A guardian ad litem, Richard Pearse.
Basically, the idea is that a guardian ad litem will oppose anything that a guardian wants to do that might conceivably go against the interests of the ward; the guardian must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his actions are in fact in the ward's best interest.
Unfortunately, guardians ad litem tend to harass good guardians (imposing considerable time and legal expense) while not acting as a terribly-effective check on bad ones. The difficulty is that while guardians ad litem are allowed access to a ward's private files, they are extremely limitted in their ability to interact with other people who might have interests related to the ward.
There are reasons for this; without such restrictions, there would be very little protection for a ward's privacy. Unfortunately, the restrictions put a barrier between those with the authority to look for 'fishiness', and those who would know what to look for.
Of course, since Judge Greer allowed Michael to unlawfully fire Terri's guardian ad litem because he was getting too nosy of his own initiative, that makes the guardian ad litem even less of a check on lawbreaking in this case.
On Tuesday, February 22, 2005, the Courts have decided that Terri's feeding tube be removed for the THIRD time.
If you don't have time to call all of the numbers, at least call one number.
For any "newbees" to this thread, here are the numbers to call. Ask them to save Terri Schiavo.
jeb.bush@myflorida.com
Gov. Jeb Bush 850-488-4441
Governor's Legislative Affairs Office: 1-850-488-5000
FL Legislature Senate President Tom Lee: 1-850-487-5072
FL Legislature Speaker fo the House Allen Bense: 1-850-488-1450
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Tell Attorney General Charlie Crist to stop the double standards and don't let an innocent woman who WANTS TO LIVE die.
PHONE 850-414-3300
FAX 850-410-1630
Is there a surrogate for Terri?
As for the statutes: 765.103 Existing directives.--Any advance directive made prior to October 1, 1999, shall be given effect as executed, provided such directive was legally effective when written.
Oral directives are also mentioned in another section.
Have Michael, his brother and sister-in-law indicated what prompted Terri to say, "Don't let me live like that - on tubes"? Was it a particular case in the news, a movie or t.v. program?