Posted on 03/10/2005 12:22:56 PM PST by amdgmary
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- A judge ruled Thursday that the state's social services agency cannot delay the removal of the feeding tube keeping brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive.
The Department of Children & Families had asked for a 60-day delay in the removal of the feeding tube, now scheduled March 18. The agency said it wanted time to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect by the woman's husband, Michael Schiavo.
But Circuit Judge George W. Greer ruled that the agency's attempt to get involved at this point was inappropriate and "appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the court's final judgment ... in violation of the separation of powers doctrine."
Michael Schiavo's attorney had criticized the last-minute attempt by DCF to get involved, saying that it was engineered by Gov. Jeb Bush and others in the state government who support the plight of her parents who are trying to keep her alive.
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Michael Schiavo has gotten a court order to remove the feeding tube, contending that his wife told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially. A 1990 heart attack cut off oxygen to her brain for five minutes, leaving her in what the court has ruled is a vegetative state with no consciousness. She breathes on her own but depends on a tube in her abdomen for food and water.
But her parents doubt she had those end-of-life wishes and are trying to block removal of the feeding tube.
The judge's ruling was another major blow to Bob and Mary Schindler, who have fought their son-in-law in court for nearly seven years over their daughter's fate. They dispute that she is in a persistent vegetative state, saying she laughs, cries, interacts with them and tries to speak when they visit her at her hospice.
The DCF said it wanted to investigate accusations against Miachel Schiavo - who is her legal guaridan - that included denying his wife some medical treatment and therapy, isolating her in her room with the blinds closed, failing to fix her broken wheelchair and failing to file timely guardianship plans.
In his order, Greer noted that those and many other allegations have been investigated in the past and failed to yield any evidence of abuse and neglect by Michael Schiavo.
Other than trying to appeal judge's decisions that have gone against them this week, the Schindlers will look again to the state Legislature and perhaps the U.S. Congress for help. Both bodies have bills in the works that lawmakers say could save Terri Schiavo's life.
In Tallahassee Wednesday, a House committee approved a bill requiring doctors to provide nutrition and hydration to incapacitated patients who didn't leave an advance directive. It still needs approval from two more committees before facing the full House.
Bush, who has said he would do anything within his power to save Terri Schiavo, supports the bill.
The governor in October 2003 pushed a law through the Legislature authorizing him to resume the woman's artificial feedings six days after the court stopped them. The law subsequently was ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, both Florida Republicans, introduced legislation in Washington that could give the Schindlers access to federal courts in the effort to save their daughter's life. Their bill requires that incapacitated people who don't leave advance directives have attorneys appointed to give the case a full review before artificial life support is terminated.
Why would you care if Terri's grave is a shrine?
And what do you believe my cause to be?
"Nope. I refuse to believe you're heartless."
You're right, I'm not. I want the best for Terri, and the best is for that shell of a body to be let go to join her soul in heaven. Your side wants the shell of a body to be used as a pawn in some phony euthanasia crusade, not wanting to admit that she is not cognitive, has a liquified cerebral cortex, and for all ostensible purposes according to the accepted definition of being alive, is not (except for her brainstem, which allows for primitive functions, shut as breathing, and reflexive action). You cannot end a life if it is already ended, according to medical definition. But this is a waste of my breath, as I am dealing with people not based in a realistic assessment of the situation.
Found it - It's on the Daily Thread. The transcript is posted at #2970!! Read it friend, you'll be uplifted.
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/06/Tampabay/Quiet_judge_persists_.shtml
The article is kind--too kind to the demon, but here are a couple of quotes about his church connection:
"Greer is a Southern Baptist who attended Calvary Baptist church in Clearwater. But his attendance faltered after a Baptist publication the church supported became highly critical of him, he said."
"Greer, who said he had other unrelated problems with the church, said he explained to a deacon,'If I don't like what the St. Pete Times writes about me, my only recourse is to cancel my subscription.' So he stopped his donations to the church, though he is still a member."
Do any of you live near the Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater and have the time and interest to see what the church members know and think about the evil Greer?
But he is still a board certified neurologist.
What if you're wrong? Have you heard of Kate Adamson?
And, btw, I believe in erring on the side of life. I believe if God wants her, man can't stop Him. She's only being fed. Not kept alive by machines. I may agree with you if she was hooked up to a gazillion machines but she's not. And if she is only an empty shell, then there is no way to hurt her.
the best is for that shell of a body to be let go to join her soul in heaven
Her body won't go to Heaven. IF she's an empty shell, she's already in Heaven.
