Judge sets Oct. 15 as date to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube

Bay News 9 (Tampa Bay area) ^ | September 17, 2003

[amdgmary]

Judge sets Oct. 15 as date to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube

Wednesday, September 17th

Terri suffered a heart attack in 1990. The case of Terri Schiavo may finally be nearing an end.

On Wednesday, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court Judge George Greer set Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. as the date to remove the artificial feeding tube that has been keeping the 39-year-old Pinellas woman alive for the past 13 years.

In another ruling, Greer denied Terri's parents' request for immediate therapy for their daughter. They had hoped she could be taught to swallow food even if the feeding tube is removed.

Schiavo has been in what some doctors call a persistent vegetative state since she suffered a heart attack in 1990. Doctors believe the heart attack was triggered by either a blood disorder or a potassium imbalance.

The Schindlers are fighting to keep their daughter alive. The loss of oxygen to her brain left her in a condition where she can breathe on her own but was left reliant on a liquid nutritional supplement and water delivered through a tube.

Two years ago a judge discontinued her artificial feedings for approximately 60 hours before a different judge ordered the feedings to continue.

Her husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo, claims his wife would not want to live this way and has been petitioning to have the tube removed since 1998. Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have been fighting to keep her alive.

In the latest legal maneuvering in the controversial case, the Schindlers on Monday asked Judge Greer to give Terri enough time to re-learn how to eat on her own before issuing his decision.

Greer denied the request.

Greer is a former Pinellas County commissioner. Michael Schiavo’s attorneys argue that Terri can’t be rehabilitated.

The Schindlers have also asked that they be named as Terri’s guardians because Michael Schiavo has a conflict of interest in his wife’s case since he’s engaged to another woman.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

ping

[JennysCool]

Is Jeb now the last resort?

[tallhappy]

Killing in this manner is horrible cruelty.

I am against this "mercy killing". Yet if the killers prevail they should at least kill her painlessly rather than a weeks long drawn out suffering with seizures and convulsions.

This is barbarism.

[jwalsh07]

Enough is enough. They should walk in, take her and haul ass to a another state where judges don't issue state orders to slow-kill American citizens.

[MarMema]

You are so correct, the suffering involved in this "terminal dehydration" has been discussed in many medical journals, often with condemnation.

What is more we would not be allowed to do this to a horse or cat in our home, and we don't even do this horribly cruel thing to our worst criminals.

No, we save the most horrible death sentences for the helpless among us, the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly, who cannot fight back or protect themselves.

[MarMema]

Seriously, I wonder about the idea of international kidnapping.

[MarMema]

ping

[Mr. Silverback]

ProLife Ping! If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[agrace]

They still have an outstanding federal hearing I believe.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Terri's family and friends need to watch her 24 hours a day. There is a very real possibility that Michael Schiavo will hide her and do the killing in secret so as to prevent kidnappings and to also ensure she dies alone.

[MindBender26]

Ok, we knew this was coming. Time to pull up our shorts and get to serious work!

In a way, it's not 100% bad. I'm serious. It now gives us a deadline. It's an "Official Crisis" because there is a deadline, a time when she will begin to die.

Now, the PR job is easier. Remember what I wrote last PM about the hypothetical woman in Pinellas Park who had to juggle her concern for Terri with 20 problems in her own life? Now she has reason to move Terri's case to the forefront of her thinking. It's like 9/11. On 9/10, few people cared about Islamic terrorism. On 9/12, there was nothing else.

Focus is critical in a PR campaign. For example, this News Release can now be issued.

News Release For (name reporter)

Countdown Clock Begins For State's Killing Of Disabled Woman

St. Petersburg, FL (Sept 17, 2003) In just 28 days, the State of Florida will begin the process of killing Terri Schiavo. She will not be strapped to the prison executioner's gurney and executed with poison. She will not be electrocuted. Why not? Because the (home town) woman has never been convicted of any crime!

There is no denying that Terri Schiavo is far less than the woman she once was. Ever since she suffered a (heart attack? [Don't accuse husband here]) in (year), Terri has lived in a twilight zone of human existance. "She's not the active, vivacious daughter I once had" says her mother, XXXXX XXXXXXX. "She is confined to bed and can't talk the way we can, but she is still my daughter. There is light and life in her eyes. It's easy to see. Any mother could see it."

