Posted on 12/04/2003 3:31:09 PM PST by sweetliberty
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Who can be a guardian, 1993 letter from Bob Schindler to Michael Schiavo, Palm beach Post editorial and FReeper response, T'wit's song about Schiavo and Felos, transcript of Lee Webb's (CBN) interview with Kate Adamson, partial timeline of Terri's case, the story of Martin and Anne Shapiro and the report on Terri's birthday party,
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This thread serves as a place for posting all new general information and references, along with links following Terri's case, plus information on cable news and talk radio shows dealing with the issue, court cases and press releases. This is also the place to post contact information, prayers and general discussion.
If you have something that qualifies as BREAKING NEWS or FRONT PAGE NEWS, please post it on a separate thread in that category in order to give it maximum exposure and then post a link to the article/thread here so that it will be included in the next update of links. Also, if you post links to articles from original sources and there is also a thread on FR, please link to the FR thread. Many original links become corrupt over time and we want to be able to access the information at will.
You will notice that this thread is not specifically dated. That is because we are just going to keep this one going until we have need of another one.
A reminder: please do not post personal information on the public forum. We have lots of folks on scene down in Florida and we don't want them having any problems with the death squad.
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As Terri Schiavo turns 40 next week, her loved ones fight for her life
Suspicious Circumstances, the Strange Case of Terri Schiavo
Schiavo asks Pinellas judge to rule without trial
Michael Schiavo tries to block Gov. Bush
Michael Schiavo Again Seeks to Block New Information About Terri
Why Was Terri Denied Holy Communion?
Terri Schiavo's 40th birthday Wednesday
Florida's Bush gets report on Schiavo
Participate in Terri Schiavo's Birthday, December 3, With prayer, Mass Intentions, Cards and Notes
FR Birthday Card: Greetings, Prayers for Terri Schindler-Schiavo
New Guardian Urged for Terri Schiavo, More Evaluation of Her Condition Needed
The Guardian Speaks: Terri Schiavo's guardian files his report; there's bad news and good news.
Terri Schiavo's Family Celebrates Her 40th Birthday, Hundreds Send Cards
Changes Proposed In Right-To-Die Laws - Your help is needed NOW in Florida!
The Case of Terri Schiavo: The Human Rorschach Test
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"Put my tears in Your bottle. Are {they} not in Your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; This I know, that God is for me. In God, {whose} word I praise, In the LORD, {whose} word I praise, In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Ps. 56: 8b-11)
Terri's Army ping! If you want on or off of this ping list, please let me know.
How could anyone declare that he is a good husband? He won't allow her even any flowers or religious objects. What a sadistic monster!
By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Dec. 1, 2003.
The Newspaper for American Physicians
Although most disputes rarely reach the tumultuousness of the Schiavo case, physicians are often called upon to mediate disagreements over an incapacitated family member's medical care. When this happens, some experts agree that convening an ethics committee offers the best hope for consensus building.
"Until you really have a patient or a case that needs the service of an ethics committee, you don't recognize the value they bring," said Thomas A. Kintanar, MD, a Fort Wayne, Ind., family physician and hospice director.
"An ethics committee can help ensure that the decisions made are the best that can be made medically and that can bring the family peace," he said.
A member of the American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors, Dr. Kintanar said he was once in a situation similar to the Schiavo case after the decision was made to withdraw the feeding tube of a 23-year-old developmentally disabled woman with microcephaly as a condition of placing her in hospice care. It was a decision that ignited the community and divided the family.
"There was a lynch mob out to get me," Dr. Kintanar said. "She was a beautiful individual, but she was nonresponsive and declining."
He said an ethics committee was convened consisting of family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, a volunteer community representative and an expert in philosophy and ethics.
"Everyone was invited to state their opinions," Dr. Kintanar said. "It was discussed, debated and dissected. Everyone who had any relationship with the patient would have a part in the final decision."
The last people to speak were the patient's parents, who had power of attorney and were leaning against further use of the feeding tube, Dr. Kintanar recalled.
They said the patient's brother had gone through the same situation, and they didn't see much benefit in repeating the experience.
"There wasn't a dry eye in that room when they shared their story," he said. "The experience itself was extremely gratifying because we had a community coalesce to find common ground. It's a beautiful story compared to what transpired in Florida."
Dr. Kintanar said physicians on ethics committees should be realistic when addressing a patient's medical condition, but they should never take away a family's hope. They should help guide decisions but not make them. His analogy is that he is the navigator, but the family captains the ship.
