TERRI SCHIAVO TO DIE IN ATTORNEY'S "DEATH FACTORY": SUNCOAST HOSPICE BOSS IS GEORGE FELOS...

TERRI SCHIAVO TO DIE IN ATTORNEY'S "DEATH FACTORY": SUNCOAST HOSPICE BOSS IS GEORGE FELOS...

It reads like fiction, but it's the true story of Michael Schiavo (the Man), Terri Schiavo (his Wife), and George J. Felos (the Lawyer/Secret Chairman of "The Hospice") - and unless some brave soul intervenes, it will end with the murder of Terri Schiavo.

Terri Schiavo, an incapacitated but warmly responsive young woman, is in the care of "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" ("Hospice House Woodside") at 300 East Bay Drive, Largo, Florida. But unknown to her advocates, all of Terri's medical care has been influenced by a Chairman of the Hospice's Board of Directors - George J. Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, and self-described "right-to-die" advocate.

The Hospice nurses, volunteers, and doctors who are charged with the care, feeding, and unbiased medical evaluation of Terri Schiavo work for George J. Felos, a man who has publically proclaimed that Terri must die.

The death Felos has prescribed for Terri starts with a ban on all but the most basic physical care - the once beautiful woman rots in her "Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" bed, her teeth unbrushed, nails untrimmed, infections untreated. This was not always the case - even after her brain injury, Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, kept her groomed and pretty. Terri was even starting to speak again - words like "yes" "no" and "stop that" - but that was before Michael Schiavo hired George Felos to help his wife "die with dignity". Now, Terri's parents have been safely removed so as to avoid "false hope". All media and medical access is tightly controlled by Micheal Schiavo and Felos; in response, Terri has at last physically and mentally degenerated to the level where she may be exterminated by polite society.

Terri's slow death will grind down to a brutal, final starvation, executed at Felos' request on Jan 3, 2003. Upon Terri's death, several hundred thousand dollars that were earmarked for Terri's long-term care and therapy will finally be released to her husband Michael Schiavo, his new lover and their baby, to his attorney George Felos, and quite possibly in turn to the Hospice itself. It is unknown if Felos would advocate quick death for hospice patients who do not have large sums of money lubricating their exit from life; evidently the Hospice has not been forthcoming with clients in regard to George Felos' true role at the Hospice.

"The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" has kept this information largely hidden from public scrutiny, but an investigation of the Hospice's annual reports reveals a new twist in the case of Terri Schiavo: George J. Felos is the official but unseen hand of the Hospice - and he advocates death for those in his care.

Neither George Felos nor "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" have disclosed the facts of Terri Schiavo's case - that from February 13, 1997 until at least April 26, 2001, George J. Felos was listed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" on the non-profit's annual reports.

Certainly one would hope that if the true role George Felos had been revealed in court, Judge George Greer would have made a much different ruling concerning Terri Schiavo's fate. Without knowledge of this brazen conflict of interest, the Sixth Circuit Judge would be forgiven if he seemed to believe that such a noble institutions a hospice - caring compassionately for the dying - could be trusted to make an unbiased report regarding Terri Schiavo's medical condition. With the information regarding this conflict of interest, the courts will be remiss to believe any evidence that Felos OR his "Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" might proffer in reference to Terri. Considering this new evidence, the courts of Florida would be complicit in Felos' duplicity should they not review this ruling.

Conversely, if Felos' chairmanship at the Hospice was indeed known to the courts during the trial, it would have been imperative that the court make this information known to the opposing council, Terri Schiavo's advocates, and to the public. Suppression of the Hospice and Felos' conflict of interest would destroy the integrity of this court, considering that Judge Greer himself was appointed by the court to be Terri's guardian ad litem. The guardian ad litem is required to act in the best interest of Terri Schiavo - not in the best interests of Mike Schiavo, the Schindlers, Attorney Felos or the Hospice. No honest court could defensibly argue that Terri's best interests would be served by lawyers, individuals or entities who stand to profit from her death.

This new information regarding non-disclosure of conflict of interest by Felos and "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast" should warrant appeal of the Court's Nov. 22 ruling, and should spur a call for further investigation into possible fraud and conspiracy by the Hospice and Felos. The court's Nov. 22 ruling is based in part on medical information from the Hospice - information which may have been tainted by the lack of full disclosure regarding Chairman/Attorney George Felos.

If "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" is to cast itself as an ethical entity, it must rectify and renounce the highly unethical conduct of it's Board of Directors and Past Chairman, George Felos:

- The Board of Directors of "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" cannot justify their actions, or the actions of past Chairman, George Felos. The Hospice knowingly placed Terri Schiavo in the care of Felos and his paid/volunteer subordinates without disclosing his role at the Hospice to the court, the public, or the opposing attorney.

