Terri Can Eat With A Spoon

World ^ | Bob Jones

[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."

[MHGinTN]

The allegation that Terri told Michael she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially surfaced in court in 2000, when Michael petitioned his buddy Greer to remove Terri's feeding tube port, not before. Michael refuses to divorce Terri and continues to defraud her under fealty law by cohabiting with another woman with whom he's having children. Michael petitioned Judge Greer for the right to raid Terri's rehab trust in order to pay George Felos, euthanasia atty, and judge Greer granted that in secret closed documents! Greer has refused to allow therapy for Terri under Michael's demand that the request not be granted ... a clear indiciation of the 'guardian's' abuse of the ward. Now, by requesting for the second time that his ward be starved to death, he is committing the ultimate abuse of his ward with judge Greer's active complicity. If you can find something in that which is not true or which makes Michael Schiavo to be anything but the scum he is, have at it. You want to be a defender of such a villainous pig, be my guest.

[Cold Heat]

I apologize if I have offended you by trying to present a rational argument and not getting emotionally whacked out over this issue.

If you and other prefer to believe all that has been represented by this family, then that is your absolute right to do so.

I do not. And furthermore am exercising my right to my opinion.

I am not defending the husband except to point out that the court has not removed his legal standing and has not acted on the accusations.

Could it be that they are not true?

I only pose that question as there is no press regarding a defense against these charges.

[gitmo]

Abortion doesn't stop at the womb.

[Manic_Episode]

You are a true patriot Sir, and I salute the attitude.
God bless you.

[SwordofTruth]

"I was hungry, and ye fed me not... depart into the fire prepared for the devil...."

Unfortunately there will be many going there, not just Michael.

I deserve hell as well, as we all do. Jesus has paid the price for our sins, but those that deny him as their Lord and Savior will not be forgiven.

[Jeff Head]

Thank you for those kind words. They are too kind. I was just speaking from my heart and soul.

This event with Terri is an unbelievably atrocious thing...and it cries out for something to be done. We need Patrick Henry's, John Paul Jones, Nathan Hales, and Oliver Perrys of our day.

I saw some folks like that at Klamath Falls.

I believe it will take the same type of attitude and commitment to save Terri's life.

Best regards and God's best to you and yours.

Jeff

[secretagent]

Good points you raise, and I too, want to know more. I have a bias against Mr Schiavo based on little information.

Apparently the spouse has exceptional power in Florida, and Mr. Schiavo has exercised it as he saw fit, for motives pure or base. I could defend him, based on some unknowns. For me, nothing presented so far absolutely convicts him.

[PleaseNoMore]

The more I read your posts, the more I like you :o)

[Cold Heat]

I know a little bit about law enforcement in Florida, and they are pro's. It is hard for me to believe that in the span of thirteen years, that they could not have built a circumstantial case with these purported claims.

That's about it. I can't seem to find them credible in order to support overruling the court decisions in this matter.

I too await something that changes my mind. I can change it easily enough.

[Jeff Head]

Wel...uh...thanks. I am afraid over the years I have put so much stuff out here on the net that it would take ages to read it all.

There's some of my stuff kinked on my Freeper Home Page and a lot more on my own home page

Best Fregards and may God guide you and yours in your every rightous and good desire...He will!

...and may He be with Terri, either to preserve and save her through His Arm (acting through mecial means or through couragous people who stand up for her), or by taking her home away from the evil that has beset her.

[BlessedBeGod]

Dandelion Needs HELP! - Terri Schiavo Vigil

[Jeff Head]

The stories about the husband somehow causing this are not what did it for me. He probably didn't IMHO...but there's a chance I suppose.

What did it for me is this...he's moved on, got a new woman and kids. He clearly does not have the commitment and care for Terri.

Her parents do.

It will not harm him in the least to let her live and allow the parents to care for her. She is obviously not comatose or a vegetable.

Common decency would indicate that such a person be put in the hands of those who will love her and care for her.

If he will not, it hurts not a whit to let her be loved and cared for by her parents.

That he will not do this speaks to alterior motives IMHO in the issue surrounding her care and her condition. I have come to believe that he is purely involved because of legal and financial benefit to him if she dies. That's what ended up doing it for me...plus the fact that it is so obvious from the reports and videos that this woman should live. She is not a canmdidate for turning off "life supprt" in the normal sense of the word.

