ALLOWED TO BE WHEELED TO THE LOBBY TO SEE THE ANIMAL SHOWS, THE MUSIC SHOWS PROVIDED THERE>>>>
PRIVACY LAWS MY SWEET SWEET ARSE!!!!
TERRI SHIAVO IS BEING HELD IN SOLITARY CONFINEMENT EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF HER LIFE///AND HAS BEEN FOR FOURTEEN YEARS!
MICHAEL SHIAVO HAS USED A SICK INTERPRETATION OF THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY LAW TO INFLICT A TORTURE SO EXQUISITE UPON HIS WIFE WHO LIES SO LONELY IN A ROOM WITHOUT ANY PHYSICAL STIMULATION OR THERAPY....
WORSE THAT ABU GARIBE!!!
WHERE IN THE HECK IS THE FLORIDA STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT_---ARE THEY AFRAID OF HELPING TERRI BECAUSE FELOS AND MICHAEL HAVE made sure that TERRI IS UNDER THE CONTROL OF HOSPICE----which means THEY CAN DICTATE THE MEDICAL ASPECTS?
NO ONE IN FLORIDA SHOULD ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN.
IF EVER THERE WAS A CASE THAT CRIED OUT FOR SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING IMMEDIATELY TO HELP A GENUINE VICTEM IN OUR MIDST...it is this case.
Privacy?????
hardly
Hell is MORE LIKE IT!
ping
Please pray believing that The One who created this beautiful woman is able to take care of her now.
If I was the father of Terri, I'd be awaiting the death penalty. And Terri would be a widow.
It's gone on long enough.
I would not murder, but if I lived down there. I would get a job where Terri resides. I would look in on her...I would comfort her....I would talk to her...I would annotate everything I am aware that MS does to encourage the breaking of Terri's spirit. I would quietly report to the Schindlers EVERY tidbit of information I could gleen. I would support Terri in everyway possible.
Perhaps there's a break in the armor.
Lord, guide the minds that make decisions and spare the life of this, your daughter.
In Jesus name and for His sake, Amen.
I'll be praying for her. However, I don't have much hope when it comes to the Florida Supreme Court
>"At the end of the day, people have got to be allowed to >refuse treatment and hasten their own deaths if that is what >is their wish,"
Noone is saying you can't, the law just should require that it be in writing and notarized BEFORE something happens. Not some afterthought of a newly rich, practically remarried spouse.
You would be fired immediately. That has happened before and the women no longer worked there. Schiavo's attorney is on the board for the hospice she is in.
Why even have a hearing. They know and we know what the outcome will be. Might as well just send it on up.
Bump for prayers for Terri, her family and her attorney.
This will be the Governor's chance to imitate Pilate.
The hour approaches, Merciful Father, when Terri's life is put before the highest court in Florida. We do not know the outcome, but we know the Righteous Judge. We do not know the Justices, but we know that You have admonished those in judicial positions to rule wisely and well. We pray that the Power of the Holy Spirit will overtake each one ... that their hearts and minds will be open to the arguments put forth for Terri's Law. Bind the enemy of life, that Governor Bush will prevail. Let not this mother's child be set aside for death, but sweep away the merchants of death, instead. The sheer numbers who would have her die are astounding ... so seemingly few are those who plead for her life.
But David needed nothing but a sling shot ... Gideon but a few men. Terri has all she needs ... Your infinite love and care ... her devoted family ... her faithful legal team ... all who whisper her sweet name before the Throne of Grace. Break these shackles that bind her, O God ... set her free from this prison made by man ... return her to the love and care of her family. Proclaim that those in positions of authority must protect the most innocent, the most vulnerable. Sustain her family in the days ahead ... protect them from the deepest anguish and despair ... shower them with a heavenly calm, for in Your hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. In the Name of Jesus, I pray, Amen ...
Oh this isn't good. That Florida court is as corrupt and liberal as they come.
You are right. For more information on Terri- there is a website called terrisfight. Has many excellent sources on the legal issues. It also exposes how much of a slimeball her so called husband is.
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