Judge: Florida Woman's Feeding Tube Can Be Removed(Protest and Prevent the Murder of Terri Schiavo)

AP ^ | 11/22/02 | Rachel La Corte

[dandelion]

Protest and Prevent the Murder of Terri Schiavo Jan 3, 2003!

Judge: Florida Woman's Feeding Tube Can Be Removed By Rachel La Corte Associated Press Writer
Published: Nov 22, 2002

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - The husband of a woman who has been in a vegetative state for 12 years can disconnect her feeding tube and allow her to die, a judge ruled Friday in a long-running case that pitted the man against his in-laws.

Circuit Judge George W. Greer said the tube supplying nourishment to 38-year-old Terri Schiavo would be removed on Jan. 3. "This is about Terri's wishes," said her husband, Michael Schiavo.

The woman's parents said they will appeal.

Terri Schiavo fell into a vegetative state in 1990 after her heart stopped and oxygen to her brain was temporarily cut off.

Her husband claimed that she once told him that she would not want to be kept on life support. And a court-appointed doctor testified that her condition is irreversible.

But Bob and Mary Schindler said that their daughter reacts to them during visits and that her condition might improve if their son-in-law allowed some of what remains of a $700,000 trust fund to be spent on tests and treatments.

A video presented in court by a doctor selected by the Schindlers shows their daughter's eyes open and appearing to track movement.

The judge, who first heard the case two years ago, reheard medical testimony after an appeals court overturned his decision to remove the feeding tube last year. The tube was removed for more than two days, but another judge ordered it reconnected.

Terri Schiavo collapsed at her St. Petersburg home from what doctors believed was a potassium imbalance. She is now in a hospice.

Michael Schiavo, who recently had a baby with his longtime girlfriend, once lived with his in-laws, but now they accuse each other of wanting control of what is left from the $700,000 Terri Schiavo received from a 1992 malpractice award.

[dandelion]

Terri Schiavo, an AWARE and INTERACTIVE disabled American Citizen, will be executed STARTING Jan 3, 2003. Her torturous journey to death will last several days as she is slowly starved and dehydrated, surrounded by people feasting and drinking despite her hunger and thirst. At last report, she is being held at the Hospice House Woodside at 300 East Bay Drive Largo, Florida 33770 (727) 586-4432 (The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast).

If you have any information to the contrary, please post ASAP.

-If you believe in the sanctity of life
-If you believe in the worth of those the world deems "disabled"
-If you call yourself a Christian

Then ask yourself "what would Jesus do?" and DO SOMETHING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!

I'm calling on everyone in Florida who every complained about this culture of death and corruption to show up at the Hospice at 10:00AM Jan 03, 2003 to pray on their knees, to sing, to call for justice. There are many who will be ending their lives that day and deserve dignity and peace, so sensitivity must be shown. In the midst of that sensitivity, it must also be made known that a woman is being killed by her "caretakers" so her husband can start a new life with his lover and their out of wedlock baby, paid for with the money meant for this woman's therapy.

Will you be a sheep? Or will you speak out now? For someday you and I may similarly be lead to our slaughter...

[fourdeuce82d]

Don't know about this case, so I can't comment. But for the love of God, if I am ever in a similar situation, pull the plug.

[EggsAckley]

Another reason to put your wishes in writing. I for one, would NOT want to be kept alive on machines for twelve years. Sorry, I just can't agree with your message.

[stanz]

I agree. Don't let me linger for 12 years in a comatose state. The poor woman.

[concerned about politics]

Michael Schiavo, who recently had a baby with his longtime girlfriend, once lived with his in-laws, but now they accuse each other of wanting control of what is left from the $700,000 Terri Schiavo received from a 1992 malpractice award.

It sounds to me like the husband just wants an ex-wife abortion and a cool $700,000 to share with his new girl.
Her parents love her, visit her, and they want her to stay.
I'm with the parents.

[JeepInMazar]

Then ask yourself "what would Jesus do?" and DO SOMETHING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!

Several points:

1. Jesus did not heal everyone.

2. We should ask ourselves the question, as Christians are we to support public policies and laws that always require the latest medical and scientific technology to be used in every case to the fullest extent regardless of the resources involved? If we don't, are we somehow being anti-life?

3. I don't know enough about the specifics of this case to really have an opinion on this particular situation.

[dandelion]

Find out about the case. Her husband, suspected of foul play in her "accident" says she is a "vegetable" and will only allow his appointed doctor to see her. But the family says she can smile, respond, and follow their doctor's commands.

Oh, and the husband WOULD pull the plug on her, but she doesn't need a respirator. She's not it a coma and she needs therapy - but the money that the court gave her husband/guardian to get said therapy has instead been tucked away for hubby's rainy day... and as soon as she's dead, he's in the dough.

