Posted on 12/29/2004 7:16:22 AM PST by floriduh voter
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.
Visit: http://www.terrisfight.org
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 don't remember, Will read the interview again.
Larry King Live
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/27/lkl.00.html
Wasn't she being fed by mouth in the early years after her collapse?
I would like to know who administered the tests. She evidently hasn't had one recently.
It would still be interesting to find out how many people who are given the test and can swallow their own saliva, are said to fail the test. Is Terri an anomaly or is this common for someone to fail the test who has the ability to swallow their own saliva without a suction tube in place.
Any health professionals out there who know anything about this test?
Also didn't her guardian ad litem put in his report that she should be given a current test before the state proceeds to starve her?
Judge Greer decided to ignore this recommendation. I think Judge Greer is skating on thin ice.
What authority does Judge Greer have to deny Terri the right to be fed orally?
I bet they had her on drugs when they administered the tests.
I'm posting these May 7, 2001 & May 8, 2001 clips from Ch.10. I have'nt watch in some while now.
http://www.floridaneurologicalinstitute.com/schiavo_channel10_may7,8,2001.htm
Here's a link for all the different types of swallowing tests they can do now. I think that Terri had the simple barium ones performed, and I don't remember where I last saw it, but I believe that the last one was performed in 1993. I don't recall if I read that in court documents or if that was something I learned from the Schindlers. Maybe Jay Wolfson't initial report to Gov. Bush? I could also be mistaken about the date, but that's the year I'm recalling. I think I remember reading that her tube was put in fairly early, before the malpractice trial was over. Still, it would behoove us to look back into the records again and see what we can find.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=swallowing+test&btnG=Google+Search
"Here's a link for all the different types of swallowing tests they can do now. I think that Terri had the simple barium ones performed, and I don't remember where I last saw it, but I believe that the last one was performed in 1993."
Thanks, that's interesting about newer tests available now. I just don't want us to skip over anything that could help Terri.
I don't agree wiht Jay W. that the parents have to agree with the decision to kill Terri if she can't swallow, but at least he didn't want to kill her without performing a test. He's been mixing apples and oranges -- whether it was Terri's will to be starved to death and her level of quality of life are two different issues.
But shouldn't a husband's statement of his wife's wishes have significant weight?
Michael Schiavo lives in an openly-adulterous relationship with Jodi Centonze, by whom he has fathered at least two children. He has openly stated his desire and intention to marry Jodi as soon as his wife is dead. To suggest that a man who has openly stated his intentions to marry another woman should have any authority whatsoever over his wife is to make a mockery out of marriage.
Why should Michael have to stay married to some vegetable? Why shouldn't he be able to find happiness with another woman?
He is free to find happiness with another woman. All he has to do is divorce Terri. Or, if he were to release guardianship, a new guardian would seek divorce on Terri's behalf (and almost certainly receive it). Terri's supporters aren't complaining that Michael is starting a new family. What they're complaining about is that he has, to date, refused to release the old one.
Why are Terri's parents spreading rumors about Michael rather than presenting their issues in court?
Terri's parents don't have full legal standing in most court cases; they may petition as friends of the court, but their authority is limitted. In nearly all cases involving Terri, there are no principle parties who don't want Terri dead.
Terri's parents would have full legal standing in a case to challenge Michael's guardianship. They filed such a challenge in November of 2003--more than two years ago. Unfortunately, Judge George Greer has granted perpetual continuances to Michael Schiavo. Further, when Michael has refused to appear for required depositions, George Greer simply cancelled them without charging Michael with contempt or doing anything else of consequence.
If Michael would like to put the "rumors" about him to rest by actually appearing for a deposition, he is more than free to do so. Given that he refuses to do so, however, I see no reason why his behavior should be given a free pass.
But isn't Terri just a vegetable anyway?
It's unclear what Terri's exact condition is. Doctors who have been hired by Michael Schiavo or Judge George Greer seem to think she's in a persistent vegetative state, but other doctors who have examined her or seen videos of her state that there is no way she is in a persistent vegetative state; people in PVS don't act like Terri does on the videos.
As to those who would question whether videos are adequate for diagnosis, I would offer the following analogy: suppose someone showed you a somewhat fuzzy Polaroid of a painting that was supposedly by Rembrandt; the painting clearly depicts an IMac, complete with the Apple logo. Suppose further that a few experts hired by the painting's owner confirmed, after examining the painting, that it was a genuine Rembrandt, and a dozen experts who examined the blurry Polaroid declared it was a fake. Whose opinion would be more credible--the people who examined the actual picture, or the ones who merely examined the blurry Polaroid?
Further, it should be noted that until Michael Schiavo received a malpractice award (which gave $300,000 to him for loss of consortium and $750,000 to Terri for her continued care) he gave Terri treatment and therapy which appeared to have some degree of success; such treatments and therapy were stopped as soon as the malpractice award was issued. Any decline in Terri's condition since then is almost certainly a result of Michael's willful mistreatment of her.
Yes, but didn't Terri say she didn't want to be 'hooked up to tubes'?
According to Michael, Terri's remark was made after Terri watched a movie about Karen Ann Quinlan. At the time of the legal battle over her treatment, Ms. Quinlan was on a respirator. After a judge ordered that life support be discontinued, Karen An Quinlan started breathing on her own; she lived for years after that.
If anything, Terri's desire not to be hooked up to tubes would seem to be a desire to be weaned off them. Not by death, but by useful therapy. Unfortunately, for many years, Michael has forbidden anyone from making any effort to give Terri food or water by mouth, or from giving her any sort of therapy whatsoever. If Terri had been on a ventilator, rather than on a feeding tube, Michael's interpretation of her remarks would not be to remove the ventilator and see if she can start breathing on her own, but rather to remove the ventilator and smother her to ensure that she couldn't start breathing on her own.
Further, a feeding tube isn't something one is "hooked up to" in the same way one would be a ventilator, heart-lung machine, or other life support apparatus. A feeding tube is an implanted device that allows food to be put into the stomach without going through the esophagus. When one is fed (about 3 times/day), a container of food is attached for a few minutes. Otherwise, there's nothing external attached.
But haven't dozens of judges agreed with everything Michael has said
There has only been one trial-court judge who has agreed with what Michael has been saying and doing: Judge George Greer. All of the other judges who have agreed with Michael have been appeals court judges. Although it is commonly perceived that appeals court judges are "more powerful" than trial court judges, this is often not the case. If a trial court judge fails to accept a piece of evidence that contradicts his findings, an appeals court can order him to consider it. If, however, the trial court judge claims that he looked at the piece of evidence but found it unconvincing, the appeals court can do nothing.
What right did Jeb Bush have to butt into things
Jeb Bush saw that a woman was about to be killed by Michael Schiavo, George Felos, and George Greer in a manner contrary to the laws and constitution of the state of Florida. Jeb Bush's job (and sworn duty) is to uphold the constitution and laws. Whether or not he's the person who should have been responsible for protecting Terri, the task fell to him as a matter of default: somebody had to do it, and nobody else did.
So what happens now
Who knows? Perhaps some officials can try to investigate what is really going on in this case. So many aspects of it stink that somebody should notice something.
But George W. Greer flatly refused any feeding or water by mouth effective Oct. 15, 2003.
BINGO!!! You nailed it! According to a source I read (but don't recall which one right now), it WAS for the convenience of the nurses.
I also believe that it was put in so he could claim she didn't want to be hooked to "tubes" so he could have her MURDERED by the starvation and dehydration by the state.
I read it here--
http://www.libertytothecaptives.net/terri_swallows_pictures_don't_lie.html
This is on Terri's site. I didn't see it before.
It basically, says the same thing about denying her food and water. There is so much injustice in this case, it's hard to keep up with every issue.
"MYTH: Removal of food was both legal and court-ordered.
FACT: The courts had only allowed removal of Terri's feeding tube, not regular food and water. Terri's husband illegally ordered this. The law only allows the removal of "life-prolonging procedures," not regular food and water:
Florida Statute 765.309 Mercy killing or euthanasia not authorized; suicide distinguished. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to condone, authorize, or approve mercy killing or euthanasia, or to permit any affirmative or deliberate act or omission to end life other than to permit the natural process of dying."
Thanks for finding Dr. Hammesfahr's quote.
...and the article I posted above...goes on to say..."The insertion of the feeding tube provided the very pretext with which he is using to try to end her life. It is Michael Schiavo, not Terri, who needs the feeding tube."
Welcome. Now I have to watch the videos (post 1964) and see what was/wasn't said. All this gets so scrambled up for me at times.
"Yes, but didn't Terri say she didn't want to be 'hooked up to tubes'?"
I think it was another movie her husband claims they watched.
Terri watched the Karen Ann Quinlan movie with a girlfriend and basically said the opposite of what Michael claims.
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/24/schiavo.profile.ap/
"Before fight over death, Terri Schiavo had a life:
PINELLAS PARK, Florida (AP) -- Diane Meyer can recall only one time that her best friend, Terri Schiavo, really got angry with her. It was in 1981, and it haunts her still.
The recent high school graduates had just seen a television movie about Karen Ann Quinlan, who had been in a coma since collapsing six years earlier and was the subject of a bitter court battle over her parents' decision to take her off a respirator. Meyer says she told a cruel joke about Quinlan, and it set Terri off.
"She went down my throat about this joke, that it was inappropriate," Meyer says. She remembers Terri saying she wondered how the doctors and lawyers could possibly know what Quinlan was really feeling or what she would want.
"Where there's life," Meyer recalls her saying, "there's hope."
Very well done. Thank you!
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