TERRI SCHINDLER SCHIAVO JANUARY 2005 Dailies: News Digest, Restating the Obvious & Thank Yous...

The Terri Schindler Schiavo Daily Threads are created month to month as we watch local and national news regarding Terri and her family.

Since Terri's supporters are in every time zone, you may see something FIRST. Please share news with us that you don't see here already. Now, why would you want to do that? Terri's Daily Thread for September/October of 2004 was viewed over 15,000 times. Terri's November Daily Thread was viewed over 6,000 times. December's thread is over 3,000 views.

More and more good folks are finding out about Terri and that judicial tyranny would take her life, but for lots and lots of prayer and non-stop lobbying of relatives, friends, clergy, our leaders, the media, a passerby, a cashier - ANYONE who you feel comfortable chatting with.

Folks always want to know how can this be in America or on earth for that matter? Unfortunately, this is really happening to an innocent woman who just celebrated her 41st birthday. She's not the only one but she's the one with devoted parents and siblings who knows what's in Terri's heart. Terri has a strong will to live. That's apparent. It's been 14 years.

Besides, feeding tubes have been around practically since the Civil War. They are not high tech devices. Terri is "not hooked up to machines". Her feeding tube is the diameter of a piece of spaghetti.

Talkin' about Terri is the best way to lobby for her. It is a salespitch to save her life and subsequently, many lives. If you've never sold anything in your life, START NOW. START WITH TERRI.

See Terri's flash movies if you need more information. You can see for yourself that's she's interactive and follows the doctor's instructions.

NOTE: Terri's December Dailies are noted as a source above. There are lots of important links at the very top of that thread. If you missed Terri's Celebration of Life, you can click on it from there.

I took the liberty of editing this for the author. I hope no one minds.

>>Since 1990, Terri Schiavo has lived in a Florida nursing home

She was relocated to a Hospice without required court approval in 2000 and has been confined to a single room ever since.

>>in what doctors describe as "a persistent vegetative state."

In what 3 doctors call a persistent vegetative state and what 12 doctors say is a misdiagnosis.

>>Her name has become famous, thanks to the seven-year legal battle over whether she should be allowed to die.

Her name because famous when her husband entered into a $20 million dollar medical malpractice suit against her insurance provider for rehab benefits and two doctors - one of which has been cleared by the Florida Department of Health of any negligence or malpractice.

>>Her husband long ago persuaded the Florida courts she wouldn't have wanted to exist this way.

By the way of testimony that was inadmissible under Florida's 90 section of statutes that state a beneficiary may not give testimony as to an incapacitated or deceased person's oral declarations.

>>Her parents, however, appealed. They are devout, right-to-life Catholics who believe that, with the appropriate therapy, she will recover.

They have also been advised by doctors and neurologists that she can improve. It is not a belief - it is doctor recommendation.

>>So they and political activists, many allied with anti-abortion causes, got Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida legislators to intervene.

Disability advocacy groups upwards of 15 filed amicus curiae on behalf of Terri Schiavo, people from all walks of life supported her retained rights under Florida law.

>>Lawmakers and Mr. Bush concocted a special law to override the legal decision that Ms. Schiavo's husband had made -- a law that was clearly unconstitutional, since it applied only to Ms. Schiavo.

Mr. Bush concocted nothing. He has no law-making abilities. Terri's Bill was originally written by attorneys who specialize in statutory and constitutional law. It was then sponsered by members of the Senate.

>>But the case isn't over. Ms. Schiavo's parents are appealing on other grounds. Their hopes for their daughter's recovery may be unrealistic, but they, at least, are motivated by love.

And the law. It's illegal to starve and dehydrate a human being to death in the state of Florida. Only if an irreversible condition of permanent unconsciousness and a written directive or clear and convincing evidence of a declared directive can such an action take place. None of the above exist here.

>>Religious zealots and conservative politicians have milked this family's suffering and disagreement to further their own causes.

What causes? Protecting the life of a disabled person? Why no mention of the disability advocates who did the same things? Why no mention of the people from non-religious and non-political groups or the medical community who did the same things?

Talk about furthering your own causes.

>>Meanwhile, they have portrayed Ms. Schiavo's husband as a villain, first for seeking peace for his wife and later for developing a relationship with another woman.

HELLO YOU BLITHERING TART!!!!! He received a bankroll in January of 1993 and ordered that doctors not treat a UTI in August of 1993. Do you honestly find that behavior benign????

And, by the by, in Florida, being married to one woman and starting a family with another is grounds for a dissolution of marriage. I suppose this author reserves that right for able-bodied people only.

It doesn't take a great man to knock boots with someone else whilst he's married. It takes a great man to own up to his commitments or have spine enough to quit when he's hurting others.

>>But wanting peace for a spouse who is in a persistent vegetative state isn't villainous.

www.zimp.org/cycle.html will tell you just how peaceful death by dehydration is.

>>The villains in this case are the demagogues who have taken advantage of this family's agony for their own political purposes.

She must be referring to herself. The Florida lawmakers acted in an appropriate fashion.

>>For 15 years, Terri Schiavo and her family have suffered. When those opportunists barged in, they made the situation worse.

Right. They saved her life. Those rotten, rotten people!!!

>>The courts have rightly ruled that the politicians must butt out. So should everyone else.

Yourself included you uneducated, unenlightened, selfish and unethical attention ho. Talk truth or don't talk.

