Posted on 03/25/2005 7:46:32 PM PST by madprof98
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 25 - The somber ranks of protesters swelled on Friday outside the hospice in which Terri Schiavo lay dying as two more last-ditch legal appeals wound through the courts on Friday and the sense there grew that this religious and political drama was rapidly coming to a grim conclusion.
"Terri is weakening and she's down to her last hours," the woman's father, Robert Schindler, told reporters beneath a glowering sky. "Something has to be done, and has to be done quick."
The question of whether the severely brain-damaged Ms. Schiavo should be allowed to die, as her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she wanted, or instead be turned over to the care of her parents, who want to keep her alive, has reached from this small, secluded hospice to the state's Capitol, the Vatican, the White House and the halls of Congress.
Robert Schindler and his wife, Mary, said doctors told them their daughter would most likely live 7 to 10 days after the removal of the feeding tube, which came out a week ago, on March 18.
The drama's coincidence with Good Friday and Easter weekend made protesters gathered here ever more fervent. At one point this afternoon as the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" and "Onward Christian Soldiers," demonstrators holding plastic cups of water for Ms. Schiavo stepped one by one across the police line at the hospice and were taken into custody.
Still battling despite a series of legal setbacks that went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, lawyers for the Schindlers filed a motion Friday before Judge George W. Greer of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, who had ordered the tube's removal, with what they said was "highly significant new information" indicating that Ms. Schiavo is more able to communicate than had been previously believed.
Barbara Weller, one of the lawyers, said she had been in the woman's hospice room on the day the tube was removed.
The motion before Judge Greer said that "at one point during her visit, Mrs. Weller attempted to elicit a direct statement from Mrs. Schiavo regarding her end of life wishes." It went on, "Mrs. Weller told Mrs. Schiavo that this whole matter could end if Mrs. Schiavo could articulate one sentence: 'I want to live.' In the presence of Suzanne Vitadamo, Mrs. Schiavo's aunt, she attempted to verbalize the sentence. She managed to articulate the first two vowel sounds, first articulating 'AHHHHHHH,' and then virtually screaming 'WAAAAAAAA.' She became very agitated, but could not complete the vocalization attempted."
The Schindlers argued that their daughter seemed to be trying to say "I want," and that her feeding tube should be reinserted to determine whether she could communicate.
George Felos, Mr. Schiavo's lawyer, called the motion "outrageous" and "an abuse of the legal system," saying the issue of whether Ms. Schiavo can communicate had been addressed in previous hearings. It is nothing more than a reflex caused by touching her, he said.
Judge Greer said he would rule on the motion by noon Saturday.
Although the court filing did not come until late Friday afternoon, whispers that Ms. Schiavo had tried to speak rippled through the crowd of protesters and were already beginning to appear on placards.
"Terry: I Want to Live," read one sign. "Terri asks Mom for food," read another.
In a second legal maneuver, this time in the federal courts, the Schindlers' lawyers asked the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, to overturn a ruling by Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court, denying their charge that that Ms. Schiavo's right to due process had been denied. On Friday night, the court declined to overrule Judge Whittemore.
As has been the case since crowds first began to form early in the week, nearly all of the protesters outside the Woodside Hospice House were siding with the Schindlers. "I believe what is going on here is a sinister act," said Marilyn Aleman of Orlando. Her sign, pointedly directed at Mr. Schiavo, "Divorce is an option, murder is not," flapped in a stiff, muggy breeze.
A handful of other protesters quietly waved signs asking that Ms. Schiavo be allowed to die in peace. "There's another side to this," said Raymond Simms, who described himself as a veterans' advocate. "No one, not even the government, should be allowed to interfere in the decisions between a husband and wife."
Pastors in the crowd urged calm and forgiveness, but tempers were clearly on edge. "It's easy to get caught up in anger here," said Pastor Rick Barnard of My Faith House of Prayer in Morris, Ill., as he led a noon service outside the hospice. "We need to ask the Lord for the grace to forgive even those who oppose us."
At the same time, many of the chants and slogans were taking on a gruesome edge. "Her skin is peeling," read one sign. "Terri's nose and lips are bleeding," said another.
Some protesters were even looking beyond Ms. Schiavo's death. "No cremation," said one sign. "We want an autopsy."
Mr. Schiavo and Judge Greer remained the main targets.
On Friday, however, much of the anger was also being directed at Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President Bush, for not taking further action to keep Ms. Schiavo alive, despite their efforts to prod the courts and their calls for legislators to "err on the side of life" as President Bush phrased it earlier this week.
"President Bush, Governor Bush: Fear God More Than Man," read one sign waved by protesters toward the burgeoning colony of cameras and reporters stationed across the street.
"To be certain, Jeb Bush has done a great deal on behalf of Terri, but how will history remember him if Terri dies?" asked Andrew Doran, a spokesman for Crossroads, Pro-Life, one of the groups holding a vigil. "Likely, as a weak, moral coward who did not have the courage to save a helpless, dying woman from those who so vehemently wished to take her life."
Randall Terry, the veteran anti-abortion advocate and head of a group called the Society for Truth and Justice, handed out what he said were five legal opinions showing that the governor did have more powers than he seemed willing to use.
The governor has told reporters that he had asked the state's lawyers to search for any legal avenue to put Ms. Schiavo back on her feeding tube, but had found none. "I cannot go beyond what my powers are," Governor Bush told reporters.
A cluster of cameras formed around the police barricade at the entrance to the hospice around 1 p.m., alerted by religious leaders that they would try to send volunteers across the police lines in an effort to deliver water to Ms. Schiavo.
"It's good, it's good, my son is going to be a man," said Scott Helbreth of Charlotte, N.C., as he watched his 10-year-old son, Joshua, take his place in line carrying a cup of water.
