Gov. Bush calls special session over Terri Schiavo

Firstcoastnews.com ^ | 10-20-03 | Cynthia Capers

[JulieRNR21]

TALLAHASSEE, FL -- According to a news release sent by the Terry Schindler-Schiavo Foundation, Florida Speaker Johnnie Byrd will introduce "Terri's Bill" during the special session Monday.

The bill would put an immediate moratorium on all dehydration and starvation deaths in Florida. Meanwhile, supporters of Terri Schiavo showed up Sunday outside a Pinellas Park hospice.

Doctors say Schiavo has been in a vegetative state since complications from a heart attack in 1990. Her husband was granted a court order that her feeding tube be removed, saying his wife wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive.

[deannadurbin]

>>If she doesn't see the food, and eat it, and there is no hope that she will ever see the food or eat it, she should be allowed to die.

I'm glad you're not a caretaker for infants.

[MEGoody]

"claiming he cannot act to save Terri"

I want this lady to be given the opportunity to live as much as anyone else, but a Governor of a state is not all powerful.

If you are aware of any Florida state law that allows Gov. Bush to intervene and force this to stop, please e-mail him with the information. But as far as he is aware, the law does not allow him to overrule a court order.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I got a little excited while typing this, to the FL legislature, but at this point...so what. I have never been so angry, disgusted, *disenfranchised*, sad and deflated as I am about Terri and the state of FL.

My letter:

WHAT is WRONG with my elected FLORIDA officials, who are supposed to be working FOR THE PEOPLE???!!! Since when is a disabled woman *not* a PERSON?????

For crying out loud folks, Terri Schiavo is a CITIZEN of the state of Florida!!!! She's not a goat, or a farm animal, or a homeless pet! Heck...Florida PROTECTS the rights of ANIMALS! Isn't it a crime in this state to starve animals????

I mean, cripes...why aren't you all leaning on our GOVERNOR to put an end to this INSANE ruling???? Clearly, this husband, who supposedly loves his wife, has been cohabitating with another woman for almost a decade, and has fathered one child with her, with another soon to be born! How is this fair and decent to Terri's parents and her brother and sister, to allow Michael Schiavo to be the sole guardian and decision maker for Terri's BEST INTERESTS?????? Isn't there a CONFLICT OF INTEREST????? People ---WAKE UP ALREADY, or get the heck out of my Florida Legislature!!!!!!!

And speaking of conflict of interests, how about all of the links to HOSPICE and the RIGHT TO DIE causes among those fighting and ruling on Terri's demise? With those items in their pockets, it's no surprise that the Judges have overlooked the simple fact that Michael Schiavo has ORDERED NO REHABILITATION SERVICES FOR TERRI SINCE 1993!!!??????? WAKE UP FOLKS!!!!!!! ALLOW THIS WOMAN THE RIGHT TO MEDICAL CARE WHICH WILL REHABILITATE HER & STIMULATE HER MIND AND BODY!!!!! WHY ARE YOU ALL IGNORING THIS FACT??????? SHE HAS NOT BEEN PROVIDED WITH PT or OT or SPEECH THERAPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TIME IS RUNNING OUT TO REVERSE THIS RULING!!!! ONCE TERRI IS DEAD, YOU HAVE FAILED IN YOUR DUTY TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF THIS STATE!!!!!

Think about it! Governor Jeb Bush can pardon convicted inmates on death row!!!!!!!!!!! He can stop the most horrible of criminals from lethal injection, but regarding Terri's case, HE's EXHAUSTED all of his OPTIONS???? WHAT???????? THERE ARE LAWS AGAINST STARVING AND WITHOLDING FLUIDS FROM PRISONERS AND ANIMALS, YET FOR A DISABLED WOMAN, IT'S OKAY??????? FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, this state protected PREGNANT PIGS AT THE LAST MAJOR FLORIDA ELECTION!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP AND ACT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

INVESTIGATE MICHAEL SCHIAVO! PUSH FOR A GUARDIAN AD LITEM FOR TERRI!!!!!!!!!! MAKE IT MANDATORY THAT SHE RECEIVE ALL THE MEDICAL CARE THAT IS LONG OVERDUE TO HER!!!!! WHAT THE HECK HAS SHE BEEN DOING IN HOSPICE????????? DON'T YOU ALL UNDERSTAND THAT HOSPICE IS FOR END-STAGE OF LIFE COMFORT, and NOT MEDICAL INTERVENTION?????????