RE: Opinion-Journal.com---"Exploiting tragedy"

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050128/OPINION01/501280398

How about the following?:

===========================================

Dear Editor,

Your blatant ignorance about the Terri Schindler Schiavo case is INEXCUSABLE!

Contrary to your mistaken belief, Terri is NOT in a "persistent vegetative state." Indeed, Terri is not in ANY "vegetative" state!

Why have you completely FAILED to do your homework about such an important issue? This is NOT just about Terri! Her fate has ramifications for ALL Americans!

Is it not important to our judicial system to ensure that FRAUD is not perpetrated upon the courts in order to bring about the BRUTAL EXECUTION of an INNOCENT, DISABLED person, who may have become disabled as a DIRECT RESULT of a possible BOTCHED ATTEMPTED MURDER? Not even a cat or dog may starved and dehydrated!

Shouldn't suspicious circumstances surrounding a healthy young wife's sudden "collapse" be investigated, especially when top Doctors and EVIDENCE point to STRANGULATION??? Does Walker Railey ring a bell to you?

http://www.handwriting.org/archives/99may_03.html
http://www.wfn.org/1997/03/msg00025.html
http://www.wfn.org/1997/02/msg00027.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1329447/posts?page=30#26
http://www.terrisfight.org

INVESTIGATE MICHAEL SCHIAVO, JUDGES GREER AND BAIRD, AND THE CAUSE OF TERRI'S CONDITION--NOW!!!

==================================================

Care to add your voice?

http://www.courier-journal.com/cjconnect/edletter.htm

May I just say....Well said, Mr Jeffery!

Quote from the article:
"But the key point is not disputed: Terri is unlikely to die soon unless deprived of food and water. Indeed, the purpose of depriving her of food and water is to kill her."

"This is not about withholding desperate and disproportionate medical treatment from a patient destined to die of a terminal illness. Ironically, if Terri were sure to die of disease tomorrow, the purpose of denying her water today would disappear."

Good article...

------

Save Terri Schiavo

By Terence P. Jeffrey

Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature may not know it, but they acted in the spirit of Sir Philip Sidney when they tried to save the life of Terri Schiavo.

When Sidney, a young warrior and poet in the court of Queen Elizabeth I, was mortally wounded in battle, legend has it he passed up a drink of water in deference to a common soldier who lay nearby in the throes of death. "Thy need is greater than mine," Sidney told the dying man.

After his own lingering death, Sidney's body was brought back to England, where he was given a state funeral and held up by his countrymen as a model of virtue to be emulated by all.

Today, Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, is trying to take an action that would reverse Sidney's. Rather than provide water to a stranger about to die, he wants to deny water to his own wife who persists in living. Since 1998, contrary to the wishes of Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, Mr. Schiavo has been seeking to remove the nutrition-and-hydration tube that sustains Terri, who became mentally incapacitated 15 years ago when her heart temporarily stopped beating.

On Sept. 17, 2003, a Florida court authorized Mr. Schiavo to remove his wife's tube. On Oct. 15, 2003, the tube was removed and Terri began a slow death by dehydration. Six days later, Gov. Bush signed a law enacted by the Florida Legislature allowing him to issue a one-time stay of the court order that authorized removal of Terri's nutrition-and-hydration tube. Mr. Bush ordered the tube restored, and Terri is alive today.

This week, however, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to accept Mr. Bush's appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision that overturned what became known as Terri's Law. Other litigation in the case will continue, but so far the courts have consistently sided with starving and dehydrating Terri Schiavo.

The courts, however, are wrong. And the Florida Legislature should not stop fighting them.

The disputants in Terri Schiavo's case disagree on her condition and prognosis. As noted in the petition Gov. Bush made to the Supreme Court, some say "Terri Schiavo is not actually in a persistent vegetative state because she is able to interact with her visitors and caregivers."

But the key point is not disputed: Terri is unlikely to die soon unless deprived of food and water. Indeed, the purpose of depriving her of food and water is to kill her.

This is not about withholding desperate and disproportionate medical treatment from a patient destined to die of a terminal illness. Ironically, if Terri were sure to die of disease tomorrow, the purpose of denying her water today would disappear.

At its core, this case is about whether one person can make a judgment that another person's "quality" of life justifies taking that other person's life. What is at stake for society here was explained in a brief presented to the Supreme Court by the Catholic Medical Association (Terri Schiavo is a Catholic), which cited a letter published last March by Pope John Paul II saying it is wrong to withhold food and water even from someone believed to be in a persistent vegetative state.

"However, it is not enough to reaffirm the general principle according to which the value of a man's life cannot be made subordinate to any judgment of its quality expressed by other men," the pope said. "It is necessary to promote the taking of positive actions as a stand against pressures to withdraw hydration and nutrition as a way to put an end to the lives of these patients."

The principle the pope defends is not new. It is the same principle President Bush defended when he addressed the March for Life via phone on Monday. "We know that in a culture that does not protect the most dependent," Mr. Bush said, "the handicapped, the elderly, the unloved or simply inconvenient become increasingly vulnerable."

And it is the same principle Sir Philip Sidney acted on when he sent his drink of water to a dying soldier. All human life is sacred because God made it so, and no man can change that.

Florida's Legislature should not surrender this principle to the courts. Inspired by Terri Schiavo, it should enact a new law. This time, it should simply say: You may not kill a person through starvation or dehydration.

Terence P. Jeffrey is a nationally syndicated columnist.

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