- The Board of Directors of "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" cannot claim to be advocates for their clients while concealing the identity or activities of past Chairman Felos from their donors, the courts, or the clients they purport to serve.

- The Board of Directors of "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast", cannot state they are caretakers when Felos and the Hospice knowingly conspired to hasten Terri Schiavo's death from the moment she was clandestinely removed from her nursing home and brought to the Hospice by Felos.

These new insights into the Hospice's inner workings raise questions that must be answered. How many elderly or infirm persons have Felos and the Hospice possibly exploited for monetary gain? How many other impaired but recovering persons have been brought into the Hospice's "care" without their explicit consent? How many other incapacitated or differently-abled people might have suffered or will suffer the same fate as Terri Schiavo?

Under Florida law, do these human beings qualify for the basic guarantees of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, or are they only products to be mined by George Felos and "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast"?

If Felos and the Hospice espouse that incapacitated people have no rights other than those assigned to them by the Hospice and it's agents, then "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" is nothing more than a Death Factory.

George Felos' "Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" is not an uninterested third party in this case, as they portray themselves to be. The Board of Directors hired Michael Shiavo's lawyer as their Chairman, then conspired with Felos to obscure his role while bringing Terri coercively under Hospice control. "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast" must come clean and come forward with any additional information they may hold regarding George Felos, Terri Schiavo, or any other hospice patients who may have been "represented" by Felos. The Hospice must also reveal any plans that they and their past Chairman of the Board may have for Terri's award money following her "facilitated" death.

For Michael Schiavo, George J. Felos and the Board of Directors of "The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast", Terri Schiavo's death cannot come soon enough - and unless the American public can persuade the courts to rule otherwise, Terri will die January 3, 2003.

This article may be copied and posted in accordance with fair use, in its entirety or excerpted, but only with full credit to the author and with notification to the author. Please notify the author by email at beckisnow@yahoo.com

Firstly, I wasn't suggesting that the St. Pete Times online forums were my sources of factual information. I was pointing out that the Terri Schiavo situation is a very hotly debated topic... in numerous places.

Secondly, some of you make allegations of abuse that was supposedly perpetrated against Ms. Schiavo by (I assume you mean) her husband. In all the years of reading about this I've never seen printed in media or on television any hint of these things. What are YOUR sources for this info? State your sources openly so they can be researched by others or please refrain from making heresay comments when trying to debate a point.

Thirdly, I would be willing to bet that none of you have ever been in a situation even near what Mr. Schiavo is going through. I've had a similar situation. My mother had wishes that she not receive any intrusive procedures or reviving procedures in the event of terminal illness. Unfortunately, she didn't have that document on record in the hospital where she was taken on the last day of her life. The emergency room doctors had to ask me what I wanted to do. My mother's heart was failing and she was not getting oxygen to her brain. This was my own mother! A woman that I loved dearly... more than anything in this world, yet I had to adhere to her wishes. I would not give the doctors permission to use the above listed procedures. I watched the light of life leave my own mother's dear eyes.

So let me tell you how it is... if you ain't lived it, you don't know sh*t.

Oh, and about the Hospice thing... what exactly is the conflict of interest here? Hospice provides aid and support for terminally ill patients with funds provided by private donations and medicare. It would seem to me that were Hospice to have a darker motive in this situation, then they'd want Ms. Schiavo to be kept alive indefinitely. That way they could continue to collect funds for her support. Yet, you all say that because the Chairman of Hospice also happens to be Mr. Schiavo's lawyer that there is some conflict here? Where? It doesn't make sense. Also, do you really think the judge, court system, and all the lawyers involved in this are so stupid as to have not seen and considered these same things that you so hotly debate here?

Life is a cruel, remorseless thing. You live, then you die. There are no alternatives to this. It's terrible that animals and plants and people die, but that's reality. To what possible purpose should a woman in a totally vegetative state be kept alive artificially? Is it a moral thing? Is it a proper thing? Would the woman herself have wanted all this pain and anger to have been experienced all because of her? Have you considered that it may be a mercy to let her go?

Again, hard to judge when you haven't walked in Mr. Schiavo's shoes or those of Ms. Schiavo's parents. I feel for them and I wish the ills of this world had never touched their lives like this... or the lives of any of us, for that matter.

Regards,

V.T. Eric Layton
***Tempus Fugits***
vtel57@softhome.net

Terri Schiavo has had medical evaluations recently, five in fact (two by the Schindler's doctors, two by Michael Schiavo's doctors, and one by a doctor appointed by the court). The judge ruled that the therapy proposed by the Schindler doctors is "untried." Prior to this last hearing, the Schindlers accused Michael Schiavo of beating Terri. From previously reading the story in the Tampa Trib, Michael Schiavo has about $145,000 left from the settlement, money that'll be depleted rapidly by another round of appeals, and possibly another trial.

