Posted on 02/22/2005 1:00:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
A group of about a dozen students and activists wearing "Save Terri Schiavo" T-shirts stood outside the Reitz Union on the University of Florida campus at noon Monday.
As students hustled past on their way to lunch, the demonstrators asked passersby to sign a petition calling on Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer to step down from the case that has been fought in the courts for nearly eight years.
Schiavo, now 41, suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago. She resides in a Pinellas Park hospice. Her husband, who has testified that his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially, has asked that her feeding tube be removed.
That order could come from the 2nd District Court of Appeal as early as 1 p.m. today.
Schiavo's brother, 40-year-old Bobby Schindler, was in Gainesville for the rally. Schindler argued that a dozen doctors who have voluntarily looked into his sister's case believe that she could be helped, that with intensive therapy, she could be taught to speak and eat on her own again.
"We are trying to educate people as to the facts of this case," Schindler said. "Nobody knows the facts, because they aren't being reported to the public."
Some doctors have ruled that Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery. Others have said she still has some mental capabilities. She left no written directive for her family or her husband to follow.
Brother Paul O'Donnell of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was among the speakers at Monday's rally.
The black-robed Franciscan brother said the eyes of the nation are on Florida, and the decision in the Schiavo case which could come today.
If the court rules that Schiavo's feeding tube must be removed so that she can die, O'Donnell said it would launch "a tsunami of euthanasia."
Schiavo is not in a coma, and she is not brain dead, he insisted.
"She is a disabled, brain-injured woman who uses a plastic tube to eat instead of a knife and fork," O'Donnell said.
"If Florida kills Terri Schiavo, there are hundreds of thousands of residents in nursing homes in this state who need a nurse's aide to feed them, or are dependent upon feeding tubes, who could find themselves in the same position. It would be the start of a tsunami of euthanasia."
The Schiavo case has drawn international attention and rallied right-to-life and religious forces worldwide.
Matthew Irwin heads the student group Gators for Terri, which sponsored the rally. Irwin said he hoped to send a message to Judge Greer, who is a graduate of UF's Levin College of Law, that not everyone supports the position of the court.
"We believe that Terri has the right to live," Irwin said.
I haven't checked into that, but assuming it's true, it still won't make much difference if someone other than the patient can decide to deprive the patient of food and water against their will while they're still alive (by any definition.)
ahh forget it. I can't keep up with all the responses people are posting. For those of you who actually had something constructive and intelligent, I appreciate it. For those of you who simply attacked me for questioning what had seemed to be a very rigid position, you guys have a lot of growing up to do. Barking at anyone who offers dissent won't get you very far.
Liar. Go back to my first post to you, which was polite. You blew it off. After I read several more posts from you, spouting your bigotry against disabled people, I finally had enough. I call 'em as I see 'em. I did not take what you said out of context. It was a direct quote, which you stood by in post after post. If you don't like reading it, don't write it.
Wrong. Most of the doctors say she can almost certainly recover her ability to eat and and improve her speech.
My point was that i think people have been quick to take to this cause, and to take sides without considering that the situation might not be so simple.
Like I said in my first post to you, you're right about that. The problem is, you seem to think that the people who have studied this for years, and the people who know Terri personally, know less than you who just heard the name Terri Schiavo for the first time today.
I feel as though some people, not all, are jumping to a position, on one side or the other, based on their personal ideology, not the specifics of this case.
That's been covered. You choose to ignore what you've been told, and make accusations about people you don't even know.
You alternately admit you don't know about this case, and insist you know all about it. The whole while suggesting that the rest of us don't have a right to form an opinion based on what we've learned, and accusing us of not learning anything. You are arrogant.
When I put up my first post, I was well informed of the case. and actually, i have done quite a bit more research today, and am now even more informed. And I never said that people who have studied it for years or the people who know her know less than I. You made that up. I said many people have jumped to conclusions without having studied the situation all that much.
However, this has nothing to do with you somehow convincing yourself that I am "bigoted against disabled people" or that I AM A NAZI!!!!!!!
Oh, and if someone doesn;t respond to every little post you put up, do you always resort to namecalling?? or just when its someone whom your too close-minded and arrogant to listen to?
oh, and the part about me saying that im "vaguely familiar with the case" isn't true. You made that up.
for the record..
Did you really have that much trouble understanding what I wrote? I told you why I responded to you as I did. It had nothing to do with your rudeness toward me after I had been polite to you. It had to do with your hatred toward disabled people.
You idiot. Was that in italics? No. Did I claim it was a quote? No.
Floridians to call their representatives in support of HB 701, Withdrawing Nutrition and Hydration.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON HB 701,
THE FLORIDA STARVATION AND DEHYDRATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES PREVENTION ACT
QUESTIONS:
1. What can be done now that the Florida Supreme Court has struck down “Terri’s Law” under which Governor Jeb Bush directed that she be given food and fluids?
2. What can be done that the Florida courts won’t strike down?
3. Since the courts in the Schiavo case maintained there was “clear and convincing evidence” that Teresa Schindler-Schiavo would have rejected nutrition and hydration, how would the proposed bill save her life?
4. Does the bill require nutrition and hydration in every instance in which it has not been specifically rejected by the patient?
5. Some legislators say that since the Florida Supreme Court said denying Terri her food and fluids was a “final judgment”, and the legislature can’t overturn a final judgment, nothing can be done.
FRTL also has a petition for download on prevention of starvation and dehydration.
http://www.frtl.org/petition/Starvation&Dehydration.pdf
http://www.frtl.org/
what do you base it on that i hate disabled people??
Your statement that they should be starved and dehydrated to death against their will. If that's not hatred, what is it?
Ohio's post was thoughtful, informative, insightful and persuasive. However, the troll was not changing his tune. If you think I (or anyone else here) prevented him from giving up his bigotry against the disabled, you're mistaken. I did nothing to reinforce his belief that severely disable people should be the victims of genocide.
now that ive picked up on your little trick of falsely attributing ideas to people without quoting them, let me ask,
what did i say that ever gave you the impression that i want to starve and dehydrate disabled people???????????????????????????
I don't know if you read my posts or not, but I never ever said that I support removing the feeding tube from Terri. I questioned your arguments, either correctly or incoorectly, and then you immediately assumed that i want to murder her.
He has shown *nothing* close to being bigoted to the disabled or being a Nazi, or being closed-minded to Terri's particular situation.
You do this same routine to people all the time - last night it was Hairofthedog, a few weeks ago it was me! LOL
Same accusations... same putting words in their mouth...
It's just wrong, Bayb.
You aren't the only one. I just *really* hate to see it. And I know other Terri supporters do too. Just wish they'd speak up in public.
It's no trick. Read what you wrote in post #32. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1348825/posts?page=32#32
...and read Regulator's reply. Obviously I'm not the only one who understood what you said. You seem to be the only one who doesn't.
Just go to another thread, or I'll e-mail you some links. Just don't get sucked in - you're too new.
I'm off to bed.
Then maybe you need to read up the Nazi T-4 euthanasia program. What jonlane was espousing (killing off people against their wishes using no other criteria than their degree of disability) is exactly the same criteria used by the T-4 program. The only difference is that the Nazis didn't always torture their victims to death. Sometimes they gave them lethal injection.
So 75% of the people who had been diagnosed as vegetative were found to be rehabilitable? Is Terri being slaughtered for a diagnosis that's 25% accurate!?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.