Mr. Helbreth said Joshua had read about Ms. Schiavo and asked his father to drive him to Florida. "I am so proud of him," Mr. Helbreth said. "Only in America do we have children like this."
The crowd sang hymns and one by one protesters took their place in front of the cameras, made a short statement, then stepped across the police line and were taken into custody. When it was Joshua's turn, he seemed cowed by the hulking camera crews, muttering quiet answers to their shouted questions. He didn't know how he felt. He just wanted to do the right thing. He wasn't afraid.
Joshua took two steps across the line, then looked up at a pair of police officers, each one thrice his size. They spoke to him quietly, placed a hand under each of the boy's arms and led him toward a police car.
"What a statement this makes," Mr. Helbreth said. "We have a culture of death in this country, but this strikes a blow for the culture of life."
Dennis Blank and Lynn Waddell contributed reporting from Pinellas County, Fla.,for this article.
GRIM??? Why, I thought this was the happiest possible outcome! Isn't that what this paper and its zillion clones in print and TV-land have been telling us???
"...The lapse of time between the various offenses and the indictment of defendant on July 27, 1967, is considerable but is adequately explained by the record. The murder weapon in each case was unique, insulin. The deaths of each of these victims were initially attributed to causes other than a criminal agency. Suspicion of insulin and of defendant as the person administering the insulin was not aroused until the death of Zella in 1956. It was not until years later, after much painstaking and persistent investigation by law enforcement officers, and the discovery of advances made in {Page 3 Cal.3d 621} medical knowledge and techniques, that sufficient evidence could be accumulated to charge defendant with these deaths. Unfortunately, by then other of defendant's victims had lost their lives. This is the only known reported case of murder by insulin poisoning in the United States. Only one other, reported world-wide, occurred in England in 1956. ..."
"...Dr. Grace Fern Thomas, a psychiatrist and an expert in insulin shock therapy, and director of the insulin shock department at the time defendant was at Camarillo, testified as to the procedures on the ward. A precise dosage of insulin was measured for each person at a particular time. At a specific level that patient would go into shock in approximately two hours after the injection. Patients do not progress at the same level. Careful watch must be kept of the pulse, color, blood pressure, general condition, and neurological signs, such as pupillary changes and body motions. When a patient is going into progressive stages of coma he sweats very profusely and breathes very heavily. Saliva is secreted in large amounts, mucous flows freely and mixes with the saliva, and the patient must be carefully watched, turned, or assisted so that he does not aspirate the fluid into his lungs. Otherwise bronchopneumonia may develop, leading to death. The gag reflex and the cornea reflex are lost. Convulsions may occur, and medication is given to prevent this. The extremities may stiffen. At a relatively deep level of coma the Babinski test (scatching the sole of the foot in a certain manner) will cause a reflex known as the Babinski response (toes fan out). The patient must be brought out of the coma within 10-15 minutes thereafter. This is done by administering glucose through gastric tubes, and if this is not effective, glucose is administered intravenously to raise the blood sugar.
Why is this a religiouse issue?! This has nothing to do with anyone's religion! This is about the right to live!
>>>Why is this a religiouse issue?! This has nothing to do with anyone's religion! This is about the right to live! >>>
Because the left has to belittle our effort to save this woman's life and have to equate us with the 'loony anti-abortion activists' in an attempt to discredit us.
I am personally not completely anti-abortion, but I am anti-Teri Schiavo being murdered. I am not anti-removing life support. But not in this case.
Has anyone heard if Jeb has gone in and was blocked to the Hostpice?!
Times photo -- Lance Rothstein] Early Friday morning Bob Schindler (right), father of Terri Schiavo, talks to Amanda Withey, 14, who was brought to Woodside Hospice by her adoptive parents Paul and Jennifer Withey. According to her parents, Amanda suffers from a traumatic brain injury. The family traveled here from Natchitoches, La., to show their support for the SchindlersWhy would he go in, there is no law to back him doing that?
So far he has not gone there. Shiavo's parents said ""[Bush] has put Terri through a week of hell and our family through a week of hell by not acting,"
"GRIM??? Why, I thought this was the happiest possible outcome! Isn't that what this paper and its zillion clones in print and TV-land have been telling us???"
What do parents tell their children about why Terri is dying?
What do the children think, when they hear that lawyers, judges, govenors, and the president are "starving a woman to death?"
And no adults help her...
Anyone with half a heart feels the impact! This judge is truly evil.
Maybe the President can sign a Presidential Pardon for Terri being alive?
""Maybe the President can sign a Presidential Pardon for Terri being alive?""
He can't because Terri is not a criminal. Criminals are given more rights.
These poor people have gone through hell for 15 years now. I don't blame them for lashing out at everybody. Jeb gave them a couple years with Terri they wouldn't have had without him.
I guess she would have been better off if she had committed some crime?
How about Jeb goes in, "W" pardons him for his actions?
"" What do the children think, when they hear that lawyers, judges, govenors, and the president are "starving a woman to death?"""
Excuse me, but President Bush and Jeb Bush are not starving this woman to death. Anyone who has taken a proactive role in this including the 42 Democrats in Congress are innocent.
It is the judges. Every one in the Supreme court INCLUDING Scalia has blood on his hands. And Judge Greer and Michael Shiavo will burn in hell for this.
Judgenfuhrer Greer: "Hey. That's not fair.
The damn 'b&tch' wants to die by torture and starvation.
Now on your knees immediately and service me .. or join her."
""These poor people have gone through hell for 15 years now. I don't blame them for lashing out at everybody. Jeb gave them a couple years with Terri they wouldn't have had without him.""
Exactly, when that lawyer of theirs lashed out- well I completely understand. I understand that they are angry, hurt, and helpless. No one can blame them. And no doubt their lawyer is personally involved.
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