Posted on 03/22/2005 12:28:18 PM PST by AliVeritas
TAMPA, Fla. - Warning that Terri Schiavo is "fading quickly," her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted while they pursue claims that her rights are being violated.
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David Gibbs III, attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler, told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta that their 41-year-old daughter might die before they get a chance to fully argue their case. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request earlier Tuesday.
"Where, as here, death is imminent, it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent circumstances," Gibbs said in the appeal, filed electronically with the court. "Terri is fading quickly and her parents reasonably fear that her death is imminent."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Agreed, Petronski.
Forgiveness is God's job; forebearance is mine.
Oftentimes I fall short of that ideal.
This putrid travesty is one of those times.
M.Schiavo is way overdue for a serious ass-whoopin'.
Judge Greer would look like an absolute fool if he left it out and he'd FEEL like a fool if he ordered it put back in.
And he couldn't touch MS for anything if they're in on anything together!
Ouch.
And that is not meant as a threat. The universe is set up so that bad things happen when any of us do bad things. Just the law of nature.
I LIKE THAT!
Thank you !
We need to circulate this and add to it as more of this crap happens and it will ... .
This woman, Terri Schiavo, is not mentally competant to decide her own fate. She is unable to communicate her desires to the outside world in her current state. She left no "living will" and indeed NO physical evidence of any kind to support the husbands claim that she would want to end her life in such a debilitated state as she is in now. In fact, family and friends claim that Terri was of such a religious nature (practicing Catholic, etc.) that she may have thought suicide to be some type of a sin. Michael's word on the matter is compromised by his OTHER woman, whom he surely desires to make his wife after all of these years (at the very least, the fact that Michael has a vested familial stake in seeing Terri die should count as a massive conflict of interest). Michael also seems to have suddenly and inexplicably changed his position on his wife's wishes somewhere around 1997, about 7 years after Terri entered her vegitative state.
It's called the benefit of a doubt, fellow FReepers, and Terri should be awarded it. It's a grave injustice that she is being allowed to starve to death on the word of her philandering hubbie alone. If this horrible death wasn't Terri's true desire, God help the man (men) who ordered it in the afterlife.
[Full Disclosure: Lest all you Neil Boortz fans think I'm some die-hard Ashcroft type or anti-Libertarian, please note that I am a proponent of state "right-to-die" laws such as those in Oregon which pertain to the rights of sane, competant terminal patients to choose their ends for themselves without government interference or religious nannying. But Terri Schiavo's case isn't a matter of "right-to-die" at all, as I mentioned earlier. Remember: when unsure of somebody's true wishes, always choose life. Life is the "default" position, you might say].
BUMP!
I am a Christian, and I would prefer to pray for the repentance of those who've done wrong. If you don't like it, tough.
Hey P! I am just sick over this. This is horrifying. The incestuous corruption of the Pinellas County court, the doctors, this Clintonite Death judge...It's like going to sleep and waking up in a Kafka novel.
Capital 'D'
small 'e'
small 'm'
small 'o'
small 'n'
Capital 'R'
Capital 'A'
Capital 'T'
:-)
Feel free to use it (at least as long as we're able; if smart money were taking bets, we'll be at the last lines inside of 15 years).
You made mention in your post that administration of food by feeding tubes is artificial means. As I have mentioned elsewhere, my little sister passed away a year and a half ago of brain cancer. She had such a hard row to hoe for so very long between surgeries, gamma knifes, radiation, and chemo--all agreed by everyone involved, including many specialists, family and absolutley foremost, my sweet sissy. And let me tell you, she was TRULY an Earth angel her whole life. No one came close to her kindness and selflessness. Anyway, for a time when the cancer moved into an area that effected her ability to swallow, her THERAPY that she then received allowed and taught her to re-learn to swallow. I can't understand why so many even on this board (again, this is not directed to you, job,) cannot grasp this idea and truth. And it is a truth for MANY who cannot swallow well. Therapy DOES and can reverse this. My sister was a MAJOR case in point. The therapy worked BEAUTIFULLY, and we were able to spoon feed her with at least half of it not ending up on her sweet chin. And that's just the spoon feed/swallow aspect of all of this--of Terri's situation. A feeding tube does not qualify as keeping one alive by artificial means. Life support would be. Frankly, it's amazing, given her being denied much needed basic therapy on her "husband's" distinct orders, that Terri has flourished as much as she has for so long. So much of the tragedy of all of this is that there are so many LOST years of rehab specifically and solely due TO the man that said "When is that B*TCH gonna die"?
Anyway, job, I'm rambling--I'm sorry. I appreciate the points of your post to which I am (sort of) replying. :-)
Pardon my misspells and poor grammer. I couldn't bring myself to proofread this time. Ugh.
"Oh, yes--their will has been done. They are God afterall."
Not as long as I have ammo, b; I "vote from the roof".
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
No doubt they have her on morphine or some narcotic equivalent. The reason I mentioned this is that the talking heads - from legislators to posters here to physicians - have frequently opined that starvation/dehydration is painless or, at least in Terri's case (because, per them, she is comatose/has no cerebral cortex, or cannot feel or appreciate pain) she can't feel pain or can't recognize that that searing burning all over her body is "pain". The facts - as I noted - argue otherwise. This is, sad to say, another attempt at whitewashing what is truly state-sponsored homocide. They could have just as easily done the ChiCom thing by putting a bullet in the back of her head (quick, painless and she's "with God" sooner) and sending the parents the bill.
I really don't like the judge on this issue. Of course he thinks the rulings of the court are infallible.
"waking up in a Kafka novel"
. . . and then realizing you weren't asleep, and it wasn't a novel but a documentary . . .
In all honesty, I don't think the Florida courts care one way or the other, and I'll bet they wished they weren't the focus once again.
They do have a Florida law to interpret, and they do have a fact case. They do have to make rulings.
It's not as if the Florida courts went out on a mission to kill Terri. The case was brought to them.
If they made any mistakes, it was at the trial court level. I've read the appellate opinions and they seem to be sound legal reasoning.
What's questionable is the finding of facts at the trial court level. And those make all the difference in the world to this case.
Amazingly, the Schindlers didn't ask the federal court to look at those findings of fact. They chose to pursue some rather weak constitutional arguments in Federal District Court. The facts are what matters, and they were given a green light to open them up to scrutiny again.
They didn't, and unless they do in the next few days, it's all going to be moot.
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