TERRI SCHINDLER SCHIAVO CALLING ALL FREEPERS Pt2 Disabled FL woman given Death Sentence by FL Courts

09-21-03 | pc93

[pc93]

Terri's Call to Action Part 1 is over 5000 posts. If you don't want to get caught up to speed at Part 1:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/971896/posts?q=1&&page=5167#5167

Simply visit Terri's official web site at:

http://www.terrisfight.org

There are contact numbers at her web site for her core media team, legislators, media and for press updates.

See flash movies of Terri interacting with her mother, responding to a physician and see for yourself that she's not in PVS "persistant vegetative state").

In addition to access a text file with a lot of information see:

http://bellsouthpwp.net/p/c/pc93/FedCourtDktCaseNo8_03-cv-1860-T-26TGW.txt

If you want to join Terri's fight, it's important for us to CONTACT BUREAUCRATS, THE MEDIA and also your friends and family. It's up to you how you choose to Help Terri.

Pinellas Pasco Judge Greer set October 15, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. for her feeding tube to be removed. There's something wrong with Florida's exit protocols and the way the courts handle new information re: criminality (misrepresentation, attempted murder, etc.) affecting a case. There was no living will, only the assertion of a very suspect, so-called husband, his brother, etc. that Terri would not want to live on life support. Terri is not on life support, she is not comatose or PVS and she is not living "artificially". She does get sustenance from a feeding tube but only because she has been denied rehabilitation by her so-called husband after he won a malpratice lawsuit three years after her collapse (cause unknown but probably due to strangulation or physical abuse, or both) which is why Terri needs an army of supporters to spread her story from coast to coast. Terri has retained rights that are being sidestepped because she is disabled and has been denied rehabilitation! The technologies of rehabilitation have greatly improved exponentially yet Judge Greer has not let Terri have a chance to learn to eat or to be able to learn to speak/communicate again. Also new information bearing on the case which shows criminality on husband's side has not been considered by the 2nd District Court of Appeals who handed down Mandate for termination of Terri's feeding based upon testimony of criminal husband and brother as above stated. Who is next?

Let's make a difference! Thank you for your efforts.

[Ethan_Allen]

I don't know. I've just finished watching the video clips of her. I had never seen them before. I'm speechless. If they get away with doing this, we should never rest bringing ALL who have a part in this to justice. Enough is enough. I've also just been reading some of MarMema's testimonies of others who have been murdered. We might as well tear down the holocaust museum. Never again, indeed. Monsters!! Henry Makow is right. The world is being ruled by a Satanic cult. There is no other way to explain it.

[Ethan_Allen]

I started to post this the other day, and thought it might be over the top. Today I don't think so. I think we all need to know what we are dealing with here. This ties in with Felos' 'airplane' visions and all the rest of his 'gifts'.

sfRummygirl said:

"The bottom line is this: new Agers and witches, for the most part, are people that do not want to conform to God. They want God to conform to them. Because most of them are sick and extremely disfunctional. Great, huh?"

phenn said about :

[>>re: Mary Jo Melone is anti-Terri]

"Ask yourself why this is. Mind you, she is a daughter, a mother, a mistress to a dog she is fond of. Why would she advocate the icing of a young, disabled woman? Why would she favor an estranged spouse over a loving blood family? She's not trying to boost her ratings, I assure you.

She is attempting to retry this case in print and, possibly, color the federal court's opinion. Now, why would she be so motivated to do such a thing?

Someone WHISPERING IN HER EAR, mayhaps?"

That tied right in with something I read here, and I think it's important for us all to understand the mindset of the the power elite:

"...For the last 125 years, NEW AGE LEADERS WORLDWIDE HAVE FOLLOWED THE FALSE LIGHT OF THEOSOPHY [see the symbols http://home.pacbell.net/amsec/theoseal.html ]; they now WHISPER SWEET LIES INTO THE ITCHING EARS OF THE POWERFUL — POLITICIANS, MEDIA MOGULS, UN OFFICIALS, FOUNDATION GRANT MAKERS, AND ANGLICAN BISHOPS. As the West moves into a post-Christian era, the influence of the New Age movement grows. - A Comprehensive Expose of The New Age Movement, by Penn Lee ..."