Just my own opinion.

Thanks for trying to keep things rational. We need a lot more of that.

[MHGinTN]

Respectfully to you, I would contend the courts in Florida are sunk to the near-lowest level with the liberal infestation witnessed so clearly during the 2000 election thievery tried by Gore, et al. This morass is not helped by the fact that a Republican majority in the legislature refuses to address and correct the corroded reality of Florida's judiciary. There are, after all, three branches of government in Florida, and supposedly co-equal. Alas, Florida appears to be ruled by the judicial oligarchy, pointing up once again how very important the appointment and election of judges is, how vital is morality and constitutionality in the federal judiciary. It is evident why the societal engineering democrat party seeks to control the benches.

[Spyder]

The reality is, that other than the court decisions there is no evidence presented on the internet media for the Michael side of this argument.

It tells me that this is a manipulated media war instituted by the girls family and that the evidence needed to justify the son in laws position is being withheld due to legal privacy concerns and lawyers advice.

Well put. I worked in a nursing home for 2 years as a physical therapist, close to 6 years in a university hospital. We're only hearing the parents' version of the story. The videos aren't convincing to me at all. There are a lot of holes in the parents' stories - in particular that Terri was denied therapy. Yet the story from this thread would certainly imply she was receiving it as late as 1996. The whole bit of "therapy denial" doesn't fit the smell test. The longer the patient has been vegetative, the less likely they are to benefit. Past the three-year mark, paying for therapists (when the so-called therapy is no more skilled than what could be provided by a family member) is throwing money down a rathole. I would like some of those screaming "starvation" to explain to me how pulling a feeding tube is different than pulling a breathing tube. One provides air, one provides food, both are "artificial

[Pan_Yans Wife]

If the three branches are co-equal, why aren't the legislators stepping up to the plate? Have the Schindler's actively requested their support?

[EricsMom]

What did it for me was reading how Judge Greer let the lawyers drain Terri's medical trust fund of $500,000. I see this as possible bias on Judge Greer's part. Did he do this because he had already made up his mind that he would never allow Terri to have proper care and therapy? Did he let the lawyers have it because he saw the money as useless to Terri?

There is something abominably evil about lawyers who say, 'This is for Terri, Terri wants to die', and who work to deny her all care and therapy. While at the same time they are dipping their hands into her 'cookie jar' of a medical trust fund, helping themselves to hundreds of thousands of dollars. And now that the 'cookie jar' is empty, well, now they say, she's got to go.

And apparently no one can do anything to stop this.

How is this allowed to happen?

[MHGinTN]

The governor CAN call them into session. He did it for a high profile abortion case recently. Apparently Terri's plight hasn't risen to that level of exploitable meter.

[secretagent]

I know a little bit about law enforcement in Florida, and they are pro's. It is hard for me to believe that in the span of thirteen years, that they could not have built a circumstantial case with these purported claims.

Claims like these:

Terri’s family later asserted that Michael Schiavo, who recently had a child with a longtime girlfriend he reportedly lives with, had been abusive to their daughter and that her original injuries were a result of a near-strangulation — an assertion they made after experts reviewed her medical records.

Quite a serious charge, with no resolution either way.

[Cold Heat]

It will not harm him in the least to let her live and allow the parents to care for her.

A very valid point Jeff, and one that I cannot pretend to explain.

I wonder if the hatred expressed has some thing to do with his desire to proceed with this. I do not know if he is standing on principle, wants to win the case regardless or is truly doing what he believes is the right thing to do.

if view of the total lack of defense for his motives I have no idea.

I would definitely like to know, as it would make a difference to me.

I cannot just go with appearances. I have seen to much character assassination in recent years and have experienced it myself.

Perhaps that is why I try to keep an open mind.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I don't know if it is a matter of exploitation.

Did the legilature prevail in that instance?

Perhaps he believes, and has been instructed by lawyers, that he cannot prevail in this instance, and an end-run around the courts would not work.

I keep thinking of the Florida Supreme Court. We know their history from the 2000 election... their liberal bias is well documented. The "right to death" league within the Democratic party is well documented. I do not know how anyone could convince the Florida Supreme Court that Terri has the right to live.