Posted on 03/19/2005 3:05:30 PM PST by FairOpinion
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 19 - The morning after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, supporters of her parents sought new avenues in their fight to keep the critically brain-damaged woman alive, while police arrested several of the protesters who gathered outside Ms. Schiavo's hospice when they tried to force their way inside.
At midmorning Saturday about 30 people prayed and waved signs outside the Woodside Hospice, and the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said that later in the day that he would lead as many protesters as he could gather to Tallahassee, where they would spend the next few days lobbying the State Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush to somehow force the feeding tube's reinsertion.
Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, three protesters were taken into custody when they tried to force their way past officers guarding the driveway to the hospice and to take bread and water to Ms. Schiavo. The three men - led by James (Bo) Gritz, a former Green Beret commander from Nevada - were arrested on misdemeanor trespassing charges, police officials said.
Ms. Schiavo cannot eat or drink without a feeding tube, but the protesters said the action was meant to be symbolic.
Shortly after the arrests, a man who described himself as a spiritual adviser to Ms. Schiavo's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, emerged from the hospice to say they did not want any civil disobedience. The man, Paul O'Donnell, said the Schindlers were inside and wanted "everything to remain peaceful" adding that they were "devastated but hopeful."
Mary Schindler, who rarely addresses the news media, emerged from the hospice around lunchtime to say that Ms. Schiavo "is my life."
"I am begging Governor Bush and the politicians in Tallahassee, President Bush and the politicians in Washington, please, please, please save my little girl," she said.
Doctors removed the feeding tube from Ms. Schiavo on Friday afternoon. They said that the 41-year-old woman, who suffered extensive brain damage when her heart failed 15 years ago, could live up to two weeks without the liquid meals that were provided through a gastric tube.
She has been the focus of a seven-year fight between her husband, Michael, who is her legal guardian and says that he is fighting to protect her wish to die, and her parents, who reject court findings that she has no cognition and would not want to be kept alive artificially.
Mr. Mahoney, one of several conservative religious leaders trying to rally national protest of the tube removal on grounds that no life should end prematurely, said he hoped more people would travel here as Ms. Schiavo's condition deteriorated.
"We want a spiritual prayer witness sort of thing in Pinellas Park and a more political front in Tallahassee," Mr. Mahoney said.
He added that protesters would pressure Governor Bush to visit Ms. Schiavo at her bedside, as her husband has angrily invited him to do. Mr. Schiavo sued the governor in 2003 after the Legislature passed a law empowering the governor to order Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted six days after it had been removed.
Mr. Schiavo, appearing Saturday morning on the "Today" show on NBC, said that he was at his wife's side shortly after the tube was removed Friday afternoon and that he knew it was what she wanted.
"It felt like some peace was happening for Terri," Mr. Schiavo said in the television interview. "And I felt like she was finally going to get what she wants, and be at peace and be with the Lord."
Mr. Mahoney - who believes, as Ms. Schiavo's parents do, that she can think and feel and could improve with therapy even though the courts have accepted medical testimony that she cannot - said visiting Ms. Schiavo could prompt the governor to take drastic action.
"It's important for him as a chief executive to see what's being done to one of his residents," Mr. Mahoney said. "Governor Bush might be her last practical hope. We believe he could take her into protective custody or otherwise use his executive privileges."
Mr. Mahoney and Randall Terry, the founder of the antiabortion group Operation Rescue, said they would continue lobbying Congress to pass a bill that would require a federal court hearing in cases like Ms. Schiavo's to evaluate whether the state had followed all requirements for judicial due process. They also said they still hoped the Florida Legislature would pass a law requiring the tube's reinsertion or forcing the replacement of Mr. Schiavo as his wife's guardian.
Thank You!!
I don't know about President Bush and Executive Order keeping Terri alive, but I do think that that yes, her feeding tube should be re-inserted. In addition, and to my way of thinking, what really needs attention is to have the so-called "husband" removed as her guardian and have Terri divorce him. If Terri has the feeding tube re-inserted now, the "husband" will be back again in the future to demand its removal. And Judge Greer will be right there to help him. This can only be resolved if Michael is removed as her guardian, get a divorce somehow from him, have her parents take care of her and finally, get Terri some rehabilitation therapy. Otherwise, the tube will be re-inserted, removed, ad infinitum. Get rid of the "husband" and the problem will be solved.
And the judge. Start an investigation of all the other Pinellas County 'right to die' cases. I'm sure Terri's is not the first. Nor, I suspect, is Greer the only judge in on the scam (have someone declared PVS and kill them to win their estate). The Florida State GOP needs to start openly attacking the Pinellas County GOP or else they'll end up like the Illinois GOP.
Isn't this #2?
Dang!!! I can’t find it now. I read a few hours ago here on FR that her husband, his lawyer, members of the board of directors at the hospice (?) where she is staying, and the judge are all in cahoots to end her life.
Can freepers out there help us here please? Thank you.
Bet the Times writer was giggling as he typed that one!
He was already banned over an hour ago if not more.
After she had her final stroke, she was unconscious, and my sisters and I sat with her until she died, which was a week after the stroke. About 24 hours before she died, she started to moan with each exhallation. A nurse came in and put a pain patch on her, and the moaning ceased after about an hour. She died early the next morning. This was what my mom wanted so we acceded to her wish. However, she clearly dehydrated over the last week, and it was NOT painless. I was there, and I know.
Thank you for sharing your experience. May your Mother rest in peace.
Another article with someone else's story:
A "Painless" Death?
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/medical_ethics/me0074.html
Thank you, FO.
I have never understood those that joy in the pain of others.
God Bless.
Great...thanks for the update!!!
No, he has no authority here.
Thank you for the depressing news. : (
Thank you for your reply. I did forget Judge Greer. He needs to be removed permantely!
Yes, I forgot Judge Greer. Unless he's removed as a judge, Terri will have no peace. Thank you for the reminder.
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