Fed Appeals Court Grant Terri's Parents Petition for Rehearing

FNC

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT WILL LET TERRI'S PARENTS FILE A PETITION FOR REHEARING FOR AN INJUNCTION TO REINSERT FEEDING TUBE... BREAKING

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Moderator update:

Court Says Yes To Schiavo Parents

March 30, 2005

(CBS/AP) A federal appeals court early Wednesday granted Terri Schiavo's parents the right to file a petition for rehearing for an injunction that could allow their daughter's feeding tube to be reconnected.

The ruling came just after midnight from a federal appeals court in Atlanta.

On Tuesday, Schiavo's 12th full day without food or water, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with her parents and joined conservatives in calling for state lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.

The former Democratic presidential candidate was invited by Schiavo's parents to meet with activists outside Schiavo's hospice. His arrival was greeted by some applause and cries of "This is about civil rights!"

"I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips," he said. "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

As the Schiavo deathwatch drags on, CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann spoke with two families who grappled with the same issues as the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo. On one side are Dorothy and Michael Brocato, who have provided care for their brain-damaged daughter Lisa, who suffered brain damage from a heart attack 15 years ago.

"We have devoted our lives to taking care of Lisa, says her mother. The Brocatos are sympathetic to the Schindler's wish to keep Terri Schiavo alive

"I love her. I love her. I couldn't picture not having her around me,'' says Dorothy Brocato.

Ron Oister has watched the Schiavo drama play out from a very different perspective. When Oister's father was essentially brain-dead, his son's wrenching decision was to let his father go.

"It was very hard,'' Oister told Strassmann. "That was my father. And he was in front of me. And I knew he could never return to what he had been."

Oister says Schiavo's parents helped create this needless public spectacle because they refused to face their hard reality.

"She died then, not now. My own experience would say that one ends life at that time."

Jesse Jackson's visit provided an emotional boost to Schiavo's parents and siblings, who have maintained that Schiavo would want to be kept alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, insists he is carrying out her wishes by having the feeding tube pulled.

Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, later made a terse but emotional appeal to Michael Schiavo: "Michael and Jodi, you have your own children. Please, please give my child back to me." Michael Schiavo and fiancee Jodi Centonze have two children, born long after Terri Schiavo fell into paralysis.

Although supporters of the Schindlers have claimed the dehydrated woman is being denied comfort measures such as ice chips for her dry mouth or balm for chapped lips, George Felos, the husband's attorney, defended how Schiavo is being cared for.

"Obviously, the parents and the siblings are desperate. Desperation may lead to different perceptions," Felos told CNN. "I can only tell you what I've seen, and Terri is dying a very peaceful, cared-for death." Felos did not return phone messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Jackson said he asked Michael Schiavo for permission to see the brain-damaged woman but was denied. He also telephoned black legislators in a last-ditch effort to bring back a bill that would prohibit severely brain-damaged patients from being denied food and water if they didn't express their wishes in writing. Lawmakers rejected the legislation earlier this month and appeared unlikely to reconsider it.

One of those contacted by Jackson, Democratic state Sen. Gary Siplin, said he told Jackson the issue had been "thoroughly discussed." Senate Democratic leader Les Miller added, "I have voted. It's time to move on."

The chief sponsor of the measure, state Sen. Daniel Webster, said he knew of no changed votes and that Jackson's efforts may have come too late.

"If he could sway votes — and I'm certain he may be able to — it would have been helpful if he had done that a little earlier" said Webster, a Republican. "We're running out of time. To do it now is not as timely as a couple of weeks ago would have been."

Bob Schindler described his daughter as "failing" following his visit Tuesday.

"She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances," Schindler said. "You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her."

First lady Laura Bush also commented on the case Tuesday, saying the government was right to have intervened on behalf of Schiavo.

"It is a life issue that really does require government to be involved," Bush said aboard a plane bound for Afghanistan, where she was to promote education and women's rights.

During Jackson's visit, a man was tackled to the ground by officers when he tried to storm into the hospice, police said. He became the 47th protester arrested since the feeding tube was removed March 18. The man had two bottles of water with him but did not reach the hospice door, police said.

Doctors have said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.

The parents also lost another round in the courts Tuesday when an appeals court upheld a pervious ruling by Judge George Greer that blocked the Department of Children and Families from intervening in the case.




Court Says Yes To Schiavo Parents

[northernlightsII]

The farce here is the level of legal analysis in Jude's posts.Obviously even basic knowledge of definitions of terms seem to be lacking.
I think even judge Greer would agree she is not dead hence his sustained rabid efforts to kill her.

[northernlightsII]

See post 881.

[jude24]

. Your beliefs are of no account.

My own beliefs are irrelevant. That the court-appointed guardian ad litem has the exact same beliefs, and the trial court operated under this assumption as well, is what is actually relevant. But thank you for pointing out that it is, indeed, pointless to discuss how you or I feel about the case.

As President Bush said, err on the side of life. The courts are obligated to defer to the uttermost.

Defer to Bush, or defer to life? The former is certainly not true, what with the separation of powers. The latter may be true to an extent - but if the court decides that there is no reason that Michael Schaivo must be disqualified as her medical care decision-maker (his conflict-of-interest is not strong enough to disqualify him, especially if he is making a rational choice), to prolong medical treatment without consent would actually be battery.

[jude24]

Where is the problem with my understanding of res judicata and collateral estoppel? Got some cites to show that I am wrong?

