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Death by Court Order (Terri Schiavo)
NRO ^ | April 25, 2005 issue | Andrew C. McCarthy

Posted on 04/15/2005 9:45:26 PM PDT by FairOpinion

The death certificate for Theresa Marie Schiavo should record that she was killed by court order. The state courts flagrantly violated the democratically enacted laws of Florida — laws expressly intended to protect the incapacitated and vulnerable whenever there is doubt about their true condition or their desire to live. When the Congress and the president of the United States took extraordinary steps at the end to have the case reviewed, the federal courts haughtily ignored them.

The courts’ overreaching began in 1990, the very year Terri Schiavo, then 26, was stricken. The Supreme Court that year decided the Cruzan case, which concerned another woman’s tragedy. Here, the Court held both that the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed a right to decline medical treatment, and that medical treatment included basic sustenance. Further, the Court held that a surrogate could exercise this right for people who (a) were in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS) and (b) had convincingly expressed a desire not to be sustained if they ever reached that state.

Both tests were dangerously imprecise. PVS combines the total loss of higher cognitive functions with the persistence of rudimentary reflex responses. A person who is minimally conscious and responsive to stimuli is not in a PVS. Because the condition is so difficult to get a precise fix on, some experts peg its misdiagnosis rate as nearing one out of every two cases. The Court’s standard for intent, meanwhile, did not require a reliable piece of writing, such as an authenticated will. Hearsay would do the trick. . .

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: schiavo; terri
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The standards to convict criminals are infinitely higher, than the standards to order the death of an innocent, defenseless person.
1 posted on 04/15/2005 9:45:26 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: AndrewC

"Further, the Court held that a surrogate could exercise this right for people who (a) were in a “persistent vegetative state” (PVS) and (b) had convincingly expressed a desire not to be sustained if they ever reached that state. "

====

As you pointed out in your post 43 on another thread,

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1379488/posts?page=43#43

Greer referred to Michael Schiavo as a surrogate, when in fact, he was a proxy.



Reading the copy of the February 11 2000 order to kill Terri, it seems that Judge Greer was in error as to the law. In the decision he used the word surrogate. Surrogate is the individual designated by the incapacitated person in an advance directive to make medical decisions for the incapacitated person. There was no advance directive. Michael Schiavo was a proxy. Plus he does not provide a citation to the exception in the law which allows hearsay evidence.

90.802 Hearsay rule.--Except as provided by statute, hearsay evidence is inadmissible.

765.101 Definitions.--As used in this chapter:
(14) "Principal" means a competent adult executing an advance directive and on whose behalf health care decisions are to be made.

(15) "Proxy" means a competent adult who has not been expressly designated to make health care decisions for a particular incapacitated individual, but who, nevertheless, is authorized pursuant to s. 765.401 to make health care decisions for such individual.

(16) "Surrogate" means any competent adult expressly designated by a principal to make health care decisions on behalf of the principal upon the principal's incapacity.

http://www.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/021100-Trial%20Ct%20Order%200200.pdf



43 posted on 04/14/2005 9:32:26 PM PDT by AndrewC (Darwinian logic -- It is just-so if it is just-so)



2 posted on 04/15/2005 9:49:18 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: Ohioan from Florida

Terri PING


3 posted on 04/15/2005 9:49:43 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: FairOpinion
Actually, that's incorrect. The standards to put a convicted murderer to death are much higher and exacting than the standards to put an innocent and defenseless person to death. In Terri Schiavo's case, there's no question our justice system malfunctioned. Its got to be fixed.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
4 posted on 04/15/2005 9:52:03 PM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: FairOpinion; AndrewC

The illegalities in Judge Greer's behavior just keep piling up. This is the "rule of law" that was so sacred to Jeb Bush that Terri Schiavo had to die in order to preserve it.

Terri died not just be court order but by Executive Cowardice.

The real problem is not the courts, but the widespread belief in Absolute Judicial Supremacy.


5 posted on 04/15/2005 9:54:51 PM PDT by Arthur McGowan
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To: FairOpinion
Reading the copy of the February 11 2000 order to kill Terri, it seems that Judge Greer was in error as to the law.

