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

Tampa Bay Online ^ | Nov 3, 2003 | A P

[sweetliberty]

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.

[US admirer]

You are wasting your time. These people know what they are talking about and nobody and nothing is going to change their views. This is not about the law, or science or logic or fact. It is about their beliefs and what they have been told to think by their Sunday schools and pastors. The insults and invective has begun but I can just about guarantee you have yet to see the faithful's most toxic venom.

[WackyKat]

And your proof that Schiavo is guilty of attempted murder is what?

[Petronski]

And your proof that Schiavo is guilty of attempted murder is what?

Concealed by an ongoing conspiracy.

[Petronski]

The insults and invective has begun but I can just about guarantee you have yet to see the faithful's most toxic venom.

There can be no greater invective or toxic venom than 'mercy killing' of the disabled.

[WackyKat]

This is not about the law, or science or logic or fact. It is about their beliefs and what they have been told to think by their Sunday schools and pastors.

It has become a circus of kookery, hasn't it?

I have a living will not only to spare my family the burden of making the decision to terminate life support, but also to eliminate any risk my case might become a cause celebre of someone's religious agenda.

[GeekDejure]

Yo . . . Deep_6 . . . Never miss a good chance to shut up !!!

.

[Petronski]

What you want is a right to kill people you deem to be useless to society, no matter how much you try to cloak it in some twisted attempt at empathy.

No doubt the death cult would love to come right out and call Terri a 'useless eater' but wouldn't dare take the PR hit.

[Petronski]

It has become a circus of kookery, hasn't it?

How generous of you to deign a visit with such lowly kooks. Please, share with us your brilliance and highness.

[Shethink13]

Terri's soul is locked inside a useless shell and keeping it there should be considered government ordered purgatory.

How do you know? Are you in Terri's head?

[sport]

I understand, the people who want to save Terri are dealing with a kangeroo court.

One thing the members of the death culture forget is that sooner or later the worm turns to you[at this time used in a generic, not personal sense].

The people of Denmark and Holland bought into this "Quality of Live" b.s. Now they old people in Demark and Holland are afraid to go to the doctor, lest they be killed.

Personally as long as the alcu and myself are on opposite sides of an issue, I know that I am on the right side.

[Coral Snake]

I found something in the Bible that fits Michiel Schiavo, George Felos and judge Greer perfectly:

Second Timothy 3:1
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come.

Second Timothy 3:2
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, unholy,

Second Timothy 3:3
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers,
incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Second Timothy 3:4
Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God;

Second Timothy 3:5
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
from such turn away.

[Petronski]

You rascal, I bet you pulled that from a Linux-based bible program. :O)

[GeekDejure]

By this logic, severely handicapped people should be put to death upon relying on any source of artificial means.

Whooooo !!! I'm permanently (um... vegitatively) stuck in a wheelchair. So when are The Men In Black (or is it White in this case) gonna be commin' after me. Huh ???

.

[pollywog]

Yes, Coral Snake, those scriptures in Timothy describe MS,Pelos and Greer to a T.!! Sad , oh so sad.

[yesnettv]

Get informed about the case.
You are wrong.

[WackyKat]

They also describe many ministers and all televangelists.

[yesnettv]

You do not know what you are talking about. Are you a troll for Michael or Felos? Seems like it. Go away

[trussell]

Actually there is a good chance that there is quite a bit of money left. There was one suit that was won- granting 1.3 million dollars to Terri and Michael. The other suit was settled for "an undisclosed amount". Nobody knows how much he got from that settlement.

[Concerned]

DEEP_6 WROTE: "Terri's lost her Cerebral Cortex and the cavity filled with spinal fluid."

DEEP_6 ADDED: "The cerebral cortex can not be replaced or replenished; it can not grow back; it can not be transplanted."

DEEP_6 ADDED: "Without a cerebral cortex, an individual ceases to be an individual."

I AM RESPONDING: "How many and what kind of tests have been run to determine exactly WHAT Teri's condition is?"

I AM ADDING: "My husband and I were told by "Almighty-God" Doctors that our newborn daughter would not live more than 26 days--and now she is NINETEEN YEARS OLD!

