DCF Enters Schiavo Case

CLEARWATER - Terri Schiavo will continue to receive nourishment at least until Friday afternoon while a judge ponders the latest requests to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Children & Families has suddenly asked to intervene in the seven-year-old legal dispute over whether Schiavo would want to be kept alive after 15 years in what most doctors say is a persistent vegetative state.

A DCF attorney filed a "petition for intervention" minutes before Circuit Judge George Greer took the bench Wednesday to hear Bob and Mary Schindler's request that he hold off on allowing the removal of their daughter's life- sustaining feeding tube.

DCF attorney Kelly Jo McKibben asked Greer to seal her petition. Greer declined to hear the request but subsequently kept the document in his chambers and it was unavailable for review.

Afterward, McKibben declined to reveal the grounds for DCF's involvement in the case.

The lawyer leading the battle to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube said the agency's sudden interest at such a late stage in the case "reeks of the intervention of politics."

"It's no secret that the politicians were saying yesterday in Tallahassee that if there was anything they could think of [to keep Terri Schiavo alive] they would," said George Felos, who represents Michael Schiavo in his quest to remove his wife's feeding tube.

"The DCF is part of the executive branch and Jeb Bush heads the executive branch," Felos said.

Michael Schiavo has cooperated with the DCF during past investigations, Felos said.

"There have been an endless series of complaints made to the DCF over the past six years and all were unfounded. ... I can't think of a logical reason why the DCF would take action now" absent political pressure, he said.

The DCF's move came just hours after Gov. Bush said he was looking for a way to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

Bush said at news conference earlier in the day he would do anything "within the laws of the state" to help the Schindlers keep their daughter alive.

The Gulfport couple say their daughter reacts to them and could improve with therapy. They dispute their son-in- law's contention that Terri Schiavo made statements before her illness indicating she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means with no hope of improvement.

Terri Schiavo, 41, suffered a still-unexplained heart failure that cut off oxygen to her brain in 1990 at age 26. After a 2000 nonjury trial, Greer ruled that testimony from Michael Schiavo and his relatives showed Terri Schiavo would not want to be kept alive.

"I will do what I can. But there are limits to what anyone, irrespective of their title, at any time can do," the governor said of his desire to help the Schindlers.

In October 2003, Bush ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted six days after her husband had it removed on court orders. The hastily crafted measure Bush relied on to intervene, dubbed Terri's Law, was struck down as unconstitutional.

Schindler attorney David Gibbs said the DCF will need time to investigate what he characterized as ``medical, physical and legal neglect."

The Schindlers' goal at Wednesday's hearing was to get more time to fight for their daughter's life, and Gibbs called the DCF intervention ``another in a series of miracles'' that have kept her alive.

The judge granted the Schindlers an additional 48- hour stay while he considers their latest requests for time to appeal earlier rulings, seek additional medical testing and contest Michael Schiavo's fitness as their daughter's legal guardian.

"We are really elated," Bob Schindler said. "Forty-eight hours to us right now seems like six years."

DCF Chief of Staff Bill Spann, reached in Tallahassee, said the agency is required by state law to investigate any allegations of abuse or neglect of elders, disabled and other vulnerable adults.

The law also prohibits the DCF from disclosing abuse allegations or other information about specific cases, he said.

If an allegation is made by an individual who has credible knowledge of abuse or neglect, the state launches an adult protective investigation, Spann said. If the allegations are found to be credible, the DCF determines what actions are necessary.

>>Attorney George Felos is pouting because the Florida Dept of Children and Family wants to investigate Michael Schiavo.

Fine, I'd settle for a grand jury of citizens, and if Michael has broken even ONE guardianship statute, he loses his death grip on Terri and his new guardian gets to apply for divorce on her behalf whether he likes it or not.

Oh and THANK YOU ALL for referring to Jodi Centonze as Michael's 'fiancee', which Michael testified under oath that she is. (or also use another term that fits: his new "common-law-wife" )

Excerpts from last weekend's "The World Over Live" - Interview with Bob Schindler...

Arroyo: "Did you see black and blue marks on Terri? I've read that in several reports."
Schindler: "Yes, prior to her incident, yes."
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Bob S: "A radiologist says that she had broken bones throughout her body,
and he kind of pinpointed to that timeframe in which she had the incident,
and either she was beaten up badly, or hit by a truck. We saw her
the night before she collapsed, and she was fine."
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Arroyo: "Now once Terri was in this condition, there- I read elsewhere where he
attacked- Michael may have attacked your daughter Suzanne. Is that correct?"
Bob S: "He had a tendency to become very violent, yes, and he tried to attack
my daughter Suzanne. We had to really step in and protect her, and she used
to go to bed at night and lock her doors and keep a hammer under her bed. That
she was that frightened."
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Arroyo: Jackie from Washington, you're on The World Over Live, what's your question Jackie?

