Schiavo's Parents Appeal the Federal Judges Ruling

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[sonsofliberty2000]

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Terri Schiavo's parents have appealed a federal judge's ruling that kept their brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube disconnected.

[Raycpa]

It amazes me that so few are really willing to consider the possibility that Terri would not want to continue in this state,

That is between God and Terry. We are commanded to give her drink. It is our minimum responsibility as humans.

[Flamenco Lady]

But we don't know what she really wants do we? When she became ill it was illegal to withhold food and water or the use of a feeding tube, even from a dying patient. So even if she had stated she didn't want to be on life support, she would not have expected to be starved or dehydrated to death. Terri was not even dying when they deprived her of food and water. None of us can live without food and water. This is murder, plain and simple.

[Destro]

Jesus did not expect the doctors to raise his pal Lazarus from the dead did he? As the paraphrased ruling by Judge Greer said - 'only a miracle can reverease her condition out of a PVS'.

[kempster]

I just hope that after this is over, and if it ends in the worst manner, that we don't get a barrage of legal scholars who come out and tell us what the Governor could have done.

[Raycpa]

Lazurus wasn't starved to death. Only barbarians do that.

[lugsoul]

If she is ready to pass, it is not our "minimum responsibility" to prevent her from doing so.

[lugsoul]

When do you think the feeding tube came into being? For most of human existence, anyone who was too ill to eat or drink but not yet on the brink of death would "starve to death."

What was Lazarus' "official cause of death?" Do you know?

[Nuzcruizer]

The Gospels and Books of the Bible weren't written based on "things" of this world. that's why it's ageless. They deal with the human spirit, the soul. There are decriptions of some things of the future these men saw in their visions however. God ordered the Book of Daniel sealed until the days of the End had actually arrived. Up until now were were unable to understand them because these things were not invented until this last century. The fact that we can make sense of what we used to consider as senseless babbling (the book of Daniel) is disturbing. The Jews don't even include the book of Daniel as part of the bible. Remember, Daniel is pre- Christianity, part of the old testement authors.

Take a look at the "visions" in the book of Daniel. He didn't understand what he saw, his job was simply to write them down. "Clattering flying armored locusts" could be the descrition of a helicopter. How would a man of his time decribe what he saw?

I really doubt that if electricity were invented during those times it would have had any effect on the message.

[nmh]

Oh, I AGREE.

He is your quintessential, LIBERALTARIAN.

I see LIBERALtarians as evil. Always have. LIBERALtarians have NO social boundaries. ALL they give a *hit about it their lousy money.

[NormB]

You shouldn't insult pontius pilate that way.
At least he made some attempt to save Christ.

[george wythe]

When she became ill it was illegal to withhold food and water or the use of a feeding tube, even from a dying patient.

Since the Florida Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and the Florida Constitution allows Floridians the right to refuse feeding tubes, your statement has been rejected by the courts.

When Terri had her cardiac arrest, there was an unconstitutional statute on the books. Nevertheless, by 1989, such statute had been challenged in courts as unconstitutional. Before Terri's collapse, both the trial court and the appellate court had decided that such statute was unconstitutional. At the end of 1990, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the decision by the appellate court.

Since the Florida Constitution trumps any unconstitutional statute, the Florida courts have rejected your argument that withdrawing a feeding tube was illegal when Terri collapsed in 1990.

[Destro]

Once again:

Ecclesiastes 3 1. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2. a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3. a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4. a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5. a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6. a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7. a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8. a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

[T'wit]

This case certainly seems to separate sheep from goats. I just cannot imagine a soul so lost that he would deny food and water to a helpless, suffering woman.

I'll bet God smiled at those Texas kids who tried to give Terri a drink and got arrested.

[Flamenco Lady]

I stand corrected, though I doubt most people then knew it was legal, in fact it is apparent that this case has brought it to the attention of a lot of people that it is even legal now. I believe it was still illegal for someone in a "persistive vegetative state" to have their food withdrawn when Terri became ill. Quite frankly I still doubt she is PVS, but that is another matter.

[nmh]

It's horrible beyond words.

[george wythe]

To be completely fair and accurate, the Schiavo case and the Browning case involved different circumstances. Unlike Schiavo, Browning had a living will (written directive), and she was not in persistent vegetative state nor was she comatose. For instance, Browning would follow visitors with her eyes.

Nevertheless, as you correctly stated, there was an unconstitutional statute on the books that prohibited the removal of feeding tubes, except in terminal illness. Since Browning, just like Terri, was not terminally ill, doctors were afraid of removing her feeding tube, according to her written wishes. [Mrs. Browning stipulated that she desired not to have "nutrition and hydration (food and water) provided by gastric tube or intravenously." ]

Sadly, Browning died before her case was reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court. Therefore, her written directive not be kept in feeding tubes was never respected.

[rwfromkansas]

It is over.

She will die.

This really sucks.

[Flamenco Lady]

To quote Terri, "Where there is life there is hope"!

[agrace]

Question for anyone (and I haven't yet read through the thread to determine if it's been asked and answered so forgive if it has) -

Do the Schindlers automatically have to face the same panel of three or do the judges reshuffle by lottery?

[agrace]

She has been ruled by the Florida court system per 765.101 that the Terri is in a "Persistent vegetative state" and thus is not to be considered handicapped (not the same thing). She is not viewd as handicapped, in a coma, or disabled under law.

Hi again, Destro. That statute in itself is very unfortunate since PVS diagnosis is so subjective and contraversial. The law should be changed to exclude PVS, imo. And Felos' expert witness, Dr Ronald Cranford, is a euthanasia advocate who doesn't believe alzheimers patients nor PVS ones have constitutional rights. He's had patients recover after he diagnosed them as PVS. He declared a patient named Robert Wendland to be PVS even though the man could operate his own wheelchair and pick up colored blocks on command. Thankfully the CA Supreme Court disagreed with him.

The point is, so much is subjective about this whole thing, it's a shame we don't just automatically err on the side of life, as has been said throughout. Unfortunate also that the FL legislature seems unwilling at this point to alter current law to reflect that.