"Her body won't go to Heaven. IF she's an empty shell, she's already in Heaven."
Right, who needs a body. So, let the body go. It's a useless shell.
You have read the "censored" medical data and obviously are non-aware of the neurological advances of the last ten years.
Even babies denied stimulation DIE! That is all over the medical literature! Terri has survived for many years with minimal stimulation. She has a will to live. Tell whoever pays you to post here that you have been found out. Quit spouting your lies.
There are several trolls. The 2 that I know of are both male. They don't care if they are discovered. One quite openly said who he was.
Your posting shows your ignorance.
Terri has never been given many tests, such as a Spect scan.
Tell whoever is paying you to post here that you have been found out and you need to resign your position.
Your ignorance3 of this situation and medical science incenses me. Quit posting your baloney. You are definitely without facts in this case.
Quit exhibiting your ignorance in your posts.
Thanks.
You have obviously not investigated this case. Please quit posting showing your ignorance.
Thanks.
Legally, the DCF does not have to listen to GREER, do they?
Schindler Family Calls for Judge's 'Immediate Impeachment'
By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Deputy Managing Editor
March 10, 2005
(CNSNews.com) - A spokesman for the family of Terri Schindler Schiavo said Thursday the Florida judge residing over her case "ignores the state's laws and orders the premeditated killing of a disabled Florida woman by her husband."
Pamela Hennessy, media director for the Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, in a press release Thursday called on disability and eldercare advocates to press for Circuit Judge George Greer's "immediate impeachment."
"If there is a single person following this who doesn't believe Judge Greer has legislated from the bench, trampled Florida's laws and deprived Terri Schiavo of her retained rights, they are simply not paying attention," Hennessy said in a statement.
According to the foundation's press release, on Tuesday and Wednesday Greer issued three orders that the foundation said all but assures Schiavo's death. First, Greer ordered that the family may not introduce oral nutrition and hydration following the removal of Terri's gastric feeding tube.
The foundation pointed out that Florida Statute 744.3215 (Rights of Persons Determined Incapacitated) requires that incapacitated people cannot be deprived of food and water.
"Ordering that Terri Schiavo may not receive nutrition or hydration naturally is against the law, in the opinion of the Foundation," it said in a statement.
Second, according to the foundation, Greer ruled that no further neurological tests may be conducted on Terri, using functional MRI to determine if she is in a "persistent vegetative state," as Greer found in 2002, or if Terri is "minimally conscious."
The foundation pointed out that Florida Statute 765.404, which defines persistent vegetative state, requires that the condition be determined and diagnosed as permanent prior to the withdrawal of life-prolonging means. Also, Florida Statute 765.309 prevents mercy killing and assisted suicide.
The foundation unless the "true neurological condition of Terri Schiavo" is determined prior to the removal of the feeding tube, Greer's order amounts to "a directive for her guardian to commit either a mercy killing or assisted suicide."
And third, "Greer denied an order from a judgment based on his error in dismissing pertinent testimony in 2000 that would assist the court in determining Terri Schiavo's true end of life wishes," the foundation added.
It pointed to Florida Statute 765.404, which says clear and convincing evidence of the ward's intent for medical treatment must be established.
"The only evidence in support of removing Terri's feeding tube was the self-serving hearsay testimony of her guardian (which is not admissible under FS 90.602) and hearsay from two members of his immediate family," the foundation said.
"Greer systematically ruled that testimony from Terri's friends and family was unreliable or not credible. His failure to consider all evidence of Terri Schiavo's attitude towards life-prolonging measures, in the Foundation's opinion, is a clear violation of Florida Statutes," it concluded.
http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewPrint.asp?Page=\Nation\archive\200503\NAT20050310b.html
See Earlier Story:
'Clear and Convincing Evidence' of Schiavo's Wishes Challenged (March 3, 2005)
"know you don't want to hear about euthanasia but will you at least go to Amazon.com and check out the book written by George Felos? He believes in euthanasia."
It's immaterial what Felos believes or not, just as it is with any lawyer representing a client. It is the husband who hired him, Michael, who is calling the shots, and he wants the feeding tube removed. Removal of a feeding tube is not, and has not ever been something that falls under the definition of euthanasia. Euthanasia is ASSISTING someone in ending their life. No one is sticking a needle in Terry, or doing anything to her other than removing a feeding tube so that she can be in her natural state. It is called not using any artificial means to keep someone alive, especially as the husband states that his wife said she would not want to be kept alive in the kind of circumstance she is now in.
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