Posted on 10/17/2003 2:03:11 PM PDT by mr_griz
AFTER ALL THE YEARS, ALL THE fighting, all the bitter recriminations, there were remarkably few tears on Oct. 15 when Terri Schiavo finally had her feeding tube removed. Maybe the crowd of 80 or so gathered outside the hospice facility in western Florida were too angry to cry, or too numb.
For her part, Carla Sauer was just too tired. "I've been pulling for Terri since 1995," she said as she sank uncertainly onto a three-legged stool to rest the sandal-clad feet she'd been standing on for five hours. "I still can't believe it's come to this."
"This," apparently, is the end of the line in the long fight to keep Ms. Schiavo alive. A Florida judge on Oct. 14 refused two final appeals from her parents, clearing the way for the removal of the feeding tube that's kept her alive for a half-dozen years. Without the tube, the 39-year-old will slowly starve to death. It should take about 14 days.
That's precisely the outcome her husband, Michael, has been pushing for. Claiming that Terri has been a vegetable since she collapsed after a heart attack in 1990, Mr. Schiavo says he is simply honoring a request made by his young bride: That he not allow doctors to prolong her life through artificial means.
Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, doubt she ever made such a request. But even if she did, they argue that a feeding tube is not the same as artificial life support. Her vital organs function on their own, she smiles and laughs at the sound of her loved ones' voices, and she has no terminal illness that threatens her life. If she simply has someone who cares enough to feed her, she could live for another 50 years—a condition not terribly different from that of thousands of other severely disabled persons.
"She's not a vegetable," Ms. Sauer insisted as she rested her tired feet. "She knows voices, she responds. She can follow commands, and she tries to communicate by blinking her eyelids 'yes' and 'no.'" And then there's the most important detail of all: "We used to feed her with a spoon, and she swallowed on her own."
That was seven years ago, when Ms. Sauer was a nurse at a rehab facility in Largo, Fla. At that time, Ms. Schiavo was getting physical therapy and full-time attention from skilled nurses. But the facility charged $4,000 a month, as Ms. Sauer recalls, and Mr. Schiavo soon chose to discontinue his wife's therapy and move her into the much cheaper hospice system. She's languished there for six years, tethered to a feeding tube while a fierce legal battle swirled around her.
The Schindlers argued that they should be named as Terri's guardians, in part because Mr. Schiavo now has a new girlfriend and a young child. Just because he's ready to move on with his life, they said, he should not be allowed to end Terri's. When a series of judges sided with Mr. Schiavo, the Schindlers appealed to the court of public opinion: They smuggled a video camera into their daughter's room—against a judge's orders—to show the world she could still laugh and smile and respond to affection.
With Terri now dying slowly, that video may be the Schindlers' final memory of their daughter. Rather than watching by her bedside, they are parked in a camper across the street. Bob Schindler has been charged with contempt of court, and he and his wife cannot visit their daughter without Mr. Schiavo's permission—or his lawyer.
The family tragedy, as painful as it is to watch, is only a part of a larger picture. Advocates for the disabled fear that Terri Schiavo's death could set a chilling precedent. "This is deplorable," Joni Eareckson Tada told WORLD in the midst of a whirlwind of press conferences and rallies. "What's happening here is just a part of a larger effort to class persons with severe cognitive disabilities as non-persons. Terri is not brain dead, she's not in a coma, she's not terminally ill. We have people who attend our weekend retreats who are more severely disabled. Yet the courts have washed their hands of this. Medical personnel are forbidden to deliver any food or water. She's being denied her right to humane treatment under state law.
"This case is a watershed for people with disabilities," Mrs. Tada said. "Removal of the feeding tube means you are promoting active euthanasia. As a quadriplegic woman, that's a frightening precedent."
And I must confess, there's something about this situation, above and beyond the Michael Shiavo hustler theory and this total human disaster, that doesn't sit very well with me. I don't know what it is yet. There's a whole lot of conflicting information, as Spyder pointed out.
For all I know, no brain scans will surface. Judge Greer might seal the record.
The reason is becuase her "guardian" Michael Schiavo wants it that way. He has alot to hide.
More importantly, I don't see a compelling reason to deny the Schindlers the opportunity to care for Terri.
Another point: I wonder about Florida's adultery laws, and if Mr. Sciavo has violated them, and if that violation would nullify his guardian status. Surely the Schindlers have looked into this - I wonder what they found.
The reason is becuase her "guardian" Michael Schiavo wants it that way. He has alot to hide.
Very possible.
Is that true? I've never heard of an "adultery" clause in a life insurance policy. However, if MS were to divorce Terri as her parent's have requested, then he may not be entitled to the life insurance benefits. In any case, the possibility of another large infusion of ca$h via insurance benefits is certainly a compelling reason to say that MS does not have Terri's best interests in mind.
At least 12 dozen prominent doctors have said that Terri Schiavo is NOT in a persistent vegetative state and could recover greatly with regular therapy. Also one nurse has stated she has heard Terri speak "help me" and "momma" on numerous occasions.
Michael Schiavo knows that if Terri gets the proper medical care she may be able to tell the world that he is the one who put her in that state. Also, he has a life insurance policy on her that he wants to collect on.
Unfortunately common law marriages that were not entered into before 1968 are illegal in the state of Florida.
No, common law marriages are not recognized in Florida if they were not established BEFORE 1968. He can't be charged with bigamy. If he lived in Georgia with this girl then after 7 years they would have had a common law marriage. He has been with her for seven years so in at least one state, and I think at least 13 others, they would be considered married, but not in Florida.
Trust whom you choose but don't ping me to anything to do with the Soros-teat-sucker-ghouls in the future.
Evil pollutes and I want to choose the times I enter a conversation with it.
This man helped his own mother to die and likes Strela. That's enough of a red flag for me.
This is the single most important statement in this piece and one that all Americans should read and re-read. If you know a disabled person, someday you will look back on this day and remember it.
They have redefined life and now are redefining death.
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