Jackie: I want to know if anybody has considered having a criminal investigation
of her husband. It seems to me that, if for no other reason, because she was
bruised, and other things that happened? The current wife is in danger, if
this man is bent on this type of thing.

Arroyo: There is also a girlfriend who accused him of stalking in 2001,
correct? either David [Gibbs] or mister Schindler?

Bob.S: Yea, I can answer that... He was... Mr.Gibbs mentioned about this malpractice suit
when Michael Schiavo was asking, actually for 20 million dollars, and recited
his wedding vows to the malpractice jury, and at the same time, he was having
an intimate affair with this girl, her name is Cindy, who surfaced later
and that said Michael Schiavo was stalking her, actually had run her off the
road with her car. And she was afraid to testify in the courts for fear that,
she had since been married, that he would kill her children, quote unquote.

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Here's more information.

And see Post34-Michaels testimony to the court that awarded him the original settlement so he could "take care of Terri for the rest of my life" .

This was before he "remembered" 7 years later that Terri "said" she wanted to be euthanized, that the subject came up because they watched a TV show, but he can't remember the name of the TV show, but she "said" she wanted to be starved and dehydrated to death if she became disabled?

Oh, and I guess she must have also "said" to MS that she didn't want her parents and brother and sister to be able to visit her, that she wanted to be kept in a stark room deprived of stimulation, that she didn't want her infections treated, that she wanted painful contractures from no range of motion exercises being done, that she wanted her teeth to rot because they weren't brushed (MS is a trained nurse-he knows these things are supposed to be done), and that when her tube was removed the last time, and she was "in the dying process" that she wanted police blocking the door to her room so that her priest couldn't give her Last Rites Communion- Tell me again the reason for this - that she might choke? or was it that she might prove she can swallow? Why was MS so adamant that Terri not have stimulation in her room and denied her parents visits? Isn't she "brain dead"? Doesn't the very fact that he went to all the trouble to keep her in a "stimulation free" enviroment, and deny her parents visits, and no photo's or video can be taken of her, no reporters can visit her, doesn't that show his intentions for her are not honorable. What is he trying to hide from the public? Why can't Terri be present in the court room? Again- What was the excuse for no therapy after he swore in court that he'd care for her-Why? Ask yourselves these questions.

Regarding Felo's and his "reeks of of the intervention of politics" - Isn't he behind the Florida law that changed the status of a feeding tube to "life support" and therefore something that could be halted like a vent? Was he at one time the chairman of the board of the hospice Terri is in? Isn't he a prominent euthanasia activist? Is he writing a book about this case? Yet he is supposedly representing the man who is Terri's "guardian" - Guardian of what? -certainly not Terri's life. Felo's has a vested interest in having Terri killed by dehydration and this definitely "reeks of the intervention of politics"

It can be clearly shown in previous posts her on FR that MS has repeatedly violated his duties as a guardian. I can only hope and pray that those in authority will open their eyes and ears and finally acknowledge the obvious truth of this case and return Terri to the loving care of her parents..

Here is an account Post 258-a visit with Terri ,for those who say she's brain dead. Read it and tell me how you could put the parents through what MS has put them through and intends to put them through? Not to mention the horrible death he wants to inflict on Terri.

The brain and its function are something the "experts" know least about. Go Here and read about the latest discovery about response in brain dmaged patients. Maybe we should be exercise care before we write someone off as "brain dead".

Are we sure we want to embrace starving the sick and disabled to death? It is a terrible way to die-
HERE is an account of children who were starved and dehydrated for only 3 days.

Do we want to go down this path?
For those who claim to be Christian/religious the Bible says we are to "care for the sick", not kill the sick.

I believe this case is critical. It's about so much more than Terri and her family (My heart and prayers go out to them).

This is about weather a court can order someone executed by means of starvation/dehydration without the persons wishes clearly stated in writing.( and this method of death WILL KILL anyone-even a 100% healthy athlete, if deliberately starved and dehydrated will die.)

Can a guardian get a court to order the death of a disabled ward who is unable to communicate, merely by saying to the judge- he/she "told me" they don't want to live? What if the disabled person is a ward of the state, can the judge deem them "unworthy of life"?

As a final note, I would caution those of you who have made up your minds about what you would and would not want done for you, in the event you become disabled, to think very carefully about it. Make sure you are fully informed. Did any of you watch "War Stories" with Ollie North this past weekend? It was about disabled veterans. Almost all of them said, when they first became aware of their disability that they wanted to die. This is a common reaction . Then they said it was replaced with an even stronger will to live which carried them through.

For those who say you "know you wouldn't want to live like that" I say you can't really know what you'd want.

One thing is clear- Terri has demonstrated an incredible will to live, let's hope that she can finally be returned to the loving home of her parents.

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The Florida Bishops Turn their Backs on Terri