I do not support the decision to terminate Terri’s life, and I do not support Judge Greer, nor do I have sufficient knowledge of the facts to say that he abused his discretion. Without getting into the law, on moral grounds, she would have been best served by allowing her parents to decide her fate. Given the following statute removing Michael was a decision that Judge Greer could have made or it would most certainly have been overruled on appeal. The statute is clear as to who shall serve as proxy.
765.401 The proxy.--
(1) If an incapacitated or developmentally disabled patient has not executed an advance directive, or designated a surrogate to execute an advance directive, or the designated or alternate surrogate is no longer available to make health care decisions, health care decisions may be made for the patient by any of the following individuals, in the following order of priority, if no individual in a prior class is reasonably available, willing, or competent to act:
(a) The judicially appointed guardian of the patient or the guardian advocate of the person having a developmental disability as defined in s. 393.063, who has been authorized to consent to medical treatment, if such guardian has previously been appointed; however, this paragraph shall not be construed to require such appointment before a treatment decision can be made under this subsection;
(b) The patient's spouse;
(c) An adult child of the patient, or if the patient has more than one adult child, a majority of the adult children who are reasonably available for consultation;
(d) A parent of the patient;
I am trying to be careful not to criticize Judge Greer because his decision was upheld in all the appeals. I find it hard to believe that so many judges would intentionally violate the law. I have read the case law, but not the entire transcript of the trial. It appears to me that Felos did a more persuasive job of lawyering and out gunned Pamela Campbell, who admittedly was at a disadvantage not having the funds and experience that would have benefited the Schindlers. If I am not mistaken her conduct of the trial was reviewed and was considered sufficient.
This we both agree upon: The law if flawed, and I expect that it will be amended.
If Judge Greer kept records from being presented that would be an issue that is appropriate to review on appeal. The admission of evidence is sometimes so complicated that it may not make any common sense. I’m not sure what evidence you are referring to, but the rule that permits a case to be reopened requires the production of “new” evidence. That is evidence that was not available at the time the original trial took place. Remember I am not being critical of Ms. Campbell, but she lacked the resources and perhaps the people who came forward after the trial was over, would not have come forward earlier even if Ms. Campbell had made a more complete investigation. As you might expect people do not want to become involved in litigation. Where were all the demonstrators prior to the trial on the merits? They were not engaged until someone said that Terri is going to die. Then the witnesses who had remained silent up to that point came forward, legally it was too late.
Greer allowed the husband to use TERRI's JURY AWARDED MONEY for the husband's own purposes. Greer is a county probate judge. He did not have jurisdiction to adjudicate that issue. Perhaps what he did amounted to a crime? That is a separate issue. A probate court is a court of very limited jurisdiction.
this judge went out of his way to provide an avenue for this husband to have her killed. I can’t comment on this since it would require reading his mind. His legal decision were reviewed on appeal and upheld, if that means anything? I agree that judges should not legislate from the bench, but that is a theoretical discussion and subject to interpretation. A jury trial would have removed some of the judge’s bias if he had any, since the jury would have decided if the proofs satisfied the “clear and convincing” evidence test.
I do not believe that a person can acquire a “common law” marital status if one of them is already married while the cohabitation took place, but that is just my best guess, I have not researched the issue.
Well .. I'm just going to comment on a few statements you made so you can see where I'm coming from.
While you seem to believe that even if Greer had removed Michael - somehow by appeal he would have been reinstated. I'm not sure I believe that. Greer has been the LEADER on all these issues - with the appeals courts agreeing with everything Greer did - why would they suddenly change their opinions and not go with him?
And .. please stop repeating the "proxy" statement - we can all read it once and get the message. No one is arguing who or what a "proxy" is. We are arguing that Michael was NOT THE PROPER PERSON - AS AN "ESTRANGED HUSBAND" WITH ANOTHER WIFE AND CHILDREN. And .. we agree that the proper person should have been her parents.
