Judge Refuses to have feeding tube reinserted in Terri Schiavo (FOX NEWS ALERT)

Fox News | 03/22/05

[tsmith130]

Just heard on Fox....so sad.

[Jeff Head]

Look, I have lived through the hard deaths of two loved ones...one through cancer (lymphoma) who got worse and worse. He lived three years when they gave him 6 months...and even though horrid, his last months taught us all a lot about love, commitment and the value of life...even a horrid life.

In the course of this, I saw things the medical commuunity couldn't explain and things that refuted their so-called experts. I have seen the videos of Terri and heard what those who love her say...there are other "experts" who refute the court appointed ones. So, it's not quite so cut and dry as you would like to make it appear. As I have said all along, in the absence of a legal instrument or true compelling evidence as to her wishes (meaning, there is no contradiction, no hearsay, and no loving memebers who deny that these are her wishes), you err on the side of life.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

If you don't like the law, work to have it changed.

And what difference would that make?
The law is irrelevant.
The only thing the Judicial Oligarchy will listen to is force.
The first responsibility for that is the Executive, and then the People.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

The POTUS is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Ordering armed forces to save Terri Schiavo would be technically illegal, but it would work. He might face impeachment afterward, but he'd NEVER be convicted; not during wartime.

Precisely my view.

[MWS]

The law does not deal with "WHAT IF's".

With all due respect, what are you talking about?

The law always takes into consideration reasonable doubts, especially in grave matters where intent is in question. The "what if's" the poser raised are reasonable questions in this case. To turn a blind eye to the issues raised is to assume that this case is a clear cut "right to die" case from the outset, which is surely is not.

There is reason to believe that the woman is not in a vegetative state. There is reason to believe that her husband might be responsible for her current state. There is reason to believe that he has a motive for wanting to see her dead.

If the woman is alive and in a nonvegetative state and simply requires food and water, she has a right to life. She at least has a right to have the matter of her current status thoroughly investigated apart from the constraints set up by her husband. If it turns out that she really is brain dead, then there is no wrong in pulling the plug.

It behooves us as a society, however, to ensure that such is truly the case before we act. This consideration seems to have been denied to her, and that certainly is a travesty if true.

[Brytani]

The only person who can order a divorce hearing is Terri herself, or her guardian ad litem. In this case, I believe her guardian is still Judge Greer and by default, MS himself.

Neither one of them are willing to grant a divorce hearing or to follow Florida statute clearly showing MS is guilty of 2 second class misdomeners in connection with this case. If he's granted a divorce, they can't keep starving her to death.

[Admin Moderator]

You right-wingers think that because you have both houses of Congress and the Executive branch (and are working on the Judiciary) that you can be blatant about your hypocrisy...at least try to disguise it, otherwise you'll start losing seats again in '06.

We also control the Mod branch. Adios.

[joanie-f]

Common sense has fled so many of our people … May we as a people have the fortitude and the willingness, if neccessary, to stand boldly and resoultely on these principles against such conditions of our day.

Thank you, Jeff, for a lucid, common sense commentary, as always.

That the President of the United State, and the Congress of the United States, have been forced to concern themselves with the Terri Schiavo case is ludicrous, and is proof of just how far the state and federal legal/judicial systems in this country have wandered from the blueprint laid out for them in the Constitution. The situation would be laughable, if it weren’t laying the groundwork for our eventual demise.

The Terri Schiavo case painfully illustrates the fact that the ‘rule of law’ in our republic has found itself surreptitiously transformed into a spiderweb of irrational ‘legalities’ that no longer have any foundation in ‘justice’.

Our modern legal/judicial system is now based on decades of irrational precedents, set by (1) juries who were incapable of critical thought and who allowed themselves to be thought-programmed by glib attorneys, and (2) judges whose agenda is focused on self-enrichment and socialist societal engineering rather than truth and fairness.

Often, when an issue becomes clouded by a maze of man-made, agenda-driven ‘technicalities’, the simplest analysis can help to clear away the smoke. The following facts are pretty much accepted by most observers of this case:

(1) Terri’s physical and mental states are the result of circumstances that place her husband in a less than favorable light

(2) that same husband has denied her even minimal physical therapy, and has instead seen to it that stimuli have been denied her for much of the last fifteen years

(3) that same husband is now living in an adulterous relationship with another woman and has fathered two children by her

(4) countless reputable medical specialists familiar with her case have observed that, even after fifteen years, the patient could benefit from, and respond to, appropriate therapy

(5) the patient’s family is willing to assume all financial and physical responsibility for her care from here on in, and

(6) the husband is insisting on cremation of the body, without benefit of further medical examination after death.

Is there anyone out there with half a brain who doesn’t know where the truth lies, and what justice would entail in this case? So what is standing in the way of justice being done here? When did common sense cease to play a role in our legal/judicial system? And when did unaccountable judges, unscrupulous lawyers, and jurors who are incapable of rational analysis of facts, obtain the upper hand over our lives and liberties?