ORDER a NEW court to retry this case, if need be. Let all of the withheld information be brought to light! Allow the testimony and sworn affidavits from PHYSICIANS...PARTICULARLY THE NOBEL PRIZE NOMINATED PHYSICIAN with evidence of Terri's calcified broken bones!!! Allow the Countless NURSES and MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS & OTHER WITNESSES TO STATEMENTS MADE BY MICHAEL SCHIAVO WHICH PROVE HIS CONFLICT OF INTERESTS AND LOVE FOR TERRI! FEED HER NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

May God help you all should you choose to delay action.

[PeyersPatches]

I'm glad you're not a caretaker for infants.

---

Bravo on that reply!!!!

[syriacus]

he Proper way to handle this case is to make the patient comfortable, and put the food in front of her.

Wouldn't Christopher Reeve starve, then?

[Theodore R.]

Did this Judge Moore agree to hear the case? Shouldn't he reinstate the feeding tube while he is pondering all his potential actions? I hope that is not another dead-end street.

I am now starting my 16th meal since Terri was marked for starvation. What's wrong with the USA? Hitler did WIN after all.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

I honestly don't understand this, as he can halt the death chamber minutes prior to a criminal going to a court-ordered execution.

[MarMema]

Hydration and medication to relieve pain are to be continued until death.

This is the choice I commended you on last time around.

[MEGoody]

"I honestly don't understand this, as he can halt the death chamber minutes prior to a criminal going to a court-ordered execution."

Yes, he can. That is specifically provided for in the law.

Really, if someone on the thread knows of any law he can use to stop this, I'd recommend they get that information to him. For now, he believes that law prevents him from putting a hold on a court order.

[PeyersPatches]

Really, if someone on the thread knows of any law he can use to stop this, I'd recommend they get that information to him. For now, he believes that law prevents him from putting a hold on a court order.

---

Well, since Jeb is a practicing Christian, how about one of God's laws "Thou shalt not kill"?

Hey if Clinton could stomp on a multitude of laws to doing something awful (grab a little boy named Elian by gunpoint) then Jeb can save an innocent woman who is being tortured to death. What are the liberals going to do? Whine and look like the ghouls they are because they couldn't finish her off? Sometimes you have have the intestinal fortitude to do what is right - even if you're standing alone. Jeb, by far, will NOT be standing alone if he saves that woman.

[syriacus]

Florida Health and Human Resources--

AHCA- Agency for Health Care Administration

The agency provides a toll-free telephone system for consumers to call in order to file complaints, receive publications, information and referral numbers. This system can be accessed by calling the number below between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. Eastern Time Monday through Friday.

(888) 419-3456


For registering your complaints, requesting publications or requesting information, use the following options:

* Press Option 1

* To file a complaint about a health care facility, such as a hospital, nursing home, assisted living facility, home health agency or other type of health care facility.

---

To file a complaint against a health care facility:

* When you contact the call center, tell our staff person that you wish to file a complaint against a facility.

* YOUR COMPLAINT CAN BE FILED ANONYMOUSLY, however if you wish to know the results of your complaint, you should be prepared to give your name, address and telephone number. This information will allow our surveyors to contact you should they need additional information or clarification. This information never becomes public information and cannot be released.

* Be prepared to give detailed information such as patient/resident names, dates, times of events and where the event happened or is currently happening.

* After filing your complaint, your complaint is immediately forwarded electronically to one of our field offices for review and priority assessment.

* If after assessment, it is determined that AHCA has the authority to investigate your concerns, the complaint will be scheduled for investigation. If the information given leads our field office to believe that one or more residents are in any immediate danger, the field office will investigate your concerns within 48 hours.

* If after assessment the field office determines that AHCA does not have authority to investigate your concerns, you will be notified in writing of this determination and why. If another agency has authority to look into your concerns, you will be notified that we have referred your information to that agency.

* After the completion of the investigation, you will be notified in writing of the results of that investigation. You will receive this notification within 60 days after the investigation is completed.

[MHGinTN]

The governor of Florida is the chief law enforcement officer. He has before him a case of Terri's Constitutional Rights being violated, as he stated in his amicus brief to the Lazzara court. He also has a judge protecting a guardian whom the judge appointed and that guardian is defrauding the very ward the judge placed in his care. Since the guardianship completely disenfranchised Terri Schiavo, the judge is, before the laws of Florida, also a guardian for Terri Schiavo, to insure that the guardian he assigned is meticulous in preserving her rights and properties. The judge has failed miserably to do this minimal oversight and even allowed now the execution of the ward. NOW, do you see why some are furious at this feckless governor for not doing what he swore oaths to do? It isn't a matter of a specific law that would cover Jeb's butt for him, it's about the governor doing what is right to save a citizen of Florida from a cruel and unusual death because he has the law enforcement authority to suspend (not cancel) the execution of a ruling by a suspect judge until a full investigation can be done. The suspension is fully warrantyed since the outcome of the suspect judge's ruling will be irreversible should the ruling be fully executed.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

So...criminals have a better chance of avoiding death once a judge imposes the sentence. Sickening. BUMP.

