Husband in Right to Die Case Moves to Block Parents in New Trial

CLEARWATER, Fla. (AP) - Attorneys for the husband seeking to carry out what he says is his wife's end-of-life wishes said in court papers Monday her parents shouldn't be allowed to enter the constitutional fight over the new law which is prolonging her life. Attorneys for Michael Schiavo, whose wife Terri is at the center of the massive legal battle over whether she lives or dies, responded to legal filings seeking a judge's permission to allow Bob and Mary Schindler to become parties in the challenge of the new law.

The law allowed Gov. Jeb Bush last month to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube - which has kept her alive for more than a decade - be reinserted six days after her husband ordered it removed.

Michael Schiavo's attorneys said that while the Schindlers arguably had a stake in the legal battle on whether their daughter's wishes should be carried out, the legal challenge of what's been dubbed "Terri's Law" is between her husband and the governor's attorneys.

"The rights at stake in this litigation are uniquely those of Mrs. Schiavo and it is those rights that are directly affected by the challenged legislation and Governor's actions," said the legal response filed in Florida circuit Court. "The Schindlers' interest in continuing to pursue their belief that the prior litigation was wrongly decided simply does not meet the requisite legal standard for intervention."

Doctors and a judge have ruled that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery. She suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped beating - cutting off oxygen to her brain - because of a chemical imbalance.

The conservative law firm founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson asked last week to be allowed to intervene in the case on behalf of Schindlers. Circuit Court Judge W. Douglas Baird would have to grant permission for the Schindlers to enter the lawsuit.

The couple have said their daughter had no end-of-life wishes and believe she could be rehabilitated. They also dispute that she is in a vegetative state and believe she has enough mental abilities to respond to them.

The American Center for Law & Justice said in its filing that it believes lawmakers and the governor were within their authority to intervene in the case. Her parents are seeking to be appointed their daughter's guardians and to exclude them from the case would "violate their constitutional rights to be heart," the law firm said in its filing.

There appears to be an overwhelming amount of emotions
interfering with thinking processes. This phenomenon is
usually noticed among liberals, but rarely among the
more conservative branches.

If those that want to assume that Terri has the full capability
to experience sound, sight, and thought...... They must also
consider that Terri can not now, or ever will, respond to
that stimuli. That is fact. Without a cerebral cortex, only
involuntary actions are possible. There is no possibility for
voluntary actions to take place. That is medical fact.

Read on:

Terri has remained sustained in a lifeless form for 13 years.

Had it not been for a life support system inserted 13 years ago,
her soul would have already passed and be resting. Her loving
parents have fought every attempt across a 13 year period, to
have that apparatus removed.

It is not as simple as "Terri can not feed herself", or "Terri's
only problem is she can't eat". Terri has lost all her ability to
be able to respond to any stimuli.

The court had ordered 5 doctor's opinions. 2 paid for by Terri's
parents; 2 paid for by her husband; 1 court appointed, paid by
tax dollars. The court appointed independent physician concurred
with two others. The remaining two dissenting, found that there
"may be some hope for some possible improvement.

All physician's concluded, that Terri can not hear, see or have
voluntary movement.

Let's disregard all that [since most of the posters appear to anyway],
and look at matters from their standpoint:

They appear to strongly "feel" that Terri can hear, see, understand
and think. Even though absolutely no medically corroborating evidence
has ever been presented at any time over 13 years that Terri can
respond to any stimulus, some "feel" that she has.

Can those people imagine what it might be like, to see, hear,
understand and think, but be totally unable [for over 13 years]
to be able to display that? To lie in state without any possibility
to converse in any manner? It would be akin to being buried alive.

Can those hoping to extend the time Terri must remain in a
lifeless shell, imagine keeping her inside a coffin....indefinitely?

That was what the court had to decide; when is enough, enough?
When is it time to allow a soul to pass? When is it time to allow
her guardian to make that choice for her, or should that choice be
made at all?

Terri's husband was never charged or called as witness in
any suit or action regarding to the alleged mistreatment of
his wife Terri.

Was it ever considered, that if the husband could be charged,
the hateful parents and family would have made the charge
legally and formally, sometime over the 13 year period?

Does it ever enter the minds of those that whine so loudly,
that no court of law, will consider an act that will terminate
a life, easily? That all issues, even that of removing a possible
hostile guardian, would be considered prior to it's decision?