It would seem that if this is newly discovered evidence about Felos, that the Schindler's attorneys are incompetent because they failed to discover this information for the time they've been the Schindler's attorneys.

The Tampa Trib article will cost you $1.95, if you want to read it. They only archive their paid stories for three days, unless they have a special section on Schiavo that I can't seem to find.

Judge: Unhook Schiavo's Tube

Published on November 23, 2002, Article 1 of 4 found.

PARENTS VOW TO CONTINUE APPEALS

CLEARWATER - A judge again has ordered that Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be disconnected, thwarting her parents' desire to try new therapies on the stricken woman.

Friday's ruling sets the stage for a second round of appeals in the 5-year-old right-to-die case, which last year saw the feeding tube briefly disconnected at the order of Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer, only to be reattached on another judge's (The Tampa Tribune, 1211 words.)

Complete article $1.95

Judge: Schiavo can't recover
St. Petersburg Times; St. Petersburg, Fla.; Nov 23, 2002; CRAIG PITTMAN;

Abstract:
The appeals court said [George Greer] should order Mrs. Schiavo examined by five doctors - two picked by the Schindlers, two by Schiavo and one chosen by the judge. They should then testify about whether there is any medical treatment that could revive her.

In a hearing last month, three doctors testified Mrs. Schiavo is beyond help. They were the two chosen by Schiavo and the one picked by Greer.

SEPT. 26, 2001: In arguments before 2nd District Court of Appeal, Schindlers' attorneys cite testimony from seven doctors who say Mrs. Schiavo's idle cells might "wake up" with the right treatment. [Michael Schiavo] calls claims ridiculous.

Full Text:
Copyright Times Publishing Co. Nov 23, 2002

Terri Schiavo cannot be healed by modern medicine and should be allowed to die, a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge ruled Friday.

He ordered that the feeding tube be removed from the brain- damaged woman's stomach on Jan. 3 at 3 p.m. She then would expire from dehydration within two weeks.

The ruling by Judge George Greer was not unexpected, nor was the reaction: Mrs. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who have battled in every court possible to keep their 38-year-old daughter alive, vowed to ask an appellate court to overturn Greer's decision.

"To me, they're going to murder this girl," Bob Schindler said. "I think she's gotten railroaded by this kangaroo court."

The Schindlers have been locked in a bitter and expensive fight over their daughter with their son-in-law, Michael Schiavo, who contends that his wife did not want to be kept on life support.

The Schindlers and Schiavo have accused each other of trying to control her fate to get $700,000 she received in 1993 from a malpractice suit - although their ongoing legal battle has largely depleted that fund.

Schiavo could not be reached for comment Friday. In an interview on Bay News 9, he said he understands why the Schindlers might be upset about losing their daughter, but that the case is not about what they want.

"This is about Terri's wishes," he said. He said his wife would be upset about her parents' efforts to save her. "Their daughter would be extremely angry with them right now."

He also vehemently denied the Schindlers' suggestion, made in court papers last week, that he caused his wife's condition by beating her up. Doctors have repeatedly attributed her persistent vegetative state to a heart attack she suffered in 1990, which temporarily cut off the flow of blood to her brain.

Mrs. Schiavo resides at a Pinellas Park hospice facility, where she is kept alive by feedings of a vitamin-enriched beverage and water at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

She is not in a coma. Her eyes are open during the day and she sleeps at night. She smiles, laughs, cries and moans. But her doctors say those are involuntary reflexes, not signs of emotional or intellectual activity, as the Schindlers contend.

This marks the second time in two years that Greer has agreed with Michael Schiavo that the feeding tube should be removed. The first time, in February 2000, the Schindlers took their objections to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to intervene.

But the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland decided last year that Greer had not heard enough medical testimony and sent it back to him.

The appeals court said Greer should order Mrs. Schiavo examined by five doctors - two picked by the Schindlers, two by Schiavo and one chosen by the judge. They should then testify about whether there is any medical treatment that could revive her.

In a hearing last month, three doctors testified Mrs. Schiavo is beyond help. They were the two chosen by Schiavo and the one picked by Greer.

The two chosen by the Schindlers, however, said they believed there are untried therapies that could bring her back to life. One, Clearwater neurologist Dr. William Hammesfahr, even predicted a treatment he developed for stroke patients could restore her ability to speak.

Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, raised questions about Hammesfahr's credibility by pointing out the state board of medicine had accused him of falsely advertising his treatment.

This week, though, an administrative judge rejected the board's accusations and, based on testimony from several satisfied customers, called Hammesfahr "the first physician to treat patients successfully to restore deficits caused by stroke."

