Posted on 03/15/2005 10:15:07 PM PST by tessalu
LIFE AND DEATH TUG OF WAR Lawmakers ready to save Schiavo Reach deal setting up vote in Florida Legislature
Key members of the Florida House and Senate reached a deal yesterday on a bill to prevent Terri Schiavo from being allowed to starve to death under a court order requested by her estranged husband.
For the second time in less than two years, the state lawmakers are prepared to intervene in the case of the brain-damaged woman, who requires a feeding tube to keep her alive
The proposed legislation would prevent caretakers of a person in a "persistent vegetative state" from withholding food and water in the absence of a written directive.
In 2003, "Terri's Law" enabled Gov. Jeb Bush to intervene the second time Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. The law later was ruled unconstitutional, however, by the Florida Supreme Court, which said it violated the legal separation between the three branches of government.
Michael Schiavo won a court order in 2000 to have his wife's feeding tube removed, claiming she was in a "persistent vegetative state" and had declared orally she wouldn't want to live in such a condition.
Parents Robert and Mary Schindler, however, insist their daughter, while severely handicapped, is responsive and demonstrates a strong will to live. They have filed a flurry of motions to prevent removal of the feeding tube, scheduled for Friday, after 1 p.m.
The Florida bill is expected to come up for a vote Friday.
Terri Schiavo is not hooked up to any machines, but she requires the small feeding tube for nourishment and hydration. She collapsed under disputed circumstances Feb. 25, 1990, suffering severe brain damage when her heart stopped momentarily. Michael Schiavo attributes the collapse to an eating disorder, but the Schindlers strongly suspect he tried to strangle her.
The Schindlers have pleaded with Michael Schiavo to divorce their daughter, pointing out he has been living with another woman for 10 years, with whom he has two children.
Lawmakers said legal counsel for Gov. Jeb Bush helped shaped the new legislation, and they expect the governor to sign it, the Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
Mathew D. Staver, president and general counsel of Florida-based Liberty Counsel, a public-interest law firm, said he was pleased the legislature is acting with deliberate speed.
"Terri Schiavo is only a few days away from being starved and dehydrated," he said. "Death by dehydration and starvation is slow, painful, and inhumane. No parent should be forced to stand by helplessly and watch their child die of starvation."
The bill would allow a guardian, in the absence of a written directive, to deny food and water if there was "clear and convincing evidence" the incapacitated person declared his or her wishes orally.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. David Simmons, R-Orlando, emphasized "clear and convincing" is a tough standard.
He told the Sun-Sentinel a casual conversation "sitting around the dinner table, that's not going to rise to the level that will permit the denial of sustenance and hydration."
Michael Schiavo says Terri made her wishes known in casual conversations.
Sen. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, the bill's sponsor in the Senate, said the new legislation avoids the constitutional problems found in "Terri's Law" -- violation of separation of powers and that it was retroactive and narrowly applied to Schiavo.
But Michael Schiavo's attorney, well-known "right-to-die" lawyer George Felos, predicted the Supreme Court will strike down this law as well.
"This is purely a knee-jerk response to the growing political clout of the far right, and it's tragic, to say the least, that legislators don't have any concern about the constitutionality of the acts they pass," he told the Florida paper.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. Congress, two lawmakers from Florida are pressing for federal legislation that would save Terri Schiavo's life.
Sen. Mel Martinez and Rep. David Weldon say the Incapacitated Person's Legal Protection Act will give Schiavo, and others in similar situations, the same constitutional protection of due process as death-row inmates.
Current law leaves the rights of disabled persons at the mercy of courts instead of the Constitution, the lawmakers argue.
The new measure would not apply to cases in which an advance medical directive is in effect.
Weldon's bill, which has 110 colleagues signed on in support, will have a hearing tomorrow at the House Judiciary Committee.
Martinez is hoping for a Senate vote on similar legislation this week.
Keep on praying, friends. God is merciful.
Something has gone terribly wrong. I am not sure how this could happen.
Gambone apparently is one of the two doctors certifying Terri was terminally ill, and had less than 6 months to live in april 2000. However, Gambone never signed the statement transcribed on his behalf for Terri's hospice certificate, making it illegal for her to be sent there.
Dr. Gambone reportedly worked for George Felos at that hospice before Felos resigned.
HERE IS WHAT UCANSEE2 posted on the NIGHTLINE thread (emphasis added by me)...
Then why is his name on the admittance form for Terri to hospice certifying her as terminal?
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/16/State/_Who_there_would_take.shtml
Michael Schiavo invites Florida Governor to visit Terri in person.
Please ask the Governor to do that.
Gov. Jeb Bush
850-488-4441
850-487-0801 (fax)
jeb.bush@myflorida.com, fl_governor@myflorida.com, jeb@jeb.org, jeb@myflorida.com
Executive Office of Governor, Legal Team to Jeb (ask to speak to the following individuals):
Robert H. Fernandez (Deputy General Counsel to Governor) -> fernanr@eog.state.fl.us
Raquel A. Rodriguez (General Counsel to Governor) -> raquel.rodriguez@myflorida.com
Christa Calamas (Assistant General Counsel to Governor) -> calamac@eog.state.fl.us
850 / 488-3494 (voice)
850 / 488-9810 (fax)
+++
Please call those FL House Reps / Senators, US Congressmen and Senators:
Contact info, etc.:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com
Must be why the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Inc. is one of the biggest hospices in the world and is connected to the Florida Office of Elder Affairs and the Department of Health and the Veterans Administration. Is this why Terri is about to be murdered by these people?
certification has to be in WRITING by two physicians.
See Jeb, Begging you to visit Terri pic and link at:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com
BUMP
|
Father Frank ping
another Terri visit?
mr. unclear and unconvincing greer should be forced to meet Terri with other witnesses along. Terri should be wheeled into Greer's courtroom.
Michael pretty much has made an ADMISSION THAT TERRI IS BEING HELD AT HOSPICE UNABLE TO LEAVE by inviting Jeb to go there.
Held against her will -Michael keeps her there like she's an exhibit at Busch Gardens or the Fla Aquarium.
Please spread the word:
Terri is in danger and Michael is inviting Jeb to visit Terri and blasting him at the same time. Terri needs protective custody and the Governor needs to assign a special prosecutor. It's time that the Governor stand up to Michael Schiavo.
From another:
Re: Niteline
Michael teased us with almost tears on Nightline tonight? I mean... it was difficult not to roll on the floor laughing one's rear off, don't you agree??? Did you watch his eyes? Did you look at him???? He looks like a pale pasty plastered on the wall of conversation and he doesn't even know anymore that lots of people don't care what he has to say. He has become a joke.
From another:
Re: Good Morning America
I just watch a tape message from Terri's husband and now more then ever I believe he is just getting rid of his excess baggage. He says he loves her and will always love her. Then blasted the governor and made remarks against people who are fighting for Terri to live. He says he will receive no money after her death. He has bags under
his eyes and tears in his eyes ...
Looks like you all have uncovered more hornets in the nest.
What a hedious bunch of slime ball crooks.
The web of lies wraps all around Clearwater and back.
NATIONAL GOP PARTY: 1-202-863-8614
FLORIDA GOP PARTY: 1-850-222-7920
PINELLAS COUNTY GOP HQ: 727-539-6009.
It is my prayer that this case would wake up the complacent in America to the horrors of the culture of death, and the direction we are heading.
I am also praying for the health and strength of the Schindlers as they engage in this battle for their precious daughter's life.
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