Posted on 03/22/2005 9:19:02 PM PST by ambrose
Lawyer: Schiavo Ruling Expected Soon
By JILL BARTON Tuesday, March 22, 2005
TAMPA, Fla. - Warning that Terri Schiavo was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment, her parents begged a federal appeals court Tuesday to order the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.
The appeals court didn't indicate when it might rule, but George Felos, the attorney for Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, told the Associated Press that he expected a decision before daybreak Wednesday.
An attorney for parents Bob and Mary Schindler said in a court filing that the 41-year-old woman might die before they could get a chance to fully argue their case that her rights are being violated. The appeal came after a federal judge in Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request.
"Where, as here, death is imminent, it is hard to imagine more critical and exigent circumstances," lawyer David Gibbs III said in the appeal filed electronically with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. "Terri is fading quickly and her parents reasonably fear that her death is imminent."
Even before the parents' appeal was filed, Michael Schiavo urged the 11th Circuit not to grant an emergency request to restore nutrition.
"That would be a horrific intrusion upon Mrs. Schiavo's personal liberty," Felos said in the filing. He filed a response to the Schindlers' appeal and said he would go to the U.S. Supreme Court if the tube were ordered reconnected.
The Schindlers have been locked for years in a battle with Schiavo's husband over whether her feeding tube should be disconnected. State courts have sided with Michael Schiavo, who insists his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially.
Late in the afternoon, the Schindlers arrived at the hospice, and Terri's mother again pleaded with state lawmakers to save her daughter's life.
"Please, senators, for the love of God, I'm begging you, don't let my daughter die of thirst," Mary Schindler said.
With that, she broke down and was escorted away.
In court documents, the couple said their daughter began "a significant decline" late Monday. Her eyes were sunken and dark, and her lips and face were dry.
"While she still made eye contact with me when I spoke to her, she was becoming increasingly lethargic," Bob Schindler said in the papers. "Terri no longer attempted to verbalize back to me when I spoke to her."
The feeding tube was disconnected on Friday. Doctors have said Terri Schiavo could survive one to two weeks without water and nutrients.
Louise Cleary, a spokeswoman at Woodside Hospice, said she could not discuss Terri Schiavo's condition for reasons of privacy.
Over the weekend, Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo's life by allowing the case to be reviewed by federal courts.
However, early Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore of Tampa rejected the parents' emergency request under that legislation to have the tube reconnected, saying they had not established that they would probably prevail at a trial on their claim that Terri Schiavo's religious and due process rights have been violated.
Bobby Schindler, her brother, said his family was crushed.
"To have to see my parents go through this is absolutely barbaric," he said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "I'd love for these judges to sit in a room and see this happening as well."
By mid-afternoon, about 75 protesters gathered outside the hospice, virtually all of them upset with Whittemore's decision. They carried signs and shouted through bullhorns, and a Catholic Mass was celebrated. One woman was arrested for trespassing after trying to bring Schiavo a cup of water.
Among those supporting the federal judge's decision was Richard Avant, who lives down the street from the hospice and carried a sign reading "Honor her wishes."
"We represent the silent majority, if you look at the polls," Avant said. "We agree that Congress overstepped their bounds."
The Bush administration "would have preferred a different ruling" from the federal judge, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Albuquerque, N.M., where the president was visiting a senior center. "We hope that they would be able to have relief through the appeals process."
The Justice Department also filed a court statement, saying an injunction was "plainly warranted" to carry out the wishes of Congress to provide federal court jurisdiction over the case.
Unless the feeding tube is reinserted, the department said, Schiavo may die before the courts can resolve her family's claims. "No comparable harm will be caused" by letting Schiavo live while the case is reviewed, the filing said.
At the same time, Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, praised the ruling. "What this judge did is protect the freedom of people to make their own end-of-life decisions without the intrusion of politicians," he said.
Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.
Her parents argue that she could get better and that she would never have wanted to be cut off from food and water.
I am thinking the same thing.Who are these people, they will have their dinner with wine etc.Go over the stuff with the clerks,sign off on the draft of the ruling and then go home to their wives and kids.
"Hey honey,how was your day? Me i made sure that this defenseless impaired woman continued to be starved to death...while our goon bouncers stripsearch her parents in case they sshould smuggle an ice cube......Hey little Johnny Stop Hitting your Sister,That's not nice!!!!!
Forcefeeding of common sense seems to be in orderand sadly lacking.
'He who troubles his own house will inherit the wind (nothing),
And the fool will be servant(Schiavo) to the wise of heart' Proverbs 11:29
Schiavo means 'slave' in Italian. Slave to evil perhaps.
Hubby heard on O'Reilly's radio show tonight that it's NOT true that Terri Can't eat.
Terri can't feed herself so needs someone to feed her. The feeding tube was easier than having someone take the time to feed her.
So, the 'artificial means' wasn't even necessary, just convenient.
What would the fact that Terri's husband introduced the 'artificial means as a convenience do to this court case? I've been following this case for a long time and don't remember ever reading when the feeding tube was inserted in Terri. Anyone know? Before Terri's husband got the court settlement or after he got the money and stopped any and all rehabilitation?
On another note, hubby heard on another radio show that Judge Greer is a born again Christian. From all I've read, he's a Scientologist? Anyone know the truth?
You know, I'm really sick of *DISRUPTORS* like you gloating over Terri's suffering. Either you support *COLD-BLOODED MURDER* or you support *LIFE*. It's really that *SIMPLE*.
You should *ASK* yourself this question: If you were in Terri's *SHOES*, would you want *PRESIDENT BUSH* deciding whether you live or die, or would you prefer to have *THE CLINTONS* deciding for you? It's really that *SIMPLE*.
If you're on the *WRONG* side of this issue, you really don't deserve to call yourself a *CHRISTIAN*.
That's fine - when your pink house is wiped off your little peninsula by the next hurricane, please do not cry for federal dollars.
I'm glad to know there are more. My family loves to vacation there. I never wanted to visit the place.
Isn't it odd that once upon a terrible time Ponce de Leon set off to find the Fountain of Youth in that place?
I can deal with the storms.
Keep your snow shoveled.
Judge Greer is a Southern Baptist, just about a 180 from being a Scientologist.
Christians are supposed to *RESPECT* life! If you support the *MURDER* of Terri, how can you *POSSIBLY* be a Christian???
My brother-in-law is currently on a feeding tube. It isn't because he can't feed himself--he, post-stroke, has the use of his right side, but it is difficult for him to swallow more than soft or pureed foods, and he is just beginning to be able to swallow water by spoon. He's on a feeding tube because he can't get sufficient nutrition or hydration by his own efforts alone. This may be the case with Terri.
Thier are many Degrees of Baptist! Even the 39th President taught Sunday School and it still wasn't worth peanuts!!!
Even if you have been born again, you might not always act like a Christian, but you are still one. It would be better to try to change Ambrose's views and not judge his salvation.
Point well taken Gary. I'm just so frustrated and my post was empty bluster. I know not everyone in Florida wanted Gore to come out on top in that court debacle, nor does everyone support the legislators who voted down the most recent Shiavo bill or even support Greer & Whittemore's decisions.
Idaho was in the same "boat" back when the Aryan Nations were here - a lot of tourists boycotted us as a "racist" state when it was only a few uglies who gave us all a bad reputation. Like I said in my first post, I didn't mean to offend but it looks like I did. Sorry KDD.
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