From:
Lucis (Lucifer) Trust, Alice Bailey, World Goodwill and the False Light of the World
http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NewAge/Lucis_Trust.htm

From the sidebar, so everyone can see the full depravity of what we are dealing with:

"Once the key to Genesis is in our hands it is the scientific and symbolic Kabbala which unveils the secret. THE GREAT SERPENT OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND THE "LORD GOD" ARE IDENTICAL....

Stand in awe of him, and sin not, speak his name with trembling....IT IS SATAN WHO IS THE GOD OF OUR PLANET AND THE ONLY GOD....

WHEN THE CHURCH [I suppose this means Christians], THEREFORE, CURSES SATAN, IT CURSES THE COSMIC REFLECTION OF GOD....

In this case it is but natural....to view SATAN, THE SERPENT OF GENESIS AS THE REAL CREATOR AND BENEFACTOR, THE FATHER OF SPIRITUAL MANKIND.

For it is he who was the "Harbinger of Light," bright radiant LUCIFER, who opened the eyes of automaton (Adam) created by Jehovah, as alleged; and he who was first to whisper, "In the day yea eat there of, ye shall be as Elohim, knowing good and evil"--can only be regarded in the light of a Saviour. An "adversary" to Jehovah....he still remains in esoteric truth the ever loving "Messenger"....who conferred on us spiritual instead of physical immortality....

SATAN, OR LUCIFER, represents the active...."Centrifugal Energy of the Universe" in a cosmic sense....Fitly is he....and his adherents....consigned to the "sea of fire," because it is the SUN....the fount of life in our system, where they are petrified....and churned up to re-arrange them for another life; that SUN which, as the origin of the active principle of our Earth, is at once the Home and the Source of the Mundane Satan... Volume I, page 414, Vol II, pgs. 234,235,243,245"

{Editor's note:}
"One has to keep in mind, where this heresy originated. BLAVATSKY CLAIMED TO HAVE 'RECEIVED' IT FROM DISEMBODIED SPIRITS CALLED "SECRET CHIEFS." THESE 'INTER DIMENSIONAL, OR DEMONIC, BEINGS SEEM TO BE APPEALING DIRECTLY TO THE INTELLECT. Our intelligence, after all, is a thing of great pride, isn't it? And where would we be, had it not been for the "benefactor," the Serpent of Old. Then the obvious conclusion would have Jehovah being the "Adversary." This twisted sensibility is very appealing to those who practice the occult. It also shows that in the end, when all the cards are laid on the table, its ALWAYS about that one selfish being, already condemned, and hell bent on bringing mankind with him...."

[Now on to Alice Bailey...]

"...The encounter with her fated second "Master" — and soon to be writing partner for an international esoteric movement — occurred in 1919, while having a quiet time on a hill close to her house. SHE HEARD A NOTE OF MUSIC SOUNDING EVERYWHERE WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY A VOICE (DJWHAL KHUL) THAT ASKED HER IF WHE WAS WILLING TO WRITE SOME BOOKS. HAVING REFUSED, SAYING THAT SHE WOULDN'T ENGAGE IN ANY PSYCHIC PRACTICES, THE VOICE GAVE HER THREE WEEKS TO RECONSIDER. Alice completely forgot about the subject when THE VOICE MADE ITS APPEARANCE AS SCHEDULED. AGREEING TO GIVE IT A TRY FOR A FEW WEEKS THE FIRST CHAPTERS OF INITIATION, HUMAN AND SOLAR WERE WRITTEN. AFTER ABOUT A MONTH, ALICE GOT SCARED; REFUSING TO DO ANYMORE WORK THE MASTER DJWHAL KHUL TOLD HER TO DISCUSS IT WITH HER MASTER KOOT HUMI. [where do they come up with these names???] KOOT HUMI CONFESSED THAT IT WAS, IN FACT, HIM THAT TOLD DK TO CONTACT HER AND HE GAVE ALICE PERMISSION TO PROCEED - AFTER GIVING MRS. BAILEY THE PROPER TECHNIQUE FOR ENHANCED TELEPATHIC COMMUNICATION." [ Felos claims these same telepathic communications.]

