Posted on 03/01/2005 4:58:13 AM PST by mware
Terri Schiavo's Parents Seek Divorce on Her Behalf
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
March 01, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - Terri Schindler Schiavo's parents have asked Florida's Second District Court of Appeals to grant their daughter a divorce from her husband, Michael Schiavo. They charge him with a conflict of interest based on alleged adultery.
When Robert and Mary Schindler made the plea Monday to Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Judge George Greer, he refused to accept any new filings in the case that are unrelated to plans for Terri's death.
Greer instructed Michael Schiavo to wait until March 18 to remove his wife's feeding and hydration tube, beginning the process of ending her life by dehydration and starvation. When David Gibbs III, the Schindler family attorney, tried to file some 15 new motions in the case, Greer refused to accept any that were not related directly to Terri's planned death, including the divorce petition.
But Terri's father, Robert Schindler, said the divorce petition must be considered in order to protect Terri from Michael Schiavo.
"We have filed divorce proceedings because of his total disregard for Terri as his wife," Mr. Schindler said. "He's married to Terri, but he's living with another woman and has two children by her.
"It has become quite obvious that his priorities are not what's in Terri's best interests," Mr. Schindler added.
George Felos, Schiavo's attorney, told the Associated Press, "I think everyone knows the parents are going to try anything, including throwing in the kitchen sink, to frustrate the court's final judgment."
But Gibbs countered that for Terri, "Remaining married to (Michael Schiavo) is an embarrassment."
Michael Schiavo announced his "engagement" in 1997 to the woman with whom he has since fathered two children and currently lives. Since that time, he has referred to the woman as his "fianc\'e9e" while remaining married to Terri, the Schindlers argue, so that he can continue to deny her rehabilitation and other therapy and to control her estate.
The motions Greer did agree to consider include requests concerning what might be the final days of Terri's life and the period immediately following her death. The Schindler family wants to be able to take photographs with Terri, something Michael Schiavo has forbidden with Greer's approval. They also want some members of the press to be present while they interact with their daughter to document her actual condition.
Robert and Mary Schindler also want Terri to be allowed to die at their home rather than in the hospice where she currently lives. They have also asked that her body be released to them for burial after her death. Michael Schiavo has made arrangements for Terri's body to be cremated immediately upon her death.
The Schindler family is appealing the new motions in Terri's case to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well.
If Terri's nutrition and hydration is discontinued March 18 in accordance with Judge Greer's instructions, doctors expect her to die from dehydration within a week to ten days. She could potentially survive as long as two weeks, long enough for the effects of starvation to set in.
The feeding tube has been removed twice in the past, once for two days and another time for six days.
Terri Schindler Schiavo suffered a brain injury in 1990 under questionable circumstances. Some physicians claim that her condition is a "persistent vegetative state" brought on by oxygen depravation following a heart attack that occurred as the result of a potassium imbalance caused by an eating disorder.
Other doctors have argued that there is physical evidence of an assault or abuse and that Terri's brain injury is the result of that alleged crime. Felos has denied that Michael Schiavo ever abused or assaulted his wife.
LOL, now there's some cautious reporting!
Already posted.
This is so sick. I've only been catching little quips here and there, but man. All of these people in her life acting the way they do. It's no wonder she doesn't want to wake up! (and no, I'm not kidding) She is on her DEATH BED and we got this family and the press swamping her like sharks on a bleeding fish!
If she had some way of knowing what was going on out here I'd imagine she'd divorce her husband, change her name, and skip town. Her folks seem to be good enough people, it's the rest of the jackles.
a very sick and valid point. the way the cookies crumble when right is wrong, wrong is right....oy....
These assertions, which, of course, you have no way of proving, are the very presumptions used to justify starving her to death. How can possibly think you know any of this?
You are damning everyone. Her family has fought like hell to get her treatment, to save her life. Why on earth would you put them in the same category as her husband?
The natural impulse is to just say "they are all terrible" and avoid looking at the case. Look at it and I think you would retract your case.
Didn't say they were "all terrible"
Her husband is just soaking up this national media attention. He obviously doesn't care about her. That's why I stated her folks seem like good people. They are looking out for her.
I know her case, and it is sad, but why the hell does the media have to make her entire life public? Especially since she has no way of knowing whats going on.
She has been in the coma for HOW LONG now? At what point do you say "OK God, you win."?
It is entirely likely that that is going to be her death bed, regardless of when the plug is pulled. I'm not saying either way they should take her off or leave her on. It's something I think people can only call on an individual basis.
However, my claim that she is surrounded by people I promise she would have left (if she had any horse-sense, I don't know her personally) still stands.
Peterson gets TWO murder counts and one is an infant that never took a breath ... this friggin' pig comes on like a Kevorkian and the Fla. judge? sees nothing wrong with it.
Thank you for your comments.
One statement you made: We are not talking about turning off a respirator here.
This needs to be hammered to the general public who may still be "on the fence". Lots of good people have chosen to take their loved ones off of a respirator. And some may relate Terri's condition to someone personally close to them. But this is not the case.
There is a big difference between taking someone off of a respirator and withholding food and water until someone dies.
For our Court system to allow a husband to do this to his wife is monsterous.
These loving parents want to care for their daughter. This is a 25-year old situation? Why not opt for divorce. Why does the husband want her to die?
Excuse me, but if a person doesn't leave written instructions about their wishes, one must assume there ARE NO instructions. How can the court take the husband's word of what he SAYS Terri told him, when her friends and parents say they think Terri would like to live?
As far as I am concerned, Mr. Shivo has already divored Terri, by deed only. But that is not what he wants. He wants Terri to die and then he wants her body creamated. He is hiding something.
You don't. And it's when people try to that great offenses against man and God are done.
My advice to you is, learn to run your own life, not others'.
I agree 100% with your post.
I think this slime is hiding something.
If the person is viable enough to breathe on their own, but eating is something they have trouble with, I think they should let her live.
You just knocked me off my fence.
Thanks :)
Terri is not in a coma. She is not on life support- heart/lung machine. She is a disabled woman who is fed through a tube- just as thousands of elderly and disabled people are. She will be starved and dehydrated to death. No criminal, no prisoner of war, no dog, no lab animal would ever, ever be threatened with such treatment without worldwide protests ensuing. Make no mistake, her starvation will set a precedent and make what was once unacceptable the unexceptionable. I am also very suspicious over her husband's desire to have her cremated immediately after death- does this mean no autopsy? What the blue blazes is he afraid of? Yes a divorce should be granted- it might just save her life.
However, it is also my understanding that Terri is being fed artificially through a feeding tube. What happened to people before feeding tubes in hospitals existed. Did they not die a natural death? I'm not sure I'd want to be kept alive for the next 50 years to be fed via a tube. Isn't that extending life by artificial means?
Before I get flamed, let me just say that I'm not advocating here the removal of the tube. I'm just asking the question.
Feeding tubes are not considered extream measures.
By whom? If that is all that is going to keep you alive for the next 50 years then reasonable people can consider that extreme.
feeding tubes are considered ordinary medical care, they do not constitute treatment.
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