Posted on 11/24/2002 5:01:49 PM PST by dandelion
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.
According to The Hospice Patients Alliance Website and the Washington Post, ("Hospices Big Business, Thanks to Medicare; Exploitation of some patients is alleged" 06/14/98) this type of unethical activity is nothing new - it also may be illegal.
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.
Copyright November 24, 2002 - Becki Snow
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
I would hope our judiciary is unresponsive to public outcry.
A democracy this isn't, but a republic of laws.
If Hospice is to remain a wonderful organization, they need to come clean about this and rectify the conflict of interest. The only way to do that is for either Michael to hire a new attorney, or for the Hospice to place Terri in an independent hospice facility.
There's a lot to digest concerning her case, but in this instance, right-to-die, right-to-life or otherwise, there are laws which must be obeyed concerning conflict of interest and guardian ad litem. These facts about Felos and the Hospice should have been FULLY disclosed by either or both of those parties.
Dennis Prager
Michael Savage
Jeb Bush
Rep. Bill Young email: Bill.Young@mail.house.gov;
local office contacts:
Congressman Bill Young
360 Central Avenue, Suite 1480
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
(727) 893-3191
801 West Bay Drive, Suite 606
Largo, FL, 33770
(727) 581-0980
I have issues with his politiking on behalf of a certain airport luggage scanner company, but he seems to also focus on health and medical issues.
It hasn't dawned on them that even if the poor slob divorced her, he'd be on the hook for 100% of her medical expenses, and of course, this family would insist on the best, especially since they weren't paying for it.
Ask them about whether the limit of the major medical has been reached, and they'll just look dense. Heck, the man is probably deep into the 700, and these morons would have him keep the lady going forever without improvement.
The guy has made his bona fides by me by keeping her going as long as he has.
My, but aren't you a nasty bugger? You've already stated you're ignorant of the details, but yet you feign such conviction about the issue. I think there's someone else to feel sorry for besides poor Terri. You.
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