More reading for anyone who may be killing time awaiting news.

New Age Roots
by Steve Bonta
Dark foundations of the New World Order
http://www.thenewamerican.com/tna/1999/03-01-99/newage.htm

Apostle of Perversion
by William Norman Grigg
http://reformed-theology.org/html/issue07/apostle.htm

"...The New Age movement was created during the 19th century, as a ploy by the Illuminati to obfuscate a true understanding of aetheric energy (known to physicists as the neutrino sea) for those who have learned to harness it, can wield power. The New Age movement greatly expanded as a result of the psychological warfare efforts of the Tavistock applied-psychology think-tank known as the Stanford Research institute...." [I had never heard of 'aetheric' energy, but on a hunch, googled 'aetheric Tesla', and couldn't spend any time on it, but think the terms may be synonomous. I'd rather not post the link to where I found this quote.]

You might also want to google 'UN meditation room serpent'.

[pc93]

Tonight 9pm EST

Radio program Wednesday night on Schiavo case featuring Ron Panzer, Vickie Travis and Nancy Valko-see website

Pro-Death Judge "Greer Denies Motion Allowing Terri Schiavo to Eat on Her Own"

Bob Schindler - father of Terri Schiavo will be co-hosting a 2-hour radio broadcast
with other guest speakers (below) who will chime in on this subject.

Ron Panzer, Vickie Travis, and Nancy Valko - will join Mr. Schindler on the broadcast.

Please distribute this email broadcast far and wide - tune in, educate yourself, and participate. We encourage your phone calls to our guests and in specifc to Mr. Schindler.

Please see information on our website on how you can also talk to the guests FREE long distance,
using Yahoo! Msgr.

TIME > 9:00 PM - Eastern Standard Time. (9-11 PM)
GO HERE > www.highway2health.net

CALL-IN LINE: (321) 984-4505

Highway 2 Health Radio Broadcast - with Dr. Sal Martingano & Peter Kawaja, co-hosts.

Ron Panzer

President, Hospice Patients Alliance

http://www.hospicepatients.org

Vickie Travis
Former Caregiver and Eldest Daughter
of Adam Wesley Arnold
http://www.kaiserpapers.org
Board Secretary Hospice Patients Alliance
http://www.hospicepatients.org/
Vickie@kaiserpapers.org
Kaiser looks good on paper - but then so did Communism - A Kaiser observer

Nancy Guilfoy Valko, RN
A nurse for 35 years, working mainly in oncology, home health/hospice, hemodialysis and several kinds of ICUs, including trauma, currently full-time nurse in an ICU, recent hour-long program on the Terri Schiavo case for Wisconsin NPR, written for publications, both religious and secular, doing medical news analysis articles for the National Catholic Register. Spokesperson for the National Association of Prolife Nurses (http://www.nursesforlife.org president of Missouri Nurses for Life and a contributing editor for Voices, the magazine of Women for Faith and Family (www.wf-f.org)


Nancy Valko, a leading pro-life nurse who monitors end-of-life issues, says the Schiavo case should be a warning to the pro-life community that some want to deny rehabilitative care to the disabled or those with incurable diseases.


"The importance of saving Terri cannot be overestimated," Valko explained. "Not only for her but also to brake the movement to get rid of people with severe brain injuries or conditions by withdrawal of basic medical care, futility and other 'end of life' policies, inadequate insurance coverage for rehab services and even non-heart-beating organ donation."

