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http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030909/APN/309090900

Lawyers in Schiavo case fighting for upper hand

By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. --
With a judge poised to set a date for removal of a brain-damaged woman's feeding tube, both sides in the yearslong dispute are doing some last-minute legal maneuvering they hope will dictate Terri Schiavo's fate.
Circuit Judge George W. Greer is expected, during a hearing Thursday, to set a date for removal of the feeding tube that is keeping the 39-year-old woman alive.

On Tuesday, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, her husband and guardian, filed an emergency motion with the 2nd District Court of Appeal, hoping to trump 11th-hour legal maneuverings by her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who are trying to stop the judge from giving the order that will let the tube be pulled.

Terri Schiavo was 26 in 1990 when she suddenly collapsed in her home after her heart stopped from what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance.
Doctors said the loss of oxygen to her brain left her in a state where she can breathe on her own but is reliant on a liquid nutritional supplement and water delivered through a tube. Doctors have said she would live just 10 to 14 days without it.

Michael Schiavo contends his wife had told him that she would never have wanted to be kept alive artificially.
The Schindlers believe their daughter communicates with them and can be rehabilitated, despite court-appointed doctors saying she will never recover from what they call a "persistent vegetative state."

Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, accused the Schindlers' attorneys of filing frivolous motions designed to delay ending Terri Schiavo's life. He's asking the appeals court, which already affirmed Michael Schiavo's right to remove the feeding tube, to step in and make sure it is carried out.

"As the Schindlers run out of legal options, their tactics have become more desperate," Felos said Tuesday. "It's an abuse of the legal system."

Felos' action follows a motion filed Friday
by a Schindler attorney, Pat Anderson, who asked Greer to take himself off the case. Anderson charged that Greer, based on statements she claims he has made to reporters and others, favors the other side and should step aside.

A Greer spokeswoman said Tuesday the judge was reviewing the motion and hasn't taken any action.
Felos said the case, which has been in the courts since 1998, would be further delayed if Greer stepped down. Anderson has been unsuccessful in previous efforts to get Greer removed from it.

In his emergency motion, Felos also asked the appeals court to strike down Anderson's motions and to carry out removal of life support even if Greer decides he must remove himself from the case.

"Unless this court swiftly and decisively acts to enforce this mandate, this case will descend further in chaos," the motion states.

A spokeswoman for the Schindlers, Pamela Hennessy, defended Anderson's actions.

"She is vigorously defending this young woman's life through every legal avenue she can," Hennessy said. "To call it frivolous and delaying is just silly. She's doing her job."

Hennessy said the case deserves another look because of evidence that recently come to light recently: Former caregivers of Terri Schiavo claimed that she has tried to communicate and that her husband has withheld therapy and proper medical treatment with hopes she would die, according to affidavits filed by Anderson

Last week, Anderson asked a federal judge to intervene, claiming that Michael Schiavo is violating his wife's civil rights. The judge refused to get involved but agreed to hear arguments on the issue again later.