The tragedy in all of this is that we accept such perversions of ‘justice’ as an inevitable part of life in America 2005.

We have become like the Pharisees whom Christ consistently sought to redeem in the New Testament. Much of His ministry was spent doing spiritual battle with their ‘legal traditions’. They demanded that He validate and approve what they called 'the tradition of the elders'. In effect, they wanted Him to consider their foolish man-made laws equivalent to the laws of scripture. Christ was vehement that He would not give His blessing to these man-made traditions saying, ‘You lay aside the commandment of God and hold higher the tradition of men.’ The Pharisees’ laws set up a barrier between scriptural law and their nit-picking human edicts. Because they stopped people from learning and embracing the word of God, and forced them to focus on nonsense, Christ admonished them for making laws for the sake of laws. He consistently rebuked them, saying ‘Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.’ (Luke 11:52)

Every minute Judge Whittermore continues to ‘deliberate’ moves Terri Schiavo one minute closer to her deliberate death.

If he rules as many of us fear he will, or waits long enough that Terri cannot be saved, may God forgive a nation whose justice system allows a murderer to commit his crime over a period of years, in full view of three hundred million witnesses, and with the blessing of 'The Law'.

‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me’ … Jesus Christ

~ joanie

[Tarantulas]

Terri isn't on life support. There is no plug to pull.

Yes there is.

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Terri is given food and water through tubes. Is disconnecting a feeding tube the same as ending life support?

Yes, under Florida law, which governs the ability of each person to determine, or to appoint someone to determine, whether each of us should receive what the Legislature terms "life-prolonging medical procedures." The Legislature has explained:

The Legislature recognizes that for some the administration of life-prolonging medical procedures may result in only a precarious and burdensome existence. In order to ensure that the rights and intentions of a person may be respected even after he or she is no longer able to participate actively in decisions concerning himself or herself, and to encourage communication among such patient, his or her family, and his or her physician, the Legislature declares that the laws of this state recognize the right of a competent adult to make an advance directive instructing his or her physician to provide, withhold, or withdraw life-prolonging procedures, or to designate another to make the treatment decision for him or her in the event that such person should become incapacitated and unable to personally direct his or her medical care.

§ 765.102(3), Florida Statutes.

The Legislature has also defined what is a "life-prolonging procedure":

"Life-prolonging procedure" means any medical procedure, treatment, or intervention, including artificially provided sustenance and hydration, which sustains, restores, or supplants a spontaneous vital function. The term does not include the administration of medication or performance of medical procedure, when such medication or procedure is deemed necessary to provide comfort care or to alleviate pain.

§ 765.101(10), Florida Statutes (italics added by me).

Reference

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As to your initial comments...in the absence of a legal instrument there must be compelling evidence that she in fact wanted this in these particular circumstances. There is none, there is only hearsay.

And of course hearsay is the only evidence they will ever have, since Terri cannot speak.

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Why did Terri’s husband get to make the decision about whether she should live or die?

Michael Schiavo did not make the decision to discontinue life-prolonging measures for Terri.

As Terri's husband, Michael has been her guardian and her surrogate decision-maker. By 1998, though -- eight years after the trauma that produced Terri's situation -- Michael and Terri's parents disagreed over the proper course for her.

Rather than make the decision himself, Michael followed a procedure permitted by Florida courts by which a surrogate such as Michael can petition a court, asking the court to act as the ward's surrogate and determine what the ward would decide to do. Michael did this, and based on statements Terri made to him and others, he took the position that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures. The Schindlers took the position that Terri would continue life-prolonging measures. Under this procedure, the trial court becomes the surrogate decision-maker, and that is what happened in this case.

The trial court in this case held a trial on the dispute. Both sides were given opportunities to present their views and the evidence supporting those views. Afterwards, the trial court determined that, even applying the "clear and convincing evidence" standard -- the highest burden of proof used in civil cases -- the evidence showed that Terri would not wish to continue life-prolonging measures.

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[Iwo Jima]

I think you can appeal an interlocutory decision...

The granting or denial of a request for injunction is appealable.

[ohioWfan]

He's not going to do anything "technically illegal." He's a man of principle.

[ohioWfan]

LOL! I liked that!

[F.J. Mitchell]

Take matters into your own hands then-dump your bed pan-stand in the contents bare footed,and stick your nail file in the electric recepticle.

Bye Hildy.

[carl in alaska]

LOL....yes that was quite amusing. The Mod Branch is the quiet but powerful fourth branch of government....lol

[Hildy]

Thank you for you very mature response. Every time I get one of these ridiculous posts it shows everyone how misguided your side is.

[Minuteman23]

Joanie, your comparison to the Pharisees is perfect. If I remember right, they ignored gross injustices and concentrated on the way you were supposed to wash your hands, etc. That sounds awfully familiar.

I am still praying for Terri right alongside you. But I don't have much faith in "the system."

[Chunga]

Bush is a "puss" for not rescuing Terri?

I'd like to reply to this idiocy, but I'm due back on planet Earth.