Terri Schiavo's Next to Last Day: A Look Back, "I Want to Live"

Life News ^ | 3/30/07 | Steven Ertelt

[wagglebee]

St. Petersburg, FL (LifeNews.com) -- Terri Schiavo's family will never forget the next to last day of her life two years ago. It started with a Supreme Court ruling and a judgment by a federal appeals court, and ended with the knowledge that their daughter wanted to live.

The U.S. Supreme Court, on that Wednesday, issued a decision allowing Terri Schiavo's painful starvation death. It wound up being the last legal decision in the long battle between Bob and Mary Schindler and Terri's former husband Michael.

The once-sentence ruling was issued just hours after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals again voted 10-2 not to get involved in the case and reviewing a decision by a local judge to have Michael kill Terri.
The Supreme Court offered no explanation for turning back the latest request and provided no vote tally of members to determine if any wanted to take the case.

"We're watching a black mark in American history," David Gibbs, the lead attorney for the Schindlers, said afterwards.

The Schindlers also faced another setback that day when the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Florida upheld Judge George Greer's ruling preventing the Florida Department of Children and Families from taking Terri in to protective custody.

The state agency hoped to do that while it investigated allegations of abuse and neglect against Michael.

CBS News also angered its viewers and Terri Schiavo supporters that day.

It came under fire for prewriting and posting to its news web site a story claiming Terri Schiavo had died.

The article, penned by Christine Lagorio, claimed Michael was with her when she died and was posted on the CBS News web page three days before her actual death, according to radio talk show host Glenn Beck, who discovered it.

CBS News spokeswoman Sandy Genelius told LifeNews.com that the story was "a draft that was stored on the web site" but not intended to be accessible to the public.

The day before, euthanasia advocate George Felos, Michael's attorney, said Michael had changed his mind and would allow an autopsy to be conducted on Terri. The altruistic statement declared Michael wanted to exonerate himself on accusations he abused Terri and to show Terri is very severely brain damaged.

Yet, the decision to conduct an autopsy had already been made when Felos spoke with the media -- and not by Michael or Felos.

Jon Thogmartin, medical examiner for Pinellas and Pasco counties, told the St. Petersburg Times newspaper he made the decision to conduct an autopsy if necessary and said it had nothing to do with Michael's change of heart.

Terri's parents ended the day before Terri's death with the knowledge that their daughter wanted to live.

Just before representatives of Michael's removed her feeding tube Terri Schiavo reportedly told an attorney for her parents that she wanted to live.

"Terri, if you would just say, 'I want to live,' all of this will be over," Barbara Weller, one of the attorneys for Terri's parents Bob and Mary Schindler, said.

Weller said Terri desperately tried to repeat her words.

"'I waaaaannt ...,' Schiavo allegedly said. Weller described it as a prolonged yell that was loud enough that police stationed nearby entered the hospice room.

"She just started yelling, 'I waaaannt, I waaaannt,'" Weller explained.

Terri's parents filed a legal motion to try to get her planned euthanasia death reversed, but to no avail.

Related web sites:
Terri Schindler Schiavo Foundation - http://www.terrisfight.org

[Terriergal]

You mean AFTER her brain had been dehydrated for almost two weeks?

You know, it makes me wonder if these people think low-functioning autistic kids should be allowed to dehydrate.

[Terriergal]

Much of what they saw or heard can be put down to hope and love overwhelming rational observation.

And God forbid that we should allow hope and love to determine our actions. That would be so irrational. Our lives should be based entirely on cold rationality. Live long and prosper.

[lndrvr1972]

I still believe how she passed was cruel.

[Terriergal]

if we were to start to press for a change in the law, when what is really needed is a change in heart, we would end up with the liberals and the libertarians shrieking that the Evangelical Christians are "just like the Taliban", etc. We would get nowhere.

You're arguing from pragmatism rather than principle. I thought conservatism was about principles? I mean, you're probably right that liberals and libertarian losers will shriek that we are "just like the Taliban" but how would that be different than what goes on nowadays anyway? I don't think any amount of rational explanation will change their mind because the truth is there before them every day and they still refuse to accept it.

[Terriergal]

remember that Jeremiah had no converts in 40 years, and spent a lot of time at the bottom of a pit for refusing to compromise.

[Sandy]

May God have mercy on you if you’re ever made helpless in this life.

Thank you. And may He protect me from the sick freaks who'd have no qualms about forcing medical attention on me against my will while patting themselves on the back and pretending to know His will.

[Hildy]

Listen up...I am not pro death..I am pro dignity. That’s a HUGE HUGE HUGE difference. So go take your name calling elsewhere. So childish. Let me tell you one more thing...there are lots of us here at FR who don’t think like you do. Unless you’re willing to come up with $200,000 to keep this website going, I suggest you stop pissing people off.

[T'wit]

>> Didn't she work for the firm that was handling his case too?

Not sure, but I gather Jodi's background is in the insurance business, not law. I don't know of any connection to the Felos law firm. Here's a little puff piece about her by the local rag, which never missed a chance to wish Terri dead.

She's the other woman in Michael Schiavo's heart

Look at the dates carefully. Jodi had her auto accidents in the late 1980s -- BEFORE Terri's "mysterious" injuries. Michael met her at the dentist and she was getting that dental work done BEFORE Terri's injuries. That raises the possibility that Jodi was "the other woman," the Amber Frey in the case.

Details are sketchy, but they certainly point to that conclusion. We know Terri was unhappy and had talked to her brother and a friend about getting a divorce. Her mother said that she and Michael were not intimate the last year. Terri was observed with bruises. The Schindlers were worried that the marriage was coming apart. Does that sound like another woman was involved? It sure does to me.