I heard on FOX today, Hannity and Colms, that 28 complaints had been filed by Terri's aids and nurses between 2000 and 2004 against her husband. The judge threw them out of court as irrelevant.

6 posted on 04/15/2005 9:55:42 PM PDT by concerned about politics (Vote Republican - Vote morally correct!)
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To: FairOpinion

Excerpt from Blogs for Terri:

April 15, 2005

Another Terri Schiavo-Like Case - This One's in Chicago
Several people have emailed me the following story about Clara Martinez, a Chicago woman who is reportedly being starved to death.

Martinez suffered a debilitating stroke a year ago and her husband signed a "Do Not Resuscitate" order that led to the disconnection of her feeding tube. She is able to consume liquids through her mouth and, so far, has survived for thirty days without food.

Under "normal" circumstances her situation would have gone unnoticed had it not been for the intervention of a pastor of the Hispanic Evangelical Church. Her family also opposes the husband's decision.

I spoke to the article's author, Jorge Mederos. He said the family feels "powerless" and has called the media without response. "No one is paying attention," he said. "The family is planning a protest tomorrow or over the weekend."

http://www.blogsforterri.com/archives/2005/04/another_terri_s.php#more

***ATTENTION PLEASE:

Since the family is looking for media attention, perhaps we can help them out. If you don't have much time, please at least make one contact:

Sean Hannity's e-mail: James.Grisham@abc.com


Special Note

Nationwide local media contact database - one of the best all-purpose links.
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media
For contact info for all media in a local area, enter your zipcode.
For contact info for all media in a state, click that state on the map.
For national media, check the "show national media" box.

When it returns your list of media outlets, you can click on the name to go to the website.

If you want to send email to any or all of them, click the box next to the name. Then, click "compose message". When the next screen comes up, enter the requested information, type in your message, and click "send message".

==>Added bonus: on the left hand side of the search page are links to the same kind of contact info for national, state and local officials; and state agencies.

To Call FOX News Channel:
1-888-369-4762

FOX News Channel Comments
Comments@foxnews.com

cbs phone # is 212-975-3247; e-mail is audsvcs@cbs.com

If you call you can either leave a message on their answering machine, or if you wish to talk with a "real person," call between 10 - 11:30 a.m. or 2 - 3:30 p.m.

netaudr@abc.com

nbcshows@nbc.com


7 posted on 04/15/2005 9:56:28 PM PDT by Sun (Visit www.theEmpireJournal.com * Pray for Terri. Pray to end abortion.)
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To: FairOpinion

Make no mistake, there were parallel battles going on:

• Terri Schiavo’s fight for life
• The deatheaters right to murder
• The judicial branch’s fight to remain omnipotent in violation of the Constitution

The judge, acting in addition as jury and executioner, is the enemy of our country. The judicial system uniformly supported him, showing their loyalty to their guild far exceeded their loyalty to God, Honor, Country.

The President swore to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. To protect our rights to LIFE, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. He did "what he could".

The world watched as he stood by, hands in his pocket, claiming to be “for life” and doing nothing.

Doing your best is always good enough for God. Claiming to do your best is not.

When he allowed Terri Schiavo’s murder, a part of his soul died, too. He had the power. He wasn’t the man.


8 posted on 04/15/2005 9:58:54 PM PDT by Rodentking (http://www.airpower.blogspot.com/)
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To: goldstategop
"Malfunctioned" seems a bit sterile.

It looks like a black hole in the fourteenth Amendment to me.

9 posted on 04/15/2005 10:03:33 PM PDT by Earthdweller (US descendant of French Protestants ....Terri Schiavo, "Where there's life, there's hope.")
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To: goldstategop

When Greer issued the execution order, he stepped outside the boundaries of what a probate judge is allowed to do, but not one other rubber stamptrooper in black robes bothered to address that wrong, so now probate judges can execute persons without the standard of 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. ... And there are Freepers who insist the wrongs were the Congress getting involved, sheesh.


10 posted on 04/15/2005 10:12:23 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: MHGinTN

And there are Freepers who insist the wrongs were the Congress getting involved, sheesh.
=======

Yeah . . . it's enough to make you wish that passing a basic intelligence test was a requirement for obtaining FReeper posting privileges, eh ??? ;-))


11 posted on 04/15/2005 10:29:11 PM PDT by GeekDejure ( LOL = Liberals Obey Lucifer !!! -- Impeach Greer !!!.)
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To: FairOpinion

Bump.