I AM ADDING: "I was the victim of an aggravated assault and was told after numerous x-rays, a CAT scan, and an MRI that there was NOTHING that several Doctors could see that was causing intense pain below my right eye-cheek area. I DEMANDED that the eye Doctor operate to put in a plate under my eye (I had a blowout fracture) and find whatever was causing my pain. As I was waking up from surgery, the Doctor told my father, husband and me that it is a GOOD thing I DEMANDED that he go in there---that it was "the worst thing he had ever seen"---FAR worse than the scans indicated."

I AM ADDING: "My point is that DOCTORS ARE NOT GODS! Doctors don't KNOW everything!"

DEEP_6 WROTE: "There is a total loss of coherency; the individual is rendered to a vegetated state. There is no chance for any recovery from that state."

DEEP_6 ADDED: "Terri is truly in a vegetated state and has been for 13 years."

I AM RESPONDING: "Are you blind? Have you not seen the videos of her RESPONDING APPROPRIATELY? Have you not heard that when she was told by phone prior to the feeding tube being removed last month that if she didn't get up out of bed that she would be "killed" (or "starved to death"---I don't recall right now which wording was used)---and she RESPONDED APPROPRIATELY---she SUDDENLY and FRANTICALLY STYRUGGLED to JUMP up out of the chair she was in?"

I AM ADDING: "That doesn't sound like someone in a vegetative state to me! So why not give Terri $750,000 worth of REHAB THERAPY that she was awarded---and that "LOVING" Hitleresque-husband Michael POCKETED---from the malpractice law suit? What would it HURT to TRY spending HER REHAB money on HER REHAB THERAPY?"

DEEP_6 WROTE: "Terri had been placed on a feeding apparatus due to her inability to swallow voluntarily. She can not live without that feeding device; that feeding device in the State of Florida is considered a life support system, since the individual can not survive without it's usage."

I AM RESPONDING: "PLEASE GET EDUCATED!!!!! Do you even know what a G-Tube (aka "feeding tube") is????? It is a piece of natural-rubber-colored, stethescope-type tubing which is about 12" long and has either a stretchable or inflatable bulb on the end to keep it inside the stomach. YOU could have one and NO ONE WOULD KNOW---Should we KILL YOU for that?"

I AM ADDING: "It is rolled up and taped to the body and it DOESN'T SHOW from under clothes. At feeding time, the end has a plug in it which is removed and a 60 cc syringe is inserted to "gravity-feed" or the plunger is used to push the food in. THAT'S IT!!!!! There is NO MACHINE INVOLVED!!!!! It is a SIMPLE TUBE! And YOU want to KILL her for just having one!!!!! That's SICK!!!!!"

DEEP_6 WROTE: "Since Terri can not and never will regain any consciousness to allow her to ever converse, or have any voluntary movement, she is considered in a vegetative state."

DEEP_6 ADDED: "Terri has been in this vegetative state for 13 years. Removing her from a life support system is a decision a guardian must decide."

I AM RESPONDING: "See my comment above. Terri is NOT in a "vegetative state"!!!!! She needs her $750,000 of REHAB THERAPY!!!!!"

DEEP_6 WROTE: "No-one remains on a mechanical life support system indefinitely; if there is no chance for recovery, no chance for any coherency, and no chance to ever have the ability to engage a voluntary movement, then forcing a soul to be contained in a lifeless shell of a body is more inhuman; more sacrilegious, that to allow it to pass."

I AM RESPONDING: "I CHALLENE YOU to go talk with PARENTS of mentally and/or physically handicapped kids. Go to a Special Needs School and talk with the teachers. ASK THEM if they believe that there's "no chance of recovery" or "no chance for improvement" or if their children "are worth letting live." I CHALLENGE YOU TO GET EDUCATED!!! I GUARANTEE YOU---the parents and teachers will say they ARE alive and their lives ARE worth living!"

DEP_6 ADDED: "Terri's dead; let her soul rest in peace."

I AM ADDING: "NO! Let's let GOD DECIDE when she is dead! NOT YOU, NOT A JUDGE---GOD!!!

[Concerned]

FITZ WROTE: "How is it Constitutional to let someone make the decision that another person be starved to death? There is no written or other evidence that Terri desired this kind of end --- no living will, no written statements. Just a supposed memory this Michael claims to have that she made some kind of remark to that effect."

I AM RESPONDING: "BINGO!!!!! You said it exactly! There is NO WRITTEN Living Will by TERRI!!!!!