Her parents WANT to take care of her, but hubby says no, this is what Terri wants - to die by starvation and dehydration. She "told me so" once...

Somehow, I just don't buy it...

[dandelion]

Go to Terri's Fight and GET the facts. RedSox, can you put this on some sort of ping list??

[dandelion]

This hospice is begging for donations on their website - what are the odds of someone passing them a promise for a little dough if they "grease the wheels" so to speak? Just a thot...

[wimpycat]

Comatose or "vegetative state" doesn't always mean they just lie there with their eyes closed. Sometimes their eyes are open and they might move a little, too.

[wgeorge2001]

This is always a tough call; the husbands motives and the family's motives are necessary to fully understand this.
I don't know what I would do; but I do know that no one should be staved and dehydrated to death. I also heard that her state is not always vegetative and she responds to her parents. I pray the good Lord that his will be done in this matter.
I don't always trust doctors either; to many educated people followed Hitler also.

[dandelion]

For more info on what an independent doctor recorded on videotape for the court, go to This FreeRepublic thread

[concerned about politics]

HISTORY - going back to the beginning....

Judge Says Schiavo's Feeding Tube Can Be Removed

Doctor who testified that Terri can recover, praised by Board of Medicine (Can reverse the conditions of stroke)

Removal of guardian sought
in right-to-die case Family claims husband has conflict of interest due to adultery

Petition to Remove Guardian and to Appoint Successor Guardian "(Michael) Schiavo has demonstrated through repeated and gross failures to comply with the law that he is incapable of discharging the duties of guardian."

The Hearing to Save Terri Schiavo's Life In 1990, Terri Schiavo's heart suddenly stopped. Before she could be revived, her brain was damaged and she slipped into a comalike state

Schindlers: Daughter Deserves Divorce

Attorney suggests woman in coma-like state may have been abused by husband

Emergency motion in right-to-die case

Parents In Schiavo Case Allege Past Abuse

Attorney claims a beating may have caused Schiavo's coma

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

this is an outrage next lets starve down syndrome babies

[sinkspur]

Her husband, suspected of foul play in her "accident

Whoa, there! Where did that come from? The article says she collapsed from a potassium imbalance.

You'd best post your proof of "foul play."

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

i dont know how to do a ping list but i will send to some fla freepers

[rightwingscott]

Everyone on both sides seems to be confusing two different issues here.

If her bodily functions were being kept going by machines, it would not be murder to turn off those machines and let nature take its course. In some cases, it might be the morally preferable action.

But this is not artificial life support that is being withdrawn; it is food and water. This is not letting nature take its course. What we are talking about here is depriving a person of food and water until she dies. That is murder, just as it would be to lock a healthy person in a room without food or water until she died.

And the question of whether she's "aware and interactive" or "vegetative," while it would be relevant if we were talking about turning off life support, is irrelevant here. Murder is still murder, even if the victim is incapable of protest.

Turning off life support is frequently a tough call. This is easy. The right and wrong is crystal clear. Forcible starvation and dehydration is murder.

[wgeorge2001]

This makes me wonder;

"Anderson said in the new motion that she recently discovered a 1991 bone scan, taken just over a year after Mrs. Schiavo's collapse from a heart attack, showing that Mrs. Schiavo had several bone fractures, including a compression fracture of a thigh bone.

The motion said three physicians have reviewed the record, including one who said, "Somebody worked her over real good."

Felos said the fact that Mrs. Schiavo had been in a paralyzed state and that she was being given antiseizure medication contributed to osteoporosis, which leads to degenerative bone loss and minute fractures.

"This is something the other side has had for three years," Felos said. "

The husband may have other motives to want her dead.
Something about this case does not seem "right"; especially concerning the Mr.

[thatdewd]

Michael Schiavo, who recently had a baby with his longtime girlfriend, once lived with his in-laws, but now they accuse each other of wanting control of what is left from the $700,000 Terri Schiavo received from a 1992 malpractice award.

Good post, this a heart breaking story that is both under-reported and mis-reported. The parents only want for her to be treated. During the first court case he pleaded with the jury for the money so he could care for his wife at home, etc... As soon as the money was awarded he started this campaign to kill her. She is NOT comatose. She is NOT a vegetable. She is NOT on life support. She has a feeding tube because she can't feed herself. She CAN swallow, she swallows her own saliva. Her husband forbid the doctors to test if she could swallow food on her own. She DOES respond. She can laugh. Her husband has complete legal control over her treatment and will NOT allow the doctors to treat her in any way. No therapy. No antibiotics for infections. The nurses are even forbidden to so much as trim her nails. They have grown into the palms of her hands. This has been going on for years. This guy only wants the money and there is a very special place in Hell for him. Bless you for trying to help her.