An ethics committee also can take away some of the burden from individuals who otherwise would be left to make these decisions on their own, which often leads to second-guessing and guilt that can last long after a decision is made.
The more the choices are made as group decisions, the less likely it is for individuals to develop that sense of guilt, said Michael Goldrich, MD, chair of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs and a Highland Park, N.J.-based otolaryngologist.
A variation on this sense of guilt was expressed by Florida Senate President James King, who remarked after the state Legislature passed a bill giving Gov. Jeb Bush the power to reconnect Terri Schiavo's feeding tube: "I keep thinking, 'What if Terri didn't want this done at all?' "
Sen. King sponsored Florida's 1988 Death With Dignity living-will law that allows terminally ill patients to refuse artificial life support or feeding tubes, but that law does not apply to Schiavo because she does not have a living will. Even if she did, questions could remain, because she is not, by definition, terminally ill.
Her case has drawn the nation's attention to the question of who should make decisions in these cases, because her husband and her parents cannot agree on whether to withdraw her feeding tube.
The courts agreed with the husband and called for feeding to be stopped, but then the Legislature and Gov. Bush sided with the parents and ordered feeding to be reinstated.
"It's almost become a Greek tragedy with deus ex machina and Jeb Bush coming down from the ceiling," said Myles Sheehan, MD, associate professor of medicine and geriatrics at Loyola University Chicago's Stritch School of Medicine.
Dr. Sheehan, a Jesuit priest, said it is important to keep in mind the specifics of each case, not comparing it to any others. He is frequently involved in feeding-tube decisions but, unlike Terri Schiavo, his patients are mostly older people in the end stage of terminal illness.
"There is a presumption in favor of feeding and hydration, but there are situations where it's a really bad idea," Dr. Sheehan said, adding that comparing someone who is terminally ill to someone like Terri Schiavo may not be the right thing to do.
"Although they both involve feeding-tube decisions, linking acute tragedies to chronic illness can lead to making mistakes in medical decisions," he said.
They're still perpetuating the lies, I see.
Because many of these people have bought into the lie that it is the "merciful" and "kind" thing to do to end the suffering of someone whom they are convinced, at least by their own definitions, has no quality of life.
They are the children of the Father of Lies.
I urge you FL Freepers to do the same.
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Subject: Right to food and water
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Florida Legislature,
You have been elected to represent the wishes of your Florida constituents. You create the laws that bind and guide the residents of this State.
Florida is but one state in this union, yet our derivation in this most wonderful and stunning experiment called a Republic, the United State of America, should always be guided by the precepts and values of our brave and selfless Founding Fathers, who gave so much that we may have this almost perfect entity in the world ... a place deigned by them to be of free men and women, abiding by strong moral and yes .. religious .. values, deemed lovingly given to us by our Creator.
The denial of the very basic essential needs of human beings (or animals, for that matter) of food and water is akin to murder.
Food and water ARE NOT life support.
Food and water ARE NOT extraordinary means.
Food and water are the LEAST that any human being, whether disabled or not, should be able to count on ... most assuredly from their governing elected officials, who have been charged with protecting their rights .... the biggest and most essential of which is LIFE itself.
You would shudder at the thought OR the act of a convicted murderer being purposely starved and dehydrated as his punishment; you would cringe at the thought OR the act of a domestic pet being purposely starved or dehydrated.
And, rightly so.
How, then, can you not grant to your fellow citizens of Florida the essential right to the minimal sustenance of food and water, especially to someone who is currently disabled?
I urge you to be the leaders you were elected to be, and preciously guard the right of us all to the most basic need for survival .. food and water.
Your actions are being observed very closely, and there is a renewed and reinvigorated citizenry that is sick and tired of the games you and all politicians play .. the backslapping and and backroom trading in which you all participate for your own edification .. and the paltry attention that is paid to doing what's right, being FOR the good of your own state, and NOT for your own or your party's interests. Please know that you all will be held accountable.
The people of California were the first in a long time to tire of the games, and I'm certain they won't be the last in this decade.
Senator King, if you, in the responsible position of Senate Majority Leader, opt to put your stock in your image or you allow your ego to interfere with your sworn duty to your State to be a staunch advocate of protection, and you DON'T allow Sen. Stephen Wise's bill to come up for discussion and a vote, please know that we won't forget. We're passed that. If you can't muster the barest level of integrity in this issue, I suggest you consider having the decency to leave your position.
Timeliness is critical ... people's very lives hang in the balance. XXX
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