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Any other suggestions for reform?

A requirement that the patient's lawyer, judge, and other interested parties actually see the patient and observe their condition. No one should be allowed to argue in court for the death of a patient they haven't even seen. No judge should be allowed to order the death of a patient they haven't seen.

Jay Wolfson came out publicly in support of killing Terri Schiavo. When he was selected as her guardian ad litem, he broke with tradition, and actually spent time with her, in addition to reviewing her records. He changed his recommendation real quick.

Judge Greer never saw or heard Terri Schiavo. Not in person. Not even on the videos that were played, but muted in court. He couldn't see the videos, or hear the audio. He knew less about Terri's condition than the average Internet blogger.

The one most important thing that needed to be done, to save Terri's life, was to clean up the corruption in Pinellas County, and the State of Florida. There's no easy fix there.

Meanwhile, as reaction to the Florida primaries pours in, many are happy with the outcome. This is from Gay.com and is repeated in many news outlets...(Beware: site has unrequested popup windows!)

.................

published Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist won the Republican nomination Tuesday to replace Gov. Jeb Bush, soundly defeating Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, a same-sex marriage foe.

With 53 percent of precincts reporting, Crist had 63.5 percent of the vote, compared to 33.9 percent for Gallagher.

A loud roar went up in Crist's hotel suite as he told family and supporters that the Associated Press had called the race. He will face the Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis or state Sen. Rod Smith, in the Nov. 7 general election.

Moderate wins Fla. GOP gubernatorial nomination

8mm

Terri's Legacy List

(Original Ohioan from Florida's ping list, update to September 7.)

Terri on the road to recovery before the second stage began.

>> A requirement that the patient's lawyer, judge, and other interested parties actually see the patient and observe their condition.

Great idea. But also tricky because that puts unqualified observers in the role of playing doctor. There should be a real doctor present to guide the tour, as it were.

Dr. Hammesfahr pointed out that brain-damaged patients receive commands very slowly and respond very slowly. It would be hard for us untrained observers to understand and be patient for that. We live in a faster world.

Judge Greer himself was grossly guilty of playing doctor with medical evidence. He censored it to throw out responses that weren't fast enough for his untrained eye. The result was to turn positive evidence about Terri into negative. He might have been innocently ignorant in doing this, but I think he was rigging the trial as he did so many other ways.

>> Wolfson "...broke with tradition, and actually spent time with her... He changed his recommendation real quick.

The testimony about Terri from actual eyewitnesses was just about unanimous, and it was striking. They all said she was responsive. There were quite a few first-hand observers outside Terri's immediate family. Three of her nurses have testified under oath to her responsiveness, and they all said the same thing independent of each other. (At least two other nurses have spoken similarly but in a different context.) David Gibbs, the Schindlers' last attorney, wrote about it extensively in his book. Other attorneys-- Anderson, her husband (who visited Terri), Weller -- affirmed her consciousness. (Michael's own lawyers affirmed her responsiveness in the malpractice trials.) At least two close friends who visited Terri after her injury knew she was "in there." A neurologist from Mayo, who was permitted only to observe, not examine, and who from news reports had thought she was PVS, changed his mind upon seeing her and said she should live and be treated.

Small wonder Michael Schiavo and George Felos wouldn't let the press visit Terri, or allow examination by doctors not of their careful choosing. It was too easy to see the lies about her being PVS.

One other witness should be "called," and that was Dr. Stephen Nelson, the brain specialist who assisted in Terri's autopsy. (Yes, the one who made that gratuitous remark about Terri's dehydrated brain being smaller than Quinlan's, as if that meant anything.) When asked if his findings ruled out Terri interacting with her family or other people, Dr. Nelson said: "No."