Supreme Court rejects Schiavo appeal - feeding tube to be removed Friday

CNN.com ^ | 3/17/05

[Libloather]

Supreme Court rejects Schiavo appeal
Feeding tube to be removed from brain-damaged woman Friday
Thursday, March 17, 2005 Posted: 9:45 PM EST (0245 GMT)

Terri Schiavo gets a kiss from her mother, Mary Schindler, in this August 11, 2001, image taken from videotape.

(CNN) -- Less than 18 hours before Terri Schiavo was scheduled to have her life-sustaining feeding tube removed, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by her parents to stop the procedure.

The court rejected the appeal by Bob and Mary Schindler on Thursday, clearing the way for Schiavo's husband, Michael, to have the feeding tube removed Friday -- 15 years after she collapsed from heart failure that led to her brain damage.

Meanwhile, legislation that would keep her alive appeared to stall in the Florida Legislature and the U.S. Congress.

With time running out in the case, President Bush weighed in on the matter Thursday, saying society and the nation's courts "should have a presumption in favor of life" on such matters.

"Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed and protected -- and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities," Bush said in a written statement.

[Zeroisanumber]

That is, apparently, that. Wouldn't suprise me if someone tried something extra-legal though.

[aynrandfreak]

International Law must be in favor of slow starvation.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Rather than starve her to death slowly, why don't they just give her a lethal injection? An animal would be given more consideration.

There is a special place in hell for those who are behind this.

I don't ever again want to hear about the barbarism of the Nazi's. We're no better to sanction this.

[Ken522]

Earlier today someone submitted passages of the Americans with Disabilities Act which specifically forbids the precise act which Greer/Shaivo/Felos plan for tomorrow - pray for Terri!

[Just mythoughts]

Amazing isn't it, that the supremes saw fit to give sodomy a civil right, and yet this gal doesn't even rank a moment of their time. Sign of the times no doubt.

[Lexinom]

And the capital crime Terri committed is...?

[RoseofTexas]

I don't think the husband is doing it for Terri anymore, I think he's doing it to spite her parents! Other wise he'd be more merciful and give the parents a chance to keep Terri alive. He's pissed cause he CAN'T collect on the millions he has been offer without being labeled money hungry or something like that!

[Lexinom]

This is not going to go away if Terri dies in the next week.

There is a war brewing.

[harpo11]

This country is insane. Infused with men who can say "pull the feeding tube" of a defenseless disabled woman and sign their name to the death order without hesitation.

These same men would prosecute anyone who dared starve their horse, cat, dog, or even worse run over a kangaroo rat, step on a red frog or deprive salmon of water up in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

God forbid our brave soldiers might humiliate terrorist murderous scum but it appears that Terry again has to be punished. tortured and be made to suffer and die in a barbaricly cruel and inhumane manner that only the Nazi's could cheer, her adulterous husband, and the leftist pigs who clammer for assisted suicide.

[nmh]

This is outrageous sad.

What's happening in the Senate? Has the bill been voted on yet?

Praying she is not starved to death.

[Tax Government]

I'm sure the Iranis, North Koreans and others that look for chinks in America's moral example are amused by this.

If Terri dies, her "husband" and accomplices will never again live a single day without the prospect of a lawsuit.

Let's be clear... it is "democrats", the habitual throwers of wrenches into the machinery of democracy, that support letting this woman die.

[Fast1]

That is truly sad someone also is responsible for her being in this condition and that is like a homicide if they pull the tube ..

[RoseofTexas]

This event brings to remembrance the Elian's case! No matter how much the folk in Fl and around the US clamored for him to stay, knowing DAMN well his mother risked her life to give him a better life, the govt. the courts were hellbent on sending him back to that hell hole in Cuba! Terri's murdering husband and the courts are HELL bent on killing Terri..period!!

[dinok]

I don't ever want to hear from you Bush cool aid drinkers any more. At a moment of truth Bush is looking the other way and "washing his hands".

If Terry was a Muslim or Mexican Bush would be stepping in.

Shame on the supreme court, the congress, and everyone involved. Shame...

[verity]

"I don't ever again want to hear about the barbarism of the Nazi's."

Barbarism of the Nazis.

[nmh]

In Washington, the U.S. Senate passed a narrower version of a House bill that would give federal courts jurisdiction in Schiavo's case. The House passed a broader bill Wednesday that would give federal courts jurisdiction, not only for the Schiavo case, but also for people in similar conditions.

With the House in recess for Easter, it appeared that a compromise bill would not make its way to Bush's desk, because there was not enough time to reconcile the differences.

The Senate's bill prompted a terse response from House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

"House Republicans knew we had a moral obligation to act and we did just that last night," they said in a joint statement. "As Terri Schiavo lays helpless in Florida, one day away from the unthinkable and unforgivable, the Senate Democrats refused to join Republicans to act on her behalf."

In response, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid shot back, "If the House Republicans refuse to pass our bipartisan bill, they bear responsibility for the consequences."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said he was proud of the Senate bill and called on the House to follow its lead.

"To knowingly and purposely starve Ms. Schiavo to death would be callous, cruel and immoral," said Frist, a doctor. "I am hopeful that the House will consider and pass this legislation quickly."

Bills in the Florida legislature also seemed to fizzle by late Thursday.

Lower courts have ruled that Schiavo, 41, is in a "persistent vegetative state."

Michael Schiavo contends his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. But her parents argue she had no such death wish and believe she can get better with rehabilitation.

Both sides have been embroiled in a legal wrangle over whether Schiavo should live or die. Schiavo did not leave anything in writing about what she would want if she ever became incapacitated.

Courts have sided with her husband in more than a dozen cases over the years.

A probate court late last month ruled that, barring a stay, Schiavo's feeding tube would be removed at 1 p.m. Friday. Upon removal of the tube, the court estimated Schiavo would die in seven to 14 days.

Her feeding tube has been removed twice before, most recently in 2003. That year, Gov. Jeb Bush pushed a law through the Florida Legislature that authorized him to resume the woman's feedings six days after a court stopped them. The Florida Supreme Court later ruled the law unconstitutional.

---

I have to sign off. I feel so sick about all this. It just boggles my mind that this is happening.

[harpo11]

We are supposed to be so concerned the MSM tells us of the starvation of millions in Africa, North Korea, and all the children in America who go to bed hungry in America because a republican is president, but hey, starve a disabled woman? No problem.

[oceanview]

how many justices would it have taken to simply hear the case? there aren't even that many willing to hear it?

[postaldave]

i wouldn't let a dog die like this. take out back in shot her in the head, it would be more humane then this. why don't they charge her with terrorism, at least then she could go to cuba and get food and water. this is unbelievable.