In Greer's order, the Pinellas probate judge labeled Hammesfahr a "self-promoter," who testified that he had treated patients worse off than Mrs. Schiavo yet "offered no names, no case studies, no videos and no test results to support his claim."

In short, the judge wrote in the nine-page order, he needed "something more than a belief" that some new treatment could restore Mrs. Schiavo's faculties "so as to significantly improve her quality of life. There is no such testimony, much less a preponderance of evidence to that effect."

Without that evidence, he wrote, he must order the withdrawal of the feeding tube. In a brief interview Friday, Greer said he picked 3 p.m. for the scheduled removal of the tube because "high noon seemed a bit dramatic."

Drama has not been in short supply throughout the case, which has attracted nationwide media attention. Earlier this month Schiavo appeared on Connie Chung's CNN program, where he mentioned his girlfriend recently had a baby - a revelation that infuriated the Schindlers.

In court papers filed last week, they accused him of making a mockery of his marriage and cited that as one reason he should be removed as his wife's legal guardian.

"Schiavo is Terri's husband in name only, and it is upon that legal relationship that his right to be her legal guardian is based," wrote the Schindlers' attorney, Patricia Fields Anderson.

Although the Schindlers contend their daughter responds to the things they tell her during visits to her hospice bedside, they have not mentioned her husband's child or the court case that may end her life, her father said.

"We've sheltered her from what's going on around her," Schindler said. "Every time we see her, we talk about the more pleasant side of life."

Schiavo timeline

FEB. 25, 1990: Terri Schiavo has heart attack, temporarily cutting off oxygen to her brain.

FEB. 14, 1993: Terri Schiavo's husband, Michael, and her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, have falling out.

JULY 29, 1993: Schindlers file petition to have Michael Schiavo removed as guardian; case is later dismissed.

MAY 1998: Michael Schiavo files petition to remove wife's feeding tube.

JAN. 24, 2000: Trial begins.

FEB. 11, 2000: Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer rules feeding tube can be removed.

JAN. 24, 2001: 2nd District Court of Appeal upholds judge's decision to discontinue life support.

MARCH 29, 2001: Greer rules Michael Schiavo can remove feeding tube at 1 p.m. April 20.

APRIL 18, 2001: Florida Supreme Court declines to intervene.

APRIL 20, 2001: Federal judge grants Schindlers until April 23 to exhaust appeals.

APRIL 23, 2001: U.S. Supreme Court refuses to intervene. Attorney for Schindlers says this was their final appeal.

APRIL 26, 2001: Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Frank Quesada orders doctors to resume feeding Mrs. Schiavo while her parents pursue lawsuit against Michael Schiavo. Suit accuses him of committing perjury by saying his wife did not want to be kept on life support.

APRIL 30, 2001: Lawyers for Michael Schiavo file an emergency motion with an appeals court, asking for court to order another end to the feeding of Schiavo's wife.

MAY 2, 2001: 2nd District Court of Appeal defers a ruling, which allowed Schiavo's feeding to resume.

JUNE 25, 2001: 2nd District Court of Appeal hears arguments.

JULY 11, 2001: Appeals court sends case back to Judge Greer, ruling that Mrs. Schiavo cannot be taken off life support until after July 23.

JULY 18, 2001: Schindlers ask Greer to let their doctors evaluate her before deciding whether her feeding tube should be withdrawn.

AUG. 7, 2001: Attorneys receive Greer's order that the feeding tube be removed Aug. 28.

AUG. 8, 2001: Schindlers again ask Greer to allow doctors to evaluate their daughter before tube is removed.

AUG. 10, 2001: Greer denies Schindlers' request and their request to have Michael Schiavo removed as his wife's guardian.

SEPT. 26, 2001: In arguments before 2nd District Court of Appeal, Schindlers' attorneys cite testimony from seven doctors who say Mrs. Schiavo's idle cells might "wake up" with the right treatment. Michael Schiavo calls claims ridiculous.

OCT. 3, 2001: Appeals court delays removal of feeding tube indefinitely.

OCT. 17, 2001: Appeals court rules that five doctors can examine Schiavo to determine whether she can ever recover: two from each side and one picked by the court.

FEB. 13, 2002: Attempts at mediation fail. Schiavo seeks again to remove his wife's feeding tube.

OCT. 12, 2002: Weeklong hearing begins. Three of the five doctors testify Mrs. Schiavo cannot recover. Two picked by the Schindlers say she can be revived.

NOV. 12, 2002: Schindlers' attorney says medical records suggest Mrs. Schiavo's vegetative state may have been caused by a beating, seeks time to get more evidence.

NOV. 22, 2002: Greer turns down request for more time. He rules no current medicine can revive Mrs. Schiavo and orders feeding tube removed Jan. 3.[Illustration]
Caption: Terri Schiavo; Photo: PHOTO

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