Pro-Death Judge] "Greer Denies Motion Allowing Terri Schiavo to Eat on Her Own"
[for now]
by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor September 14, 2003
read it online at: http://www.lifenews.com/bio48.html
or read it below:
[beginning of article]
Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) -- On Monday, Circuit Court Judge George Greer told Terri Schiavo's parents that their motion to allow Terri to learn to eat on her own prior to the removal of her feeding tube would not be granted -- at least not now.


Greer denied the motion on a legal technicality, saying the family's attorney had not used the proper legal means to advance the motion and that the issue of allowing Terri to eat on her own would be decided later this week.


Greer is considering whether or not to allow Terri to have rehabilitative care. That's been a sticking point for the family who say that Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, has denied her such medical help.


The Schindlers have doctors who believe she could be rehabilitated with new and aggressive therapy.


George Felos, the euthanasia crusader who is Michael's attorney, told Greer that doctors he has consulted with have testified that Terri is capable of swallowing her saliva. However, if given water or pureed food, Felos says Terri will choke on it and the blockage could lead to pneumonia.


The motion called for delaying removal of the feeding tube until the transition has been completed and Terri can eat on her own.


"The court must give her a chance to transition to nutrition by mouth," Anderson said, adding that Terri "has never been given the chance to get better. She's been treated as if she's already dead."


Anderson said if Greer withdraws the feeding tube without allowing Terri a chance to eat on her own, he is violating Florida law.


Tom Marzen, a pro-life attorney and expert on euthanasia who has been following the case, tells LifeNews.com, "the next question is whether anyone will even try to feed and hydrate Terri by mouth after the tube is removed if she can possibly swallow successfully. If not, then can't we abandon any pretense that this case involves anything other than fulfilling a death wish?"


Michael was awarded $750,000 in a malpractice lawsuit that was supposed to be used in part on rehab care for Terri. Her parents say only a small amount of the funds has been used this far.


Nancy Valko, a leading pro-life nurse who monitors end-of-life issues, says the Schiavo case should be a warning to the pro-life community that some want to deny rehabilitative care to the disabled or those with incurable diseases.


"The importance of saving Terri cannot be overestimated," Valko explained. "Not only for her but also to brake the movement to get rid of people with severe brain injuries or conditions by withdrawal of basic medical care, futility and other 'end of life' policies, inadequate insurance coverage for rehab services and even non-heart-beating organ donation."


[end of article]


Vickie Travis
http://www.kaiserpapers.org
Board Secretary Hospice Patients Alliance
http://www.hospicepatients.org/
Vickie@kaiserpapers.org
Kaiser looks good on paper - but then so did Communism - A Kaiser observer


A Kaiser Permanente Case Prosecuted by the L.A. District Attorney (unsuccessfully)


read it online at:

http://www.ascensionhealth.org/ethics/public/cases/case7.asp

or read it below:


[beginning of article]


Case of: Barber-Nejdl (Clarence Herbert)


Doctors Nejdl and Barber were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder following the death of Clarence Herbert. Herbert went into cardiac arrest following routine surgery. After being on a respirator for three days, the doctors concluded that Herbert would not recover consciousness. His family consented to removal of the respirator; Herbert continued to breathe on his own. After two more days, and with family consent, the patient’s intravenous lines providing nutrition and fluids were removed. The patient died several days later. Charges against Nejdl and Barber were eventually dismissed. The court stated that in the case of a "permanently unconscious patient," decisions should be based on whether potential benefits outweigh the expected burdens. The court also found that in the absence of legislation to the contrary, family members could act as appropriate surrogate decision-makers even if they are not legal guardians. [Source: 195 Cal. Rptr. 484 (1983).]


http://members.tripod.com/american_almanac/hmousele.htm

A nurse's testimony led to the Los Angeles County prosecutor attempting to bring murder charges against the doctors. While the case was not successful, what was discovered during the investigation and scandal, was the role of Kaiser's policies. Kaiser's policies dictated that the doctors were in danger of losing their year-end bonuses for cost-cutting if they had kept

him alive!

www.highway2health.net

DO NOT BE FASHIONABLY LATE FOR THE BROADCAST !

