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

[jude24]

Forget definitions, for the time being.

Is her cerebral cortex liquid?

Can she have any amount of consciousness without a functioning cerebral cortex?

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I think she has no standing to sue on Terri's behalf any more than you or I.

[northernlightsII]

NO, the accepted standard medical tests for diagnosis of PVS are MRI and PET scans which have been continuously denied. A CAT scan is not conclusive of brain function.
There is not a conclusive diagnosis of PVS in this case.

[NautiNurse]

"Disabled" means that you can't do some things, but you still have consciousness.

Please provide your source reference for this definition.

[northernlightsII]

Please see #938.
Good night

[jude24]

I have no source for that.

[txradioguy]

"Is her cerebral cortex liquid?"

Ok I'm asking this quesiton not to inflame but because I've heard it bandied about in the MSM and it baffles me.

If any part of her brain were truly liquified wouldn't it have oozed out as some point through nasal passages or the ears?

This sounds like some corner cutting description dreamed up by the MSM cause they think we're too stupid to comprehend anything more complicated.

[Fred Nerks]

That's what I am sitting here waiting for, In Australia. I hope that when you hear the sirens, you will let me know. I live in hope, I pray for Terri.

[NautiNurse]

If you are willing to admit you invented your definition of disabled and brain death, I will discuss with you your questions about the cerebral cortex.

[NautiNurse]

wouldn't it have oozed out as some point through nasal passages or the ears?

Only if there was an injury communicating with one of the orifices.

[jude24]

I will admit I used what I felt to be common sense on "disabled," and "brain dead" was sloppy terminology, that I felt was sufficiently qualified by the fact that her brain stem was functional enough to give her involuntary functions.

[Fred Nerks]

This document does not exist on this server...

[txradioguy]

"Only if there was an injury communicating with one of the orifices."

I don't mean to sound dense just trying to get a clearer picture of this. So the brain could actually just slush around inside the skull in a liquid form??

I never knew this.

[varon]

Fed Appeals Court Grant Terri's Parents Petition for Rehearing

Nothing more than a CYA PR move after the fact.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Can she have any amount of consciousness without a functioning cerebral cortex?

As I said, no one can tell. I can't even tell if you're conscious. I just know words keep appearing here. I could define that as consciousness. But it wouldn't be a very good definition. Lot's of people can't type on a keyboard. I could look for other external signs of response to stimulus, but I really can't equate any of them to the experience of consciousness inside your head. That is beyond the reach of anyone. Therefore "consciousness" is ultimately subjective and unknowable and a bad definition for an objective human life.

[syriacus]

"Disabled" means that you can't do some things, but you still have consciousness.

What about people with epilepsy or narcolepsy, who might be "unconscious" many times a day?

[AlbionGirl]

I really like Terri, she just refuses to Give Up The Ghost easily on behalf of those sentencing her to it. May this work to her favor, and most of all, may she feel the caress of the Lord in this time of her suffering.

I can't imagine what it would be like if she were a member of my family. I can't imagine having to be near people who set her death in motion, and I can't imagine watching her fade and fight, fade and fight.

God be with you, Terri. Lots of people here pulling for you to pull through.

[jude24]

They are conscious when their episodes aren't occuring, aren't they?

Terri Schiavo will never wake up from her vegetative state. Her cerebral cortex is so degraded as to preclude consciousness.

[tutstar]

Amazing! Thank you Lord!

[NautiNurse]

Good--there have been far too many false assumptions about the clinical and legal definitions around here.

There is significant damage to Mrs. Schiavo's cerebral cortex, with atrophy of the brain tissue. However, to declare it liquefied is also a factually false assertion. A PET scan and an MRI would be more definitive diagnostic studies to establish upper brain function. I understand there may be metallic artifact in Mrs. Schiavo's brain prohibiting an MRI.