Posted on 02/23/2005 11:53:22 PM PST by amdgmary
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.
It was a cartoon about the Florida bishops refusal to help Terri since she is Catholic. The cartoon is on Terri's website. http://www.terrisfight.org/images/bishops.jpg
Do you need articles on the bishops? There were many written in Oct 2003.
IMO, they've got an even bigger gravy train than HINO's settlement that is hitched to their success in ending Terri's life.
No debate on that one. He's stated that one would not want to live in such a condition. There must be transcripts. ;)
I was just listening on WLS to the lawyer representing Terri's parents. A doctor who's specialty in treating patients even in worse condition then Terri's called up and offered to work with the family. She believes that Terri has a good chance for some sort of recovery. She had been trying to reach the family and now she has. God works his miracles every day. I pray that we can see this miracle for Terri.
Looks like Mikey and Felos plan is unraveling. That's great news.
No, its not that the gravy train is coming to an end, he already knows this...
it's that he may have to give the gravy back since Schiavo ripped it off of Terri's rehab money, and if HINO gets a criminal charge, there is a ton of complicity on the part of sicko lawyer to line up with him.
bttt
Great post!
Forgive me for throwing cold water on what is really a very good development, but what if the following scenario unfolds:
Greer faxes in his decision on Friday, shortly before 5 PM, dismissing the petition due to "irrelevance", or some such excuse, then disappears for the weekend, or decides to use some vacation time. Michael proceeds to remove the feeding tube at 5 PM, when Greer's stay expires.
My question is this: Is Governor Bush prepared for this possibility?
Greer refused to let the DCF attorney speak on Wednesday, and merely took the petition and left it in his office. Is he actually going to have somebody read the petition to him?
He can't read it, since he is legally blind!
This is a very good point.
Has only else thought about this?
You've got to read this article if you haven't yet. FYI we can only post url & title for articles from TEJ.
from your post:
Regarding Felos 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. Felos has a vested interest in having Terri killed by dehydration and this definitely "reeks of the intervention of politics"
Outstanding summary of the role of Felos and his overarching plan to have Terri killed, and many others like her, as a result of this precedