Terri Schiavo's Feeding Tube Remains, Husband Can't Starve Her Yet (Quotes)

LifeNews.com ^ | February 21, 2005 | Steven Ertelt

[nickcarraway]

Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- A local judge has ruled that the estranged husband of Terri Schiavo cannot starve her to death tomorrow and has set a hearing this week to determine if he should be prevent from doing so while her parents continue their legal battle to save her life.

Michael Schiavo intended to remove Terri's feeding tube on Tuesday afternoon once a Florida appeals court finalizes its decision against Terri's parents Bob and Mary Schindler.

The Schindlers has hoped to convince the court that starving Terri to death would violate her religious liberties. As a Catholic, the Schindlers contend Terri would not want to have her life ended.

The Schindlers are planning to take that fight to the Supreme Court and, while they appeal, they want Michael prevented from ending Terri's life.

On Monday afternoon, Circuit Court Judge George Greer ruled that Michael will have to wait until he can hold a hearing on whether to allow the stay preventing the starvation to continue. Judge Greer set a date for a hearing on Wednesday.

While Terri is not on artificial life support and can breathe on her own, she requires a gastric tube to provide her with food and water. Should that be removed, she will die from a painful 7 to 10-day long starvation death.

George Felos, the euthanasia advocate who is Michael's lead attorney, has instructed him to remove the feeding tube as soon as he is legally authorized.

In addition to their legal fight, the Schindlers have brought in pro-life activist Randall Terry to encourage grassroots support on Terri's behalf.

"If Michael Schiavo has Terri's feeding tube removed, we will respond with an avalanche of activism to save Terri from death by starvation," Terry said Monday afternoon. "Why is Michael determined to starve this woman? Why won't he just give Terri back to her parents?"

Related web sites: http://www.terrisfight.orghttp://www.terrisfight.org

[amdgmary]

"Since when has nourishment been categorized as artificial life support?"

In 1999, Florida ruled that receiving food and hydration from a feeding tube was considered "artificial life support."

[VaBthang4]

"Don't bother to reply, thang--you are on my precious ignore list."

Your loss...Praiz'm!

[WestVirginiaRebel]

You sound like either a member of a cult masquerading as a Church or a troll. Either way, I think you've worn out your welcome.

[ViLaLuz]

"I mean, she is important to Jesus but this phony religion crowd needs to get over itself."

Who is the "phony religious crowd" you are speaking of?

[STARWISE]

"Since when has nourishment been categorized as artificial life support?"

In 1999, Florida ruled that receiving food and hydration from a feeding tube was considered "artificial life support."

I had no idea! That law needs to be changed. Anything being done in FL to amend that?

[Freepertwo]

Indeed.

Let's see now...phony religious crowd. Would that be the "church" member who claims to worship Jesus yet advocates murder, or those who are working tirelessly with tears and heart felt anguish for someone being cruelly treated? Hmmm...let me ponder this just a wee bit longer...

[BykrBayb]

And coincidentally enough, Felos was instrumental in pushing that change through.

[STARWISE]

Why am I not shocked?? He's a disease.

[amdgmary]

Today, the 2nd DCA denied the Schindlers' motion to withhold their mandate, which is expected to be issued tomorrow morning, Tuesday - February 22, 2005.

Upon learning of this, attorney George Felos contacted the Schindlers' attorney to inform him that he intended to instruct the staff at Hospice to remove Terri Schiavo's food and fluids at 1.00pm ET on Tuesday, February 22.

The Schindlers' attorney, David Gibbs, filed an emergency motion today for clarification and temporary stay, asking that the court direct no further action be taken until the rescheduled hearing on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at 2.45pm ET. Mr. Gibbs also asked Mr. Felos if he and his client would refrain from instructing caregivers to remove food and fluids from Terri. Mr. Felos refused, stating that he was under instructions from his client.

Judge George Greer has declined to rule on the Schindlers' motion for clarification and stay until 1.00pm tomorrow, the same time Mr. Felos has declared Terri's tube will be removed. It is the opinion of the Schindlers and their attorneys that Mr. Schiavo has no authority to instruct such an action without a specific court order that mandates the date and time of such action. Mr. Felos does not agree.

Mr. Felos also wrote to the Judge Greer, claiming he no longer had jurisdiction and that his client will have Terri's tube removed.

Related Documents:

Emergency motion for clarification and stay - http://www.terrisfight.org/documents/022105emmot.pdf
2nd DCA's denial of motion to withhold stay - http://www.terrisfight.org/documents/0221052dca.pdf
Felos' Letter to Judge Greer- http://www.terrisfight.org/documents/022105felos.pdf

[nmh]

Look at how liberals carry on about their own?

Christopher Reed? Willing to take embryonic stem cells to get well and liberals had NO problem with this. What about this other freak, Stephen Hawkins? THey should have murdered him long ago. He just lays around.

[Theodore R.]

Which Jesus do you worship again?

Sadly, most Americans don't know much about Jesus at all -- certainly not the facts of his life and ministry or the only way to redemption that he offers.

[ViLaLuz]

Looking at the posts here, it appears this poster is a troll getting his jollies spinning people up.

[trustandobey]

Words can't describe how sick these people are! Praying and trusting that someone who can will put an end to this.

[Lauren BaRecall]

Thanks!

[Theodore R.]

