Schiavo parents won't fight U.S. ruling

Houston Chronicle via AP ^ | 3-26-05 | MIKE SCHNEIDER

[Houmatt]

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) -- Terri Schiavo's parents will not ask a federal appeals court to reconsider its decision that left their brain-damaged daughter without her feeding tube, leaving one of their last hopes with a state judge who has ruled against them before, one of their lawyers said Saturday.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta refused Friday to order the reconnection of the tube, which was removed March 18.

The parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had planned to ask the full appeals court to review that ruling, but later decided against it, attorney Barbara Weller said. She did not explain the decision.

The parents made another desperate plea to Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer on Friday to keep their daughter alive, saying she tried to say "I want to live" just minutes before her feeding tube was removed. Greer was expected to announce a decision by noon Saturday.

In their motion, the Schindlers claim their daughter said "AHHHHH" and "WAAAAAAA" when asked to repeat the phrase "I want to live."

The appeal is seen as a long shot because Greer was the judge who ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed. Doctors have said Schiavo's previous utterances were involuntary moans consistent with someone in a vegetative state.

Attorneys for Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, argued the Schindlers had abandoned all pretense of the law and were simply making "a pure emotional appeal." Michael Schiavo says his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially.

State and federal courts have repeatedly ruled against the Schindlers, who grew increasingly anguished as their daughter entered her second week without the tube that sustained her for 15 years.

Doctors have said the 41-year-old woman would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed. By Friday, dehydration was taking its toll. Terri Schiavo's tongue and eyes were bleeding and her skin was flaking off, Weller said.

"Terri is weakening. She's down to her last hours. Something has to be done and has to be done quick," said Bob Schindler, who visited his daughter Friday morning. After a later visit, he added: "I told her that we're still fighting for her, and she shouldn't give up because we're not. But I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish."

Schindler attorney David Gibbs III urged Greer to act quickly on the motion filed Friday because he expected "Terri to step into eternity this Easter weekend." George Felos, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, said the belief Terri Schiavo can speak was "crossing the line" into an abuse of the legal system.

The ruling Friday by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court was the third time in four days the court had denied an emergency request made by Schiavo's parents. In its decision, the panel said it had already ruled on most of the issues in the latest appeal and other issues raised did not apply to the case.

Bob Schindler also pleaded with Gov. Jeb Bush to intervene by taking temporary custody of their daughter while court challenges are argued.

"With the stroke of his pen, he could stop this," Bob Schindler said. "He's put Terri through a week of hell and my family though a week of hell. I implore him to put a stop to this. He has to stop it. This is judicial homicide."

Bush, who has been a staunch supporter of the Schindlers, said Thursday he is not willing to go beyond the boundaries of his powers and that he was hoping the courts would provide relief.

"We are continuing to do whatever we can, and we are pursuing all the options available to us in this case," Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre 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. She left no living will.

She went without food and water in 2003 when the feeding tube was removed for six days and five hours. It was reinserted when Bush and the Legislature pushed through a law that was later thrown out by the state Supreme Court.

Outside the hospice, eight more people - including a 10-year old boy and 13-year-old twin girls - were arrested Friday for trying to bring her water.

"I don't want her to die," Joshua Heldreth, 10, from North Carolina, said before his arrest. "I'm not afraid because God is with me."

A handful of protesters remained outside Terri Schiavo's hospice overnight.

"I'm so discouraged, I feel so helpless," said Christine Ambrusko, a student from Atlanta. "I don't know how in our civilized country we can allow a person to be starved to death with so many questions unanswered."

Also Friday, the FBI said a man was arrested in Fairview, N.C., allegedly for offering a $250,000 bounty for Michael Schiavo's death and $50,000 for that of a judge in the case. The FBI did not identify the judge.

Richard Alan Meywes allegedly sent the threatening e-mail Tuesday to two Tampa-area news organizations and the host of a national conservative talk show, the FBI said.

Meywes was taken into custody at his home and charged with murder for hire and with the transmission of interstate threatening communications, the FBI said. If convicted, Meywes could face up to 15 years in prison and fines up to $500,000.

[Wallace T.]

Given that, assuming the polls are not distorted by the MSM spinmeisters, a majority of Americans want Terri Schiavo to die and that the conservative opposition is essentially powerless and impotent, future courts, compelled by what they will interpret as public necessity, may override living wills.

The Communists slaughtered over 10 times as many people as the Nazis did, but not on the basis of race. If you were, say, a Ukranian killed by the Communists for being a landowning farmer, you were just as dead as a Jew killed by the Nazis for being of "inferior blood." Our own pro-diversity, anti-racist liberals and humanists may do the same to those who are too old, too disabled, even too fat. Furthermore, from what we have seen of the pro-life and conservative communities in the Schiavo affairs, they may not face meaningful, effective opposition.

God save the United States of America.

[Theodore R.]

Maybe they are hoping that Greer won't come after them next.

Some Floridians may later learn the wisdom of the old line "One way to conciliate a tiger is to allow oneself to be devoured." Meanwhile, people are apparently pulling out all stops to relocate to FL.

[the invisib1e hand]

Now we know why Florida is the lightning capital of the world. Don't stand too close to Judge Greer.

[Churchillspirit]

It seems to me that this judge is thinking more about the implications for future cases of patients in Terri's condition than Terri herself.

[UTCBSN]

Greer is no more deciding this case than I am. It is about passion for death vs. passion for life. Greer pimped himself out for such a immoral cause and he's gonna pay the price, and he'll deserves everything he gets.