[Republic]

From Hospicefoundation.org

Hospice is a special concept of care designed to provide comfort and support to patients and their families when a life-limiting illness no longer responds to cure-oriented treatments ( What life-limiting illness does Terri have? And what CURE oriented treatments failed Terri? Putting Terri in that Hospice was AGAINST the very foundations of the Hospice Org. How did they manage to get away with this? Again-TERRI WAS NOT DYING BEFORE THEY STUCK HER IN THE HOSPICE!).

Hospice care neither prolongs life nor hastens death. (They are surely hastening Terri's death-they are actually CAUSING her death. This is so wrong!)

Hospice staff and volunteers offer a specialized knowledge of medical care, including pain management.

The goal of hospice care is to improve the quality of a patient's last days by offering comfort and dignity.

Hospice care is provided by a team-oriented group of specially trained professionals, volunteers and family members.

Hospice addresses all symptoms of a disease, with a special emphasis on controlling a patient's pain and discomfort.

Hospice deals with the emotional, social and spiritual impact of the disease on the patient and the patient's family and friends. ( Wonder if the Schindler's have found this to be true?)

Hospice offers a variety of bereavement and counseling services to families before and after a patient's death.

History

The word "hospice" stems from the Latin word "hospitium" meaning guesthouse. It was originally used to describe a place of shelter for weary and sick travelers returning from religious pilgrimages. During the 1960's, Dr. Cicely Saunders, a British physician began the modern hospice movement by establishing St. Christopher's Hospice near London. St. Christopher's organized a team approach to professional caregiving, and was the first program to use modern pain management techniques to compassionately care for the dying. The first hospice in the United States was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 1974.

Today there are more than 3,100 hospice programs in the United States. Puerto Rico and Guam. Hospice programs cared for nearly 540,000 people in the United States in 1998.

Hospice is not a place but a concept of care. Eighty percent of hospice care is provided in the patient's home, family member's home and in nursing homes. Inpatient hospice facilities are sometimes available to assist with caregiving.

Republic: EVERYTHING that is going on in that Hospice is against the Hospice's very foundation. This is a lawsuit just begging for justice.

Terri should NOT be there-how is it that she was placed there? Did the courts order the Hospice in Pinellas to go against its very beliefs?

Terri was not dying before being placed in that Hospice.

Terry received NO preventative or helpful care, ie therapy, before being placed there.

Terry is being murdered there, her death hastened.

Has ANYONE stated that Terri was terminally ill and I missed it?

[krunkygirl]

overly loud, excitable and demonstrative, but maybe JUST WHAT'S NEEDED! Sometimes you have to scream to be heard...good effort

[Hanging Chad]

"...put the food in front of her. If she doesn't see the food, and eat it, and there is no hope that she will ever see the food or eat it, she should be allowed to die..."
- - -
If someone does what you advocate doing with an infant,
our society says they should spend time in prison,
because they are seen as being cold, heartless bastards.
Hopefully, you are not seen as being one of those.
I guess you must also support euthanasia, as there are tens of thousands
of elderly people in nursing homes that depend on someone to feed them.

Come to think of it, maybe you really are a cold, heartless bastard.

[GYPSY286]

President Ronald Regan would too.

[PeyersPatches]

I have to go out for a couple of hours....if any (hopefully good) news happens, please someone ping me? Thanks

[Deo volente]

She's not an "organism", SHE'S A PERSON!!!

[dawn53]

When it became clear that we were not going to allow the feeding tube or ventilator, the hospital tried to stop his medication, but we were always led by his living will, and it had specifically stated that medication and hydration were to be continued until death.

Since my FIL's ordeal, each member of my family, and my husband's family have seen the importance of three documents and we have these documents for even the "young adults."

They are:
Durable Power of Attorney

Health Care Surrogate (my parents chose my husband, their son-in-law as their health care surrogate after they saw how he handled his father's illness, the lawyer found this strange, but we've been married 23 years, and I don't think he's going anywhere, LOL)

and of course, a Living Will.

Each member's living will differs a little, depending on what they have designated and the personal choices they have made concerning end of life issues.

It was uncomplicated, at least on a physical level, to deal with my FIL's illness because of the forethought he had put into his living will. No guilt or indecision about "were we making the right choices", we knew we were following his instructions

His funeral arrangements were also made and paid for in advance, and that, too, was a real blessing.

I learned so much through the entire experience.