To read in post after post, that Terri's husband is evil, the
court is evil, the doctors citing Terri's irreversible condition
are evil, and anyone/everyone that considers Terri's right
to death.... is evil... Is sheer lunacy at it's best.

The medical facts are there and the selfish hopes and dreams
of a very loving family are there, both for consideration.

It's Terri; It's a soul trapped in a lifeless body, that should
be considered.

And it's being overlooked by well meaning, but misguided
individuals.

May your Lord have mercy.

Repost:

"When I Woke Up..."; Hope for Terri Schiavo
Terrisfight.org ^ | unknown | Rus Cooper-Dowda

Posted on 08/25/2003 7:53 PM PDT by yhwhsman

"When I Woke Up..."
by Rus Cooper-Dowda

In February of 1985, I woke up in a hospital bed in Boston, MA. I couldn't see very well and I couldn't move much -- but boy could I ever hear!

I heard a terrifying discussion then that I will never, ever forget.

Around the end of my bed were a "school" of doctors in their white coats, planning when to disconnect my ventilator and feeding tube. I immediately started screaming, "I'm here!!" No one but me heard me.

They did notice my sudden agitation. They heavily sedated me. For a time, every time I woke up I would make as much noise and move as a much as I could to show them I was "in there."

And they would, in response, heavily sedate me...

I then started spelling the same word in the air, "Don't! Don't! Don't!...."

The doctors decided that the letters I was spelling in the air were repetitive seizure activity and just happened to occur most often when they were in my room discussing killing me...I even took to writing them backwards to make it easy for them to read...

And their response was to sedate me even more....

But, the nursing staff began to believe I was really and truly with them.

One, in particular, starting bringing in a clipboard and a broken pen when she talked to me. She would put ink on my fingers, the clipboard under my right hand and then ask me yes and no questions in the beginning.

With her I secretly progressed to answering in sentence fragments. However, by doctor's orders she was not allowed to document in my file what she was doing and that I was giving meaningful responses.

But...she did save my inky answer sheets and recorded the questions she asked. She got into a lot of trouble for that.

Yet, it earned me a final conference where the doctors had to prove to the nursing staff for political reasons that all my communication was just agitation and seizures.

At that meeting, my then husband, who was a doctor siding with the other doctors who wanted to let me die, held that clipboard which was my lifeline up in the air in front of me. He was not going to make it easy.

The purpose was to prove that the nurses were basically hallucinating and that I was really and truly brain-dead.

To prove I could not communicate, he then put ink on my fingers and asked while laughing, "There isn't anything you want to tell us, is there?"

In response I spelled out, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E Y-O-U!" The laughter got very nervous then. The doctors called for medication because I was obviously having a seizure.

Then the nurse who used the board first with me said, "Let me try" and "What do you need to tell us today?"

I spelled out, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E H-I-M!!!!"

There was never a questions after that about whether I was "in there' or not.

Then they said I couldn't breath on my own -- and I could.
Then they said I couldn't learn to eat again on my own -- and I did.
Then they said therapy wasn't important -- and it was.
Then they said I would be dead within a year -- in 1985 -- this is 2003...
They also said I would never have meaningful mental function again -- yet I earned another Master's degree only a few years later.

Here's the real medical corker though --
They also said at the time that I was permanently sterile. That was a cause of great grief for me then, as I had very much wanted to bear and raise a child.

But, it turned out my son, who is here at this service today, was born at the end of that year.

It turned out that I was actually pregnant at the very moment they were telling me I was sterile -- a simple test at the time could have established that.

A test they didn't think they needed to do -- so they didn't.

My point is that the medical and legal staff of that world-renown hospital were wrong and didn't listen and made startling assumptions about the quality of life for the disabled community I had joined.

In their eyes, I only had two options then -- full recovery and a lovely hospice death. I did spend time in a hospice against my will fighting to get to my OB-GYN appointments -- but that is the stuff of another story.

Leave it to say that it was beyond them that most of us -- especially the disabled community -- live full lives in between physical perfection and death.

To borrow a current phase, we are here today because of that "Middle Earth." I live there, as does Terri, all other people with disabilities, their family, supporters and friends.

Even those doctors who were so sure Max and I could not possibly be here today will live in that land between perfect health and death if they last long enough -- that is, if they don't do themselves in out of fear that someone else will have to help them someday. Then will they ever be surprised at how much love and joy and life there is for the asking in that "Middle Earth" of the disabled community....

And therefore how much love and joy and life there is to celebrate here today...

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