12 posted on 04/15/2005 10:33:03 PM PDT by TBP
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To: Sun
Sean Hannity's e-mail: James.Grisham@abc.com

Why write to Sweet Baby James when you can write to seanshow@abc.com with a copy to hannity@foxnews.com?

13 posted on 04/15/2005 10:35:13 PM PDT by TBP
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To: GeekDejure
Yeah . . . it's enough to make you wish that passing a basic intelligence test was a requirement for obtaining FReeper posting privileges, eh ??? ;-))

And a test for basic human decency wouldn't be bad either.

14 posted on 04/15/2005 10:35:18 PM PDT by tertiary01 (How many highly paid "professionals" did it take to kill a powerless disabled dependent woman?)
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To: FairOpinion

The medical industry and the penal industry are closer to each other than most people realize, but if you think about it, it seems they met, coincided, at the point of the TS events. Same mechanism, same methods, same thinking. This point is where a new power is growing, and this is where we ought to start thinking about what is going on.


15 posted on 04/15/2005 10:36:28 PM PDT by RightWhale (50 trillion sovereign cells working together in relative harmony)
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To: MHGinTN

"When Greer issued the execution order, he stepped outside the boundaries of what a probate judge is allowed to do, but not one other rubber stamptrooper in black robes bothered to address that wrong, so now probate judges can execute persons without the standard of 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. "

===

I noticed that too and is horrified at this.


16 posted on 04/15/2005 10:39:06 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: RightWhale
You post brought chills! ... Add to your mix the social security insolvency, the medicare/medicaid catastrophe looming, and the governmental policies driving the cost of meds and healthcare through the roof ... it's a scary visage.
17 posted on 04/15/2005 10:40:28 PM PDT by MHGinTN (If you can read this, you've had life support from someone. Promote life support for others.)
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To: MHGinTN

"And there are Freepers who insist the wrongs were the Congress getting involved, sheesh"

===

Ann Coulter put it in context:

"Also on the pro-killing side are conservatives still pissed off about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 who are desperately hoping to be elected "most consistent constitutionalist" by their local Federalist Society chapters.

You can't grow peanuts on your own land or install a toilet capable of disposing two tissues in one flush because of federal government intervention. But Congress demands a review of the process that goes into a governmental determination to kill an innocent American woman — and that goes too far!

It's not a radical extension of current constitutional doctrines — even the legitimate ones! — for the federal government to assert a constitutional right to life that cannot be denied without due process of law under the Fifth and 14th Amendments. Congress didn't ask for much, just the same due process John Wayne Gacy got.

But people even stupider than lawyers have picked up on the vague rumblings from "most consistent constitutionalist" aspirants and begun to claim that Congress' action is an affront to "limited government."


http://www.anncoulter.org/cgi-local/article.cgi?article=48


18 posted on 04/15/2005 10:41:48 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: tertiary01
And a test for basic human decency wouldn't be bad either.

No kidding.

I saw someone post yesterday that us "Terri fanatics" need to think about how much it costs to keep disabled people alive and that the health care system will go banckrupt if we don't start killing off Terri types.

It made me literally ill.

19 posted on 04/15/2005 10:43:02 PM PDT by Earthdweller (US descendant of French Protestants ....Terri Schiavo, "Where there's life, there's hope.")
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To: TBP

Sean Hannity's e-mail: James.Grisham@abc.com

"Why write to Sweet Baby James when you can write to seanshow@abc.com with a copy to hannity@foxnews.com?"

Thank you. I will add that to my contact info.

I did e-mail James Grisham, probably among others, about Grandma Mae, and James e-mailed me back and said he was talking with the family, and they had family on Hannity and Colmes a couple of days later.

So what I'm gonna do next time, is e-mail to ALL of them. Can't hurt.

:)


20 posted on 04/15/2005 10:44:36 PM PDT by Sun (Visit www.theEmpireJournal.com * Pray for Terri. Pray to end abortion.)
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