[T'wit]

>> Secondly, approximately 70% of the American population CHOSE to execute Terri.

No, no, those were rigged polls. They'd say she was brain dead and on life support, then ask: would you "pull the plug?" And most people would innocently say yes, thinking this was another Karen Ann Quinlan case*. Once the poll question was phrased accurately for her condition, and opinion was OVERWHELMINGLY against killing her. Around 85%. I don't have the poll at hand, but we could surely find it.

* Karen Ann Quinlan was NOT brain dead either! Just about everyone thought she was (including Judge Greer) and you can blame the press for that one, too. She lived for nearly a decade after being taken off life support and died a natural death of pneumonia. When it was suggested that her feeding tube be removed, her father angrily refused, saying that it was her nutrition.

Misinformation about Quinlan caused a serious legal error by Judge Greer, who refused to correct it. He disallowed a pro-life comment by Terri on the false assumption that she was too young to speak intelligently about Quinlan. That was par for him. If either the truth or the law favored her not being put to death, he ignored it.

[T'wit]

>> I am pro dignity

So are we, Hildy, so are we. There is absolutely nothing dignified about putting an innocent woman to death by dehydration / starvation. Not for the people who did it, not for the victim. It was relentlessly cruel. They wouldn't even give her ice chips to ease her agony. She suffered for thirteen days. Her tongue cracked. Her eyes bled.

[T'wit]

>> the sick freaks who'd have no qualms about forcing medical attention on me against my will

Right, right. I'm just back from the decennial meeting of the International Sick Freaks Society, held in Botswana. We are up to three members now and our mission is to force unwanted medical attention on you -- but with dignity, of course. Do you have any preferences how you'd like to be bullied and coerced? We offer several plans.

[RadioAstronomer]

As I recall from some crevo threads, RadioAstronomer doesn’t think Creation happened either, because he wasn’t there to witness it and because lots of so-called scientific minds agree with him.

I looked at the primary evidence personally. Sorry, it does not fit Genesis. Don't like it? Too bad.

It’s amazing how atheists can’t see their hand afore their face. It’s not surprising he should espouse Darwinian ethics here.

How do you know what I "believe"? I do accept the evidence that shows a very old Earth, a very old universe, the Big Bang, stellar evolution, and finally biological evolution.

Darwinian ethics? - You are clueless as usual.

[dbehsman]

You're arguing from pragmatism rather than principle. I thought conservatism was about principles?

I would have said a couple of years ago that it shouldn't be necessary in this country. Now it is. At the federal level, I don't think anything would go. I don't know what is going on at the state levels.

I have a difficult time believing how far society has fallen down. We actually have to pass a law outlawing death by starvation? Animals are treated better than this. Slaves were treated better than this. May God have mercy on this country.

I don't think any amount of rational explanation will change their mind because the truth is there before them every day and they still refuse to accept it.

I disagree (with all due respect). The deathbots still keep coming back to the issue. They still keep ignoring questions. They still denounce us as being extremists. But they still keep coming back. I think some of them have a guilty conscience, but it's their intellectual pride that still prevents them from admitting that they might have made a mistake.

Trying to pass or change a law without the conviction of a majority would be almost self defeating I think. I think we first have to convince people that folks like Terri are not subhuman.

[bjs1779]

The deathbots still keep coming back to the issue. They still keep ignoring questions. They still denounce us as being extremists. But they still keep coming back. I think some of them have a guilty conscience, but it's their intellectual pride that still prevents them from admitting that they might have made a mistake.

Maybe, but you can't ignore that they might like what they do and they don't want us around to interfere with that.

[bjs1779]

Let me tell you one more thing...there are lots of us here at FR who don’t think like you do. Unless you’re willing to come up with $200,000 to keep this website going, I suggest you stop pissing people off.

I bet if we piss all of your comrades off and they don't donate, this website will still be here. In fact, I would say it would prosper.

[Terriergal]

I don't think any amount of rational explanation will change their mind because the truth is there before them every day and they still refuse to accept it.

I disagree (with all due respect). The deathbots still keep coming back to the issue. They still keep ignoring questions. They still denounce us as being extremists. But they still keep coming back. I think some of them have a guilty conscience, but it's their intellectual pride that still prevents them from admitting that they might have made a mistake.

How does that disagree with what I said?

Trying to pass or change a law without the conviction of a majority would be almost self defeating I think.

But it might take away their majority.

I think we first have to convince people that folks like Terri are not subhuman.

That's like trying to convince them that the sun rises in the morning. How do you do that?

[Terriergal]

Oops -- should be:

I think we first have to convince people that folks like Terri are not subhuman.

That's like trying to convince them that the sun rises in the morning. How do you do that?

[Terriergal]

there are lots of us here at FR who don’t think like you do. Unless you’re willing to come up with $200,000 to keep this website going, I suggest you stop pissing people off.

Are you threatening me?

IN fact I haven't run into all that many people who think like you do here. It's always a big disappointment when it happens but thankfully, it doesn't happen often.

[Terriergal]

and as I recall, you’re the one who showed up here and lobbed the name grenade with your first post at wagglebee, calling wagglebee insane. Pot, meet kettle.

[Terriergal]

Thank you. And may He protect me from the sick freaks who'd have no qualms about forcing medical attention on me against my will while patting themselves on the back and pretending to know His will.

Isn't that exactly what you're doing, presuming to know God's will? Except substitute the "withdrawal of life sustaining nourishment and hydration" for "medical attention"?