But unfortunately for Terri, state law forbids her mother from preventing Terri's feeding tube from being removed. Her husband has begun a common law marriage with another woman, and has even had a child with her. But because he never officialy divorced Terri, the law and a county judge have given him permission to disconnect Terri's food and water.

"It's horribly ironic, a pain so deep and strong I never thought it possible, that her "husband" can starve and dehydrate to death, while his common law wife / girlfrind is pregnant with their second child," says Mrs. (Mother.) "I hope that child, and any other mother's child is never starved to death on purpose, the way they are going to kill Terri, just because she is inconvenient to this man. She was his loyal, loving wife. Now he wants to have children by another woman while the judge has ordered Terri's death. There is something very wrong with that."

Pinellas County Circuit Judge XXX XXXX has set October 15th as the day when the starving will begin. Terri's parents and friends are asking people to help stop this travesty by,.,.,.,.,., (call for action)

2 more paragraphs about helping, then

Although October 15 is still 28 days away, Mrs. XXXX can already feel her daughters pain, combined with her own. "I just keep asking by self, would Terri ever starve a person to death? Everyone who knows her knows the answer to that.

-30-

Then get a distribution network going, Local stations, Orlando, Miami, CNN, networks, etc. Get a copy of a story some station does into the hand of every Congressmen you can find... there is so much more, too

See a professional PR person. The woman I posted before is very good, especially in crisis control issues. Good luck

[Riverman94610]

I admit I have not kept up with this case but if she is TERMINAL and has no chance of resuming a conscious life,why not pull the plug?
If it were me and I was laying up in a hospital 13 years oblivious to the world then by all means do not prolong the suffering.
I know most conservatives take the opposite position and that is why I could no more be a doctrinaire conservative then I could ever be a doctrinaire liberal.

[nickcarraway]

Terri suffered a heart attack in 1990.

They thought that at the time. Medical evidence suggests otherwise.

[peacethroughstrength]

Riverman,
This article does not represent the whole story. The liberal media has given a one sided view of this. She is NOT in a coma, she recognizes her mother and answers questions from her nurses, as was testified under oath by one of her nurses. Her husband is a greedy, worthless POS, who quite frankly deserves to have his ass kicked.

Check out http://terrisfight.org

[LayoutGuru2]

They thought that at the time. Medical evidence suggests otherwise.

Can you please elaborate?

[GirlShortstop]

I admit I have not kept up with this case but if she is TERMINAL and has no chance of resuming a conscious life,why not pull the plug?

We're all TERMINAL after all R'man.  It has ben reported that Terri recognizes (and there are facial "indicators" of response to) her loved ones.

If it were me and I was laying up in a hospital 13 years oblivious to the world then by all means do not prolong the suffering.

Think about this:  "pulling the plug" is the supposed humane thing to do:  what if Terri is thankful to God that she's still alive and can see her parents?  What if she is not ready to die?  What if that which you *think* would be suffering turns out *not* to be the reality of it after all?  Choose life.  You can't go wrong.

[Riverman94610]

Ok,thanks for the clarification.Yes,it seems that the husband is a real bastard who is seeking a big payoff after her death.
I have always led a pretty active life and to be laid up in bed the rest of my life seems a very dreary way to live.Then again,you never know for sure until you are IN that situation.

[greccogirl]

I admit I have not kept up with this case but if she is TERMINAL and has no chance of resuming a conscious life,why not pull the plug?
If it were me and I was laying up in a hospital 13 years oblivious to the world then by all means do not prolong the suffering.
I know most conservatives take the opposite position and that is why I could no more be a doctrinaire conservative then I could ever be a doctrinaire liberal.


Because there is no evidence that she is "terminal". She has not even been allowed rehabilitation therapy. She is not "oblivious" to the world, and as far as "conscious life" she is not "unconscious". Please read up on this case and decide for yourself if this MURDER is what should be allowed.

My god we don't even starve to death cats and dogs. Should we then go into every nursing home where someone is on a feeding tube and kill them? My mom was on one for six months and fell to 81 lbs. She now weighs (with therpay) 140 lbs and held her grandchild on her lap.

[mitchbert]

Get her across the Canadian border and shout "refugee" at the first person you see in a uniform. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms kicks in at that moment vis a vis the claimant.

I'm not kidding and I'm not trying to change the subject here. I despise our refugee claimant system but this is one case where I'd cheer it on.

This is my first ever post a Terris thread by the way, but I've been following this with a feeling of shock and anger from early on.

BTW, for any of you in the path of Isabel, you're in my thoughts. Stay safe!