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.

[Calpernia]

But Peyer, just think at how great they will look once Terri's tube is re-inserted and she lives the rest of her life out in a coma. /sarc

A coma this insanity induced her into!

Irony at it's finest. This would be something Shakespeare would have written if he were alive today.

[supercat]

What does 15 day stay mean?

It means that, if Terri isn't already dead or genuinely terminal by the time the bill passes, we'll have 15 days to push for more action to:

• Require a guardian ad litem in any cases where a guardian is trying to kill a ward or access a trust fund containing more than some dollar amount. Right now the standard is that one is required any time there is a possible conflict of interest, but a judge gets to decide what that means.
• Somehow allow the Schindlers to bring a case before a trial court judge other than Lord Voldemort.
• Provide in statute that a guardian who wishes to end the life of his ward shall be presumed to be less fit than the person's parents, children, spouses, or other nearest surviving relative(s), if the latter wish to keep the person alive, and provide that in any such case where guardianship has not previously awarded by jury, the latter shall be allowed to seek a new guardianship hearing before a new judge and any procedure that would kill the ward shall be stayed until such hearing is complete.

Those sound good for starters?

[Graymatter]

Stay means staying the arm of the law, preventing the judge's order from taking effect. Terri gets 15 day reprieve. Then Michael Starvo can begin again.

[utahagen]

Jeb will sign this as soon as it passes. We need to pray the Senate passes it quickly and that Terri hangs on.

Hang on, Terri, hang on. God, please keep her going.

[Calpernia]

15 days from when? Is it grandfathered?

Will Terri have a tube before then?

Will these terms make it into Terri's Bill regardless?

Legal stuff doesn't sink in too well with me. Too many shades of grey.

[supercat]

15 days from when? Is it grandfathered?

Fifteen days from when Bush's pen finishes the "h". Will Terri have a tube before then?

No.

[Calpernia]

>>>>Stay means staying the arm of the law, preventing the judge's order from taking effect. Terri gets 15 day reprieve. Then Michael Starvo can begin again.

Sorry, hold my hand here and type real slow to me. I thought the law already took effect. Do you mean the Bill that was discussed tonight?

So 'if' this bill is passed tomorrow (may not be, don't forget one of these Senator's is affiliated with the Board of that Hospice), Terri's tube (if she is alive) goes in after 15 days?

[WackySam]

The problem seems to be too many addresses. Tried with less addresses and it works. Know how to fix this in OE?

Not sure. It seems as though the link works for most, but not all. I use OE and it works fine. It may be a config issue. If you get the "default client" error, you don't have a email program configured to work with your browser.

[Calpernia]

So she is dead.

[supercat]

So 'if' this bill is passed tomorrow (may not be, don't forget one of these Senator's is affiliated with the Board of that Hospice), Terri's tube (if she is alive) goes in after 15 days?

The tube gets put in immediately; it gets yanked again in 15 days if Judge Greer can't either be made to follow the law or be replaced by someone who will.

[supercat]

So she is dead.

Read 913.

[Lauren BaRecall]

Hello! I'm newly registered, but am a faithful lurker.

I've been hanging out here almost exclusively for the last few days, because this is the place to get news about Terri. I've been praying for her like crazy, and I watched the live stream of the Florida House. I was particularly gratified to see that your email campagn did its job! I think the emails had a positive effect on Jeb, too. (I did send one, myself.) I just sent an email to Jim King, who is the Senate President. I bet he could move up that 6:45PM starting time if he had a little motivation.

I would like to suggest an e-Freep of Jim King to get him going:

king.james.web@flsenate.gov

[Calpernia]

*shakes head* thanks.

Another political football.

[SeattleTiger]

If God takes her, I frankly hope it will be tonight before the Senate can finish up this "CYA" bill and that is all I believe this bill was intended for in the first place.

Please, please view this as an amazing victory. I do. Terri's parents, her friends, the terrishope YAHOO board, this board, and so many other people made this improbable intervention happen. It is PHENOMENAL. I devoutly hope that the Senate does what's right, Terri hangs on and she is reunited with her parents.

If that does not happen, we have still participated in a revolution. We can do it again. The law in Florida needs to be fixed. The concept of persistent vegetative state needs to be reviewed. And the idea that food and water can be withheld from someone simply because his or her quality of life is adjudged insufficient, particularly by someone who might profit from that person's death, has been exposed as abhorrent.

Those of you who have been fighting for Terri accomplished this with relatively little press coverage. Just force of will and a commitment to what is right. I think it is awe-inspiring and I salute you.

[Lauren BaRecall]

Jim King is the "Hospice Senator."

[utahagen]

If Terri can hang on through tonight and she's given water and nutrition tomorrow, I believe there's a good chance the good guys will win the war as well as the battle.

Let's face it, the media are generally biased towards the left. But what trumps ideology? Ratings! The videos of terri reacting to her mother are powerful. This is a dramatic story and if Terri makes it through tomorrow, shows like 20/20 may figure, "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" and play those videos.

If we keep the pressure up, some members of the press, if only for selfish reasons, may start telling the real story. And if the real story behind this gets out, Terri will make. Most Americans are essentially good people, however morally obtuse they can be at times. If people see that vidoe of terri smiling at her mother, Terri will make it.

We are obligated to be optimistic; we must keep praying with hope in our hearts.

O God, hear all our prayers on behalf of Terri. Keep her going through the night.

[supercat]

Actually, I just read the bill, and although Jeb's authority to issue stays would expire 15 days from passage of the act, the act specifically states that such expiration would not affect any stays already issued.

Though if Terri does survive this ordeal I don't think it would be too long before Michael tries to kill her some other way.