[Ethan_Allen]

"Anderson said if Greer withdraws the feeding tube without allowing Terri a chance to eat on her own, he is violating Florida law."

"Kaiser's policies dictated that the doctors were in danger of losing their year-end bonuses for cost-cutting if they had kept him alive!"

bump. keep praying.

[freeparoundtheclock]

Yes, we must operate under the radar due to lurkers. If your major media connection comes through, please freepmail me so I can do an end zone dance by my p.c.

[freeparoundtheclock]

So the hospitals are helping themselves to internal organs and saying "oh, by the way"? Why am I not surprised?

[freeparoundtheclock]

The cultists who want everyone gone but themselves work under the banner "separation of church and state" but it's much worse than that sounds.

Just check out the Office of High Representative and that's how Howard Dean enters the picture. So many Dean supporters have no idea that his supporters in Vt are OHR members and anti-semitic. It's one scary google search, let me tell you.

It will never happen that Dean wins the presidency, but let me put it this way - I don't believe he'd be putting his hand on the Bible.

[freeparoundtheclock]

This is off topic but I'll only do one post. Did you ever hear about the bizarre artwork at the Denver airport of people being slain? It was on free republic over a year ago. It was supposed to be a global thing. It was absolutely ghoulish. (I flew through Denver last year, but my gate wasn't near the ghoulish paintings.)

This goes beyond September 11th. I'd like the United States to remain a sovereign nation. Many Americans just aren't paying attention - yet.

[GWB and GOP Man]

Michael Schiavo is one of, if not, THE most repulsive looking creatures I have ever seen in my entire life.

[Theodore R.]

Michael Schiavo is one of, if not, THE most repulsive looking creatures I have ever seen in my entire life.


Yea, it makes one wonder what poor Terri saw in him in the middle 1980s. But driving that $80,000 Mercedes makes him attractive to many in Pinellas Co., FL, where one's worth is measured by his wealth. Maybe Pinellas has abolished that part of the Pledge of Allegiance where it speaks of "liberty and justice for all." We can only pray for divine intervention NOW.

[Theodore R.]

I don't believe he'd be putting his hand on the Bible.

It was G. Washington who started the tradition of putting his hand on the Bible and concluding the presidential oath with the line: "So Help Me God!" Perhaps nonbelievers would take the oath using Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" or something of that sort.

[Ethan_Allen]

So the hospitals are helping themselves to internal organs and saying "oh, by the way"? Why am I not surprised?

Have you had anyone in the hospital lately and tried to get any information out of the hospital, even when the person has been admitted in critical condition? Due to the new "privacy" laws, health insurers, the government, and God knows who else can get information about you, but for family (except possible for the very next-of-kin?) it's like getting blood out of a turnip, so there's something real strange about "friends" being able to pop up and take it upon themselves to donate someone's organs.

Did you hear about the guy from Georgian who introduced a bill in the Georgia legislature to allow decapitations in capital punishments so that the organs could be harvested?

See here:

"Now, here is the proposal, by Doug Teper, a Democrat (what else?) in the 61st District (State of Georgia): he proposes a bill to replace the state’s electric chair with the guillotine. His reason is that it would allow for death-row inmates as organ donors, he says, since the “blade makes a clean cut and leaves vital organs intact….” ( And we used to think they just wanted our blood [sarcasm]).

This proposal became H.B. No. 1274 and read as follows:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1: The General Assembly finds that while prisoners condemned to death may wish to donate one or more of their organs for transplant, any such desire is thwarted by the fact that electrocution makes all such organs unsuitable for transplant. The intent of the General Assembly in enacting this legislation is to provide for a method of execution, which is compatible with the donation of organs by a condemned prisoner.
SECTION 2(a): All persons who have been convicted of a capital offense and have imposed upon them a sentence of death shall, at the election of the condemned, suffer such punishment either by electrocution or by guillotine. If the condemned fails to make an election by the thirtieth day preceding the date scheduled for execution, punishment shall be by electrocution.
SECTION 3: The Department of Corrections shall provide a death chamber and all necessary apparatus, machinery, and appliances for inflicting the penalty of death by electrocution or by guillotine.
SECTION 4: This Act shall be applicable to all executions occurring on or after August 31, 1996.
Teper has earned the nickname, “Doug ‘Heads Will Roll’ Teper”; and the legislation didn’t pass, of course, but it will return. You can count on it. It will come back up again, and it will pass. How do I know?......"

