Judge says DCF can't intervene in Terri Schiavo case

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.

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.

It's immaterial what Felos believes or not

Schiavo picked Felos because of his track record. Felos beliefs have a great deal to do with this case.

Euthanasia is ASSISTING someone in ending their life.

Ok. So starving someone is murder?

It is called not using any artificial means to keep someone alive,

I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is Judge Greer ordering that no one feed Terri by mouth. Ordering it twice. She has been fed jello and swallowed it. I was told by another Freeper who agrees with you that that was irrelevant. But it's not.

Terri Shiavo does not want to die. She demonstrated this when a counselor told her over the phone that some wanted to kill her if she did not prove that she was not comatose. She tried desperately to get out of her chair.

This is only a snippet of the story. Read the entire story at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=35077

Tuesday, October 14, 2003
MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Terri Schiavo wants to live
Family reveals secret therapy sessions held for brain-disabled woman scheduled to die
By Sarah Foster

Terri Schindler-Schiavo does not want to die. She would like to go home. And she tried to convey this to her father in no uncertain terms by sitting bolt upright and trying to get out of her chair when told she might be killed, her family has revealed.

It's immaterial what Felos believes or not
Schiavo picked Felos because of his track record. Felos beliefs have a great deal to do with this case.

Says you and based on nothing.

Euthanasia is ASSISTING someone in ending their life.
Ok. So starving someone is murder?

No one is making her starve. She is incapable of eating as she is in a persistent vegetative state. If she can pick up a spoon and fork, then she will live. But she can't, can she.

It is called not using any artificial means to keep someone alive,

I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is Judge Greer ordering that no one feed Terri by mouth. Ordering it twice. She has been fed jello and swallowed it. I was told by another Freeper who agrees with you that that was irrelevant. But it's not.

Yes it is irrelevant. However, it's fine with me if Terri is fed jello. Just make sure it's her parents who feed it to her, as she will choke and die if they attempt it. But it's their call.

Mike Thomas

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-locmiket25022505feb25,0,566960.column?coll=orl-home-headlines

I received an avalanche of e-mail about Terri Schiavo. The bad information going out on this case is amazing.

What is real and what is not?

For answers, I turned to University of South Florida professor Jay Wolfson. He was appointed as a guardian ad litem for Terri in 2003 and prepared a report on her for Jeb Bush.

After a judge dismissed him in December of that year, Bush and Terri's parents -- Bob and Mary Schindler -- requested he stay on as Terri's guardian. Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, opposed the request.

Wolfson's report is based on court files, depositions, medical records and interviews with everyone involved.

That said, I begin with the most explosive allegation:

Did Michael try to kill Terri?

Wolfson laughs. "No!"

In 1990, Terri went into cardiac arrest, which shut off oxygen to her brain. A potassium imbalance, perhaps caused by an eating disorder, triggered the attack.

Has Michael withheld treatment?

Wolfson's report states that in the four years after her collapse, Michael "had insistently held to the premise that Theresa could recover and the evidence is incontrovertible that he gave his heart and soul to her treatment and care . . . In late autumn of 1990, following months of therapy and testing and formal diagnoses of persistent vegetative state with no evidence of improvement, Michael took Theresa to California, where she received an experimental thalamic stimulator implant in her brain. Michael remained in California caring for Theresa during a period of several months."

Says Wolfson now: "Michael was adoring of her. One nursing home complained he was hostile and abusive of the staff in championing her care. She was immaculately kept. In 13 years, she never had one bedsore."

Is Michael after her insurance settlement?

Wolfson's report says that early on, Michael "formally offered to divest himself entirely of his financial interests in the guardianship estate."

Why doesn't Michael simply turn Terri over to her family?

From the report: "Testimony provided by members of the Schindler family included very personal statements about their desire and intention to ensure that Theresa remain alive . . . at any and all costs. Nearly gruesome examples were given, eliciting agreement by family members that in the event Theresa should contract diabetes and subsequent gangrene in each of her limbs, they would agree to amputate each limb and would then, were she to be diagnosed with heart disease, perform open-heart surgery. Within the testimony, as part of the hypothetical presented, Schindler family members stated that even if Theresa had told them of her intention to have artificial nutrition withdrawn, they would not do it."

Wolfson told me that when Michael heard this, he said: "That's it. I'm never going to let that happen to her."

Wolfson says the Schindlers later recanted their testimony.

Can Terri recover?

"Theresa's neurological tests and CT scans indicate objective measures of the persistent vegetative state," the report says. "These data indicate that Theresa's cerebral cortex is principally liquid, having shrunken due to the severe anoxic trauma experienced 13 years ago."

To read the entire report online, go to OrlandoSentinel.com/schiavo

The documented facts and links have been posted here http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1351061/posts?q=1&&page=1 so these terricultists have had a chance to read them and draw the obvious conclusions...instead we are taken down the rabbit hole with Alice and regaled with tales of dogmatic lunacy and conspiracy in high places.

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No, they re hell bent with lawyers to make money protecting murderers... usually drug dealers and all shell out more.