But .. as usual .. when convenient to the left - the sanctity of marriage was to be upheld at all costs - even if the spouse was suspected of being a batterer - that consideration was never investigated in determining the appropriateness of the person chosen as a "guardian". Terri's X-rays when she was admitted to the hospital showed multiple bone franctures. That alone should have been suspicion enough for Greer to challenge the husband as guardian.
You said: "I find it hard to believe that so many judges would intentionally violate the law".
I don't find it hard to believe at all. Judges have been ruling from the bench for years. And .. the left's only power source is these activist judges. It's no mystery at all as to why they would all stick together. They know the public is getting wise to the fact that these judges have been acting outside of their scope of authority and jurisdiction for years - and quite frankly we're sick of it.
And .. what most people are ignoring - and I have stated many times - the appeals courts only LOOKED AT THE COURT'S PROCESS OF THE CASE [which I'm not disputing] - BUT THEY DID NOT REVIEW THE FACTS OF THE CASE - which Congress and the President requested the federal courts do; the legislation gave them jurisdiction to "REVIEW THE FACTS" of THE CASE. Now .. we have a statement from the 11th circus judge saying that congress did not have any authority to tell them what to do (but Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States of America) does say that Congress determines JURISDICTION. Obviously, this learned judge did not know this information, which renders him an unlikely candidate to even be a judge.
It wasn't Felos who did a better job - it was the left that leaned toward Felos, thereby giving him the edge with the public, by making falacious statements about Terri's condition. I don't have enough fingers to count the media outlets who completely misled the public about her condition - and gleefully allowed Felos to try to glorify STARVING HER TO DEATH as somehow beautiful and serene.
You said: "If Judge Greer kept records from being presented that would be an issue that is appropriate to review on appeal."
I agree - and although several nurses gave affidavits [which I have read] concerning how Michael treated Terri - denied her rehab even though a jury had awarded money for it - how he always required he be left alone and the door locked when he visited Terri - after his visits .. how the nurses found Terri in hypoglycemic shock and empty viles of insulin were found in trash .. while tests on Terri's blood sugar levels showed an overdose of insulin in her system - how a nurse who recorded these circumstances found that her statements about it had been REMOVED from the computer records regarding Terri's care - how Michael said, "when is this bitch gonna die" - how Michael would call and ask, "is it dead yet".
No self-respecting judge (after reading those affidavits) should allow that type of person to be the guardian of a dog - let alone a disabled person. And because the judge chose not to believe these nurses who saw Terri on a daily basis - it seems to me the judge was providing lots of leeway to the husband and denying the affidavits of the nurses to have any standing in the case.
I believe it was stated in the records of the case that Greer disallowed the affidavits because they were submitted TOO LATE - which was a lie.
We do agree that the case should have been "reviewed" - but as I have stated earlier - this did not take place - the only thing the appeals courts did was review THE PROCESSES GREER USED - NOT THE FACTS OF THE CASE UPON WHICH HE RULED.
I saw the court order from judge Greer saying that the funds could be used for attorneys fees - and it even listed the persons who would receive the monies. Most of them turned out to be affiliated with the Hospice is some way. This is very, very troubling. I do hope it is determined his action in this regard was illegal - and all those people have to return the money to the trust. Of course, now that Terri's dead - I don't suppose that will happen either - because the husband would get the money anyway and just give it back to the lawyers. [sigh ..]
Please stop assuming that these judges are god-like and have the best of intentions. THEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS WITH LIKES AND DISLIKES AND AGENDAS AND PREJUDICES - just like the rest of us. To ascribe some sort of superior status to these people is what the left has been promoting for years and years - in order to give the judges standing to legislate from the bench and be presumed as having the authority to do so.
Thankfully, this arrogant overreaching by the courts is going to be challenged by Congress - and hopefully it will not take tens of years to get it done.
I'm not going to talk about this any more, because I just keep repeating myself - and people just keep asking the same questions. These are my opinion - and nobody is required to believe them.