I had more to say, but I just found something very interesting. I'll be back

[GWB and GOP Man]

What was that about justice not being served on the young in this lifetime?

Man Involved in radio sex stunt dies

Deborah S. Morris
Newsday
Sept. 30, 2003

NEW YORK - A 38 year old man who had sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral has died of apparent heart failure, it was revealed in court Tuesday.

Brian Florence, 38, died in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday, said the defense attorney for Florence and his wife, Loretta Harper, who was also charged in the bizarre August 2002 incident.

"We are all in shock - he was a young guy," said the attorney, Maranda Fritz.

Tuesday, the comedian who had narrated the couple's X-rated cathedral exploits in real time, Paul Mercurio, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. At the time of the incident, he was a producer for the now-defunct Opie and Anthony radio show.

Under the plea deal, he will serve seven days of community service for his role in the stunt. He was orginally charged with public lewdness.

The court adjourned the case against Harper, of Virginia, until November 6, in light of her husband's death.

Mercurio used his cell phone to narrate on air as Florence and Harper had sex in a side entrance vestibule of the church to win a prize from the shock jocks.

It was actually a contest, sponsored by Sam Adams beer company, in which several couples had agreed to compete by having sex in public at sites around Manhatten.

Harper appeared in court but did not say anything and left the building without commenting.

REAL CUTE! REAl funny! Is Brian Florence laughing now?

LESSON OF THE DAY: IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO P!$$ OFF GOD...

[GWB and GOP Man]

What was that about justice not being served on the young in this lifetime?

Man Involved in radio sex stunt dies

Deborah S. Morris
Newsday
Sept. 30, 2003

NEW YORK - A 38 year old man who had sex inside St. Patrick's Cathedral has died of apparent heart failure, it was revealed in court Tuesday.

Brian Florence, 38, died in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday, said the defense attorney for Florence and his wife, Loretta Harper, who was also charged in the bizarre August 2002 incident.

"We are all in shock - he was a young guy," said the attorney, Maranda Fritz.

Tuesday, the comedian who had narrated the couple's X-rated cathedral exploits in real time, Paul Mercurio, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. At the time of the incident, he was a producer for the now-defunct Opie and Anthony radio show.

Under the plea deal, he will serve seven days of community service for his role in the stunt. He was orginally charged with public lewdness.

The court adjourned the case against Harper, of Virginia, until November 6, in light of her husband's death.

Mercurio used his cell phone to narrate on air as Florence and Harper had sex in a side entrance vestibule of the church to win a prize from the shock jocks.

It was actually a contest, sponsored by Sam Adams beer company, in which several couples had agreed to compete by having sex in public at sites around Manhatten.

Harper appeared in court but did not say anything and left the building without commenting.

REAL CUTE! REAl funny! Is Brian Florence laughing now?

LESSON OF THE DAY: IT IS NEVER A GOOD IDEA TO P!$$ OFF GOD...

[Ethan_Allen]

I was just starting to post a brief that the US Supreme Court was entertaining that talks about several bizarre and barbaric modes of execution, including decapitation, when I noticed that they had a brief about Nancy Beth Cruzan.

Here's the gist of the capital punishment brief:

This amicus brief does not address the question of whether all capital punishment should today be rejected as "cruel and unusual" punishment. That question is not before the Court in this case. Our brief addresses only the question whether the mode of execution employed by FLORIDA renders capital punishment "cruel and unusual" in that State. This brief accordingly reviews rabbinic doctrines and discussion regarding the methods used in implementing the death penalty. here: http://www.jlaw.com/Briefs/capital2.html. It seems they were very concerned with 'not causing undue pain and suffering' and 'NOT DISFIGURING THE BODY'.

I've just started reading but it looks like they were arguing AGAINST euthanasia where there was not convincing evidence that the patient wanted it! See what you think: http://www.jlaw.com/Briefs/cruzan8.html

[Theodore R.]

UH, Michael Schiavo is no Brian Florence. Lighting never strikes twice in the same place.

[GWB and GOP Man]

"Lightning never strikes twice in the same place."

There are only two men in the entire world who are recognized by the United States as experts on the subject of lightening. One of these gentlemen, appeared tonight on Foxnews and declared THAT statement is a MYTH. Lightning can and often will strike in the same place twice.

[freeparoundtheclock]

Your link on Cruzan duly noted and bookmarked.

[Ethan_Allen]

YES!!! They were against it! "...Every person has a right to life, and no one should be denied essential medical care unless the evidence clearly and convincingly shows that the patient intended to decline the treatment under some particular circumstances. This is a demanding standard, the most rigorous burden of proof in civil cases. It is appropriate here because if an error occurs it should be made on the side of life..."

"The question here is whether states like Missouri and New York are constitutionally precluded from adopting the "clear and convincing" standard as a means of ensuring that the third party is properly advancing the incapacitated patient's liberty/privacy right. We submit that the question answers itself. If anything, in view of the due process analysis of Addington v. Texas, supra, and in view of the inherently personal nature of the liberty/privacy right the third party is seeking to assert on the patient's behalf, it would seem that the "clear and convincing" standard should be constitutionally required. States that allow third parties to decide that patients should die without such probative evidence of the patient's intent run the risk of countenancing "the most pernicious discriminatory bias against the disabled that one can imagine....." Tribe, supra, at 1598." CONCLUSION

'"Therefore was man created singly, to teach you that whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture as if he had destroyed an entire world; and that whoever preserves a single life is considered by Scripture as if he had preserved an entire world." (Mishnah, Tractate Sanhedrin [Judges 4:5]

Although the sages of yore may have been speaking homiletically, their teaching has literal application in cases like this. This Court's decision will set standards and guidelines that will have ramifications far beyond the individual patient whose life hangs in the balance here. Many, many lives will be affected by the Court's decision -and so too will the general moral health of American society. A reversal of the Missouri Supreme Court's decision on federal constitutional grounds would require the Court to elevate a non-terminal patient's right to refuse life-sustaining nutrition and hydration into a fundamental constitutional liberty/privacy right, to relegate the state's countervailing interest in the preservation and sanctity of human life to non-compelling secondary status, and to preclude states from insisting that third parties seeking to assert such a right on behalf of incapacitated patients must present clear and convincing evidence of the patient's own wishes. The implications of such a holding -- in both legal and moral terms -- would be staggering. In Agudath Israel of America's view, reversal of the decision below would constitute far more than the first cautious step down a slippery slope; it would represent a giant slalom leap far down the trail of constitutionalizing a general right to suicide and euthanasia.

For the reasons stated above, amicus curiae Agudath Israel of America urges the Court to affirm the decision of the Missouri Supreme Court by acknowledging the authority of states (I) to assert an interest in the preservation and sanctity of human life sufficiently compelling to outweigh any fundamental liberty/privacy rights non-terminal patients like Nancy Cruzan may have to refuse life-sustaining medical intervention; and ( ) to insist that where life support is sought to be withheld or terminated on the basis of an incapacitated patient's purported wishes, the quality of evidence adduced to demonstrate those wishes must be of the highest caliber.

Respectfully submitted,
DAVID ZWIEBEL
General Counsel
AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA
84 William Street
New York, New York 10038
(212) 797-9000

Attorney for Amicus Curiae

OCTOBER 1989

I guess they didn't listen to them. Didn't they kill Nancy anyway?

[Ethan_Allen]

I believe Josephus recorded something like that happening during the destruction of Jerusalem. Alas, the couple never made it alive out of the temple.