Schiavo's Parents Looking For Public's Help
Feb 14, 2005 5:11 pm US/Eastern
TAMPA (AP) With their legal options narrowing, the parents of a woman at the center of a life-or-death legal fight are again mounting a campaign of public and political pressure in hopes of blocking their son-in-law from carrying out her death.
Bob and Mary Schindler announced Monday that Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry will again coordinate efforts to block the courts from allowing Michael Schiavo to disconnect his wife Terri's feeding tube.
Terry was a key player in a massive campaign to lobby state lawmakers and Gov. Jeb Bush in October 2003 to enact a law blocking her death. Michael Schiavo contends his 41-year-old wife who suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago would not want to be kept alive artificially; her parents contend she had no such death wish.
The case has been fought in the courts for nearly eight years, but on Friday the Schindlers were turned down in a new attempt to stop their son-in-law from removing the tube. They have also been unsuccessful in persuading either the Florida Supreme Court or the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in the case.
But in a case that has drawn international attention and rallied right-to-life and religious forces worldwide, the Schindlers are now turning to the court of public opinion. In a statement released Monday, Bob Schindler described the move as an "effort to rescue Terri from the clutches of death by judicial homicide."
Protests are also planned outside the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri Schiavo now lives, Terry said, accompanied by e-mail and letter writing campaigns to lawmakers.
"Basically we are going to fight tooth and nail to save Terri from starvation," Terry said. "Part of this has to do with who has the will to save her and who has the will to kill her and whose will is stronger."
Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage at the age of 26 when a chemical imbalance brought on by an eating disorder caused her heart to stop beating. Some doctors have ruled that she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery, but other doctors have said she has some mental capabilities.
She left no written directive for her family to follow. Michael Schiavo has testified his wife told him she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially, but her family disputes she made such statements. The Schindlers say their daughter laughs, cries and responds to them.
In October 2003, the Florida Legislature and Bush enacted a new law allowing the governor to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted six days after it was removed.
Hundreds of thousands of e-mail and telephone message flooded the capital during days of tense debate on the issue; later some key lawmakers said they regretted being pressured into voting for the law.
The measure was struck by the Florida Supreme Court as unconstitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the case last month.
The Schindlers have since launched a series of legal maneuvers aimed at either ordering a new trial on what their daughter's wishes would be or voiding the original judgment allowing Michael Schiavo to remove the feeding tube. But have yet to be successful in winning any permanent decision that would keep their daughter alive.
Michael Schiavo is looking to Feb. 22 as the next date in which he attempts to remove the tube again.
The Schindlers attorneys did not return telephone calls for comment Monday.
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said he doubted a new round of political pressure would move lawmakers to act.
"Certainly, the Florida Legislature would have to be much more reluctant to jump into this case now," Felos said. "I think the Florida Supreme Court made it clear that although they (lawmakers) may legislate prospectively for future cases, there is nothing they can do to overturn the result of Mrs. Schiavo's case."
There has been at least one bill filed which if enacted would apply to Terri Schiavo case. Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, has filed a bill that would not allow for the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration unless specifically noted in a living will. The bill would apply in cases currently in the court system, including the Terri Schiavo case.
The Schindlers contention their daughter is not brain-dead was buoyed last week by news from Kansas that a woman left in a coma 20 years ago in a car accident recently began to speak. Sarah Scantlin of Hutchinson, Kan., began to speak after years of only being able to communicate in the simplest ways.
Adding to their hopefulness, Terry said, was new medical research published in the journal Neurology showing brain scans of some severely brain damaged patients prompted a pattern of brain activity similar to that of healthy people.
The two men in the study were in a state doctors called "minimally-conscious," which is a higher level of functioning than being in a persistent vegetative state.
But Felos said neither of those terms pertains to Terri Schiavo, whose brain damage was so profound that she has no cognitive abilities. The sounds and expressions she makes are reflexes, not conscious attempts to communicate, Felos said doctors have ruled.
"There is no Terri inside there thinking, 'Oh, I hear a sound, let me turn and look at it,"' Felos said.
http://upn33.com/localnews/topstoriesmia_story_045171439.html
If there is a hell Felos is from it.
LOL I think that's how all our brains work, don't they?
That's a DESPICABLE LIE and Felos knows it!
We must call and fax to urge the Florida State Legislature to PASS the above bill!