It is now my understanding that Michael R. Schiavo will have the feeding tube removed at 2 p.m. Tuesday (in honor of George Washington!) and refuses to wait any longer on George W. Greer. Could Schiavo and Felos be growing tired of Greer's unwanted stays? Apparently Schiavo and Felos are wagging the tail of the "dog" George W. Greer. People must be in long-term insanity.

[Old Professer]

A single human life is but a flicker in the candle, a breath of death extinguishes the light; we must keep the flame intact.

[trustandobey]

He is just crazy! Yes, I suspect they are afraid that sooner or later someone is going to stop this. They have a lot to lose, but they have even more to lose if they succeed. They repulse me. They have no knowledge of The Lord, they rejoice in iniquity. The one thing that makes it all bearable is that
The Lord is a righteous judge and I'm more than certain that this will not go unanswered. This goes as well to those who have the authority to stop it. I fear for them as well.

[STARWISE]

I am amazed when I think of the disability of this world-renowned genius and how his illness has affected him physically to the point where he cannot speak, yet he is lauded by the world for his profound intelligence .. and then I think of Terri, not that she possesses that level of intelligence, but she is also a disabled human being just like Stephen Hawking:

Excerpt:

In the Stars: Hawking's beautiful mind

By Phil Berardelli
Science & Technology Editor

Washington, DC, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- There are very few people on this planet who would qualify as living legends, and fewer still who can live up to expectations, but Stephen Hawking sits at or near the top in that rarified company, propelled to prominence by the incredible power of his mind -- and his surprising and disarming sense of humor.

The Smithsonian Institution presented Hawking with its James Smithson Bicentennial Medal on Monday evening. The medal, originally struck in 1965 -- on the 200th anniversary of the birth of the eponymous institution's founder -- has been given to people who have fulfilled the somewhat vague criterion of making "distinguished contributions to the advancement of areas of interest to the Smithsonian." In the past 40 years, that has covered a wide range, from singer Rosemary Clooney to undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau to filmmaker Steven Spielberg.

In Hawking's case, the area of interest is cosmology. More than any other human being in the past half-century -- this coming April marking the 50th anniversary of Albert Einstein's death -- Hawking has expanded our understanding of the universe, both in its probable beginning and its possible destiny.

Hawking is unique, not only a worthy successor to Einstein, but also a fitting one, because the two men share a penchant for deep thought. Hawking's may have been forced -- for nearly 40 years, he has suffered from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which has reduced his physical capacity to only the slightest movements -- but in this age of supercomputers and particle accelerators, his theories have been validated time and time again by experiments.

He is, as a colleague once described him, "a totally cerebral man."

= = = = = = =

From Stephen Hawkings webpage

{snip}

"Up to 1974, I was able to feed myself, and get in and out of bed. Jane managed to help me, and bring up the children, without outside help. However, things were getting more difficult, so we took to having one of my research students living with us. In return for free accommodation, and a lot of my attention, they helped me get up and go to bed. In 1980, we changed to a system of community and private nurses, who came in for an hour or two in the morning and evening. This lasted until I caught pneumonia in 1985. I had to have a tracheostomy operation. After this, I had to have 24 hour nursing care. This was made possible by grants from several foundations.

Before the operation, my speech had been getting more slurred, so that only a few people who knew me well, could understand me. But at least I could communicate. I wrote scientific papers by dictating to a secretary, and I gave seminars through an interpreter, who repeated my words more clearly. However, the tracheostomy operation removed my ability to speak altogether. For a time, the only way I could communicate was to spell out words letter by letter, by raising my eyebrows when someone pointed to the right letter on a spelling card.

It is pretty difficult to carry on a conversation like that, let alone write a scientific paper. However, a computer expert in California, called Walt Woltosz, heard of my plight. He sent me a computer program he had written, called Equalizer. This allowed me to select words from a series of menus on the screen, by pressing a switch in my hand. The program could also be controlled by a switch, operated by head or eye movement. When I have built up what I want to say, I can send it to a speech synthesizer.

At first, I just ran the Equalizer program on a desk top computer. However David Mason, of Cambridge Adaptive Communication, fitted a small portable computer and a speech synthesizer to my wheel chair. This system allowed me to communicate much better than I could before. I can manage up to 15 words a minute. I can either speak what I have written, or save it on disk. I can then print it out, or call it back, and speak it sentence by sentence. Using this system, I have written a book, and dozens of scientific papers. I have also given many scientific and popular talks. They have all been well received.

I think that is in a large part due to the quality of the speech synthesizer, which is made by Speech Plus. One's voice is very important. If you have a slurred voice, people are likely to treat you as mentally deficient: Does he take sugar? This synthesizer is by far the best I have heard, because it varies the intonation, and doesn't speak like a Dalek. The only trouble is that it gives me an American accent. However, the company is working on a British version.

I have had motor neurone disease for practically all my adult life. Yet it has not prevented me from having a very attractive family, and being successful in my work. This is thanks to the help I have received from Jane, my children, and a large number of other people and organisations. I have been lucky, that my condition has progressed more slowly than is often the case. But it shows that one need not lose hope. Stephen Hawking"

= = = = = = =

Amazing, isn't it? Good thing Felos doesn't live in the UK, eh? God Bless Terri and her family. Fight, Terri, fight on!

[trustandobey]

E-mail to Crist was returned. E-mails to Jeb still going through

[amdgmary]

Wonderful article on Stephen Hawking. Thank you