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Those individuals are subject to prosecution as provided by law. Even people playing God and judge have to abide by the Constitution and the law.

Not if whatever they say is taken to BE the law. That is the weakness in that argument. You really think they are going to take that claim seriously? They'll just say it was lost and let Greer sign an affidavit that he had filed properly and they'll take his word like he took Michael Schiavo's. Case closed.

[northernlightsII]

Perhaps you forgot to mention that the first guardian ad litem was removed after his findings were that Michael Schiavo's finncial interests were indeed enough of a con flict of interest to dis qualify him.

[txradioguy]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one and find battles to fight together down the road.

I can't look at this as anything other than a parent of three daughters who would fight the devil himself to keep them alive.

I'm not saying you wou;dn't either. Just stating where my sentiment on this issue comes from.

[Cboldt]

The 11th? I thought they booted it out like a football.

This legal action should put light on the oft repeated canard that (the factual gravamen of) Terri's case has been heard by 20 judges.

[beckysueb]

She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.

Don't you just love the way the media repeats insinuations as fact! They never have proved she had an eating disorder. They say mostly they don't know why she collapsed. I bet you dollars to donuts, she was smothered or strangled. I bet her sorry excuse for a husband really thought he hit the jackpot when he realized that not only was he going to get by with attempted murder, he was going to get rich off of it, too. The Final Judge will rule in Terri's favor, though. She will be sentenced to life in paradise.

[northernlightsII]

I have a problem with your definition od "died" which is what the posts I addressed were referring to.
Regarding the new petition it would seem that nobody knows what the issue being brought forward is, so you are not in a position to see if it is res judicata.

[cpforlife.org]

Republican Appointed Judges: History offers little Hope for Improvement

11 Circuit Court of Appeals

6 of the 12 Judges who voted on Terri were Republican appointed

5 out of those 6 Republican appointed
voted against Terri

EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, Date of Appointment: May 7, 1986 Reagan

TJOFLAT, Date of Appointment: November 21, 1975 Ford dissenting

ANDERSON, Entered on Duty: October 1, 1981 Reagan

BIRCH, Date of Appointment: May 14, 1990 Bush 41

DUBINA, Date of Appointment: October 1, 1990 Bush 41

BLACK, Date of Appointment: August 12, 1992 Clinton

CARNES, Date of Appointment: September 10, 1992 Clinton

BARKETT, Date of Appointment: April 21 1994 Clinton

HULL, Entered on Duty: October 3, 1997 Clinton

MARCUS, Date of Appointment: November 12, 1997 Clinton

WILSON, Date of Appointment: July 30, 1999 Clinton dissenting

Hon. William H. Pryor Jr. Received a recess appointment from George W. Bush on February 20, 2004]

Source http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/200511556REH.pdf

[Cboldt]

Part of the reason people are just catching up is because the media is listening to the Jesse liberals and they were previously ignoring the usual pro-lifers.

*bump* It can't be proved, but you are exactly right. Justice (cough cough) is also a poll driven process, to some extent.

[Fred Nerks]

Only while they are still in control. The house of cards they have built began to tremble in the wind the moment the autopsy was found to be a point of Florida law IMO.

Greer ruled that the body must be cremated without autopsy, remember? Something went terribly wrong for him. There is no perfect crime, not even when committed by a cabal of lawyers. He's caught in the web of his own making.

[northernlightsII]

I did not know that they had an actual breakdown of the way the court en banc voted. The fact that there were only 2 written dissents does not mean that the vote was 10-2.

[somerville]

Maybe Alan Dershowitz and David Boies, who are both in favor of keeping the tube in, are part of the legal team now.

[somerville]

Maybe Alan Dershowitz and David Boies, who are both in favor of keeping the tube in, are part of the legal team now.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

"The courts are obligated to defer to the uttermost."

The latter may be true to an extent - but if the court decides that there is no reason that Michael Schaivo must be disqualified as her medical care decision-maker (his conflict-of-interest is not strong enough to disqualify him, especially if he is making a rational choice), to prolong medical treatment without consent would actually be battery.

And that exposes the problem. Terri's choice as expressed by Michael Schiavo is actually the court's choice disguised as Terri's based on what they think is rational. Not only do we disagree but we find it an abuse of discretion that pushes the country another step toward the precipice of disposable life. But the difference between our position and, say, Malthusians who would see no problem with offing 9/10 of the human race for the sake of resources and quality of life for the remaining tenth IS just a values judgement. Nothing more.

[lainde]

Inland Journal also did an excellent piece about Medicaid fraud at that hospice. Terri met NONE of the criteria for admission, the most important being anticipated death in 6 months. There was no proper documentation submitted for admission. I don't know WHY the feds don't move on shutting down the hospice, yanking its license and moving the residents out pending a thorough investigation. Terri has no business being there and Medicaid funds being used fraudulently just compounds the wrongdoing. The contracted hospice "doctor" needs to have his license yanked, or at minimum reviewed. Anything to put more heat on the cockroaches!

[Cboldt]

Why do the Schindlers get endless appeals on the same issues? The courts already claimed their case was without merit.

We'll just have to wait for the opinions to know the answer to that. Are you of the mind that the evidentiary bases for the factual determination that Terri wants to die have been heard by 20 judges?

[pollyg107]

Your ignorance of the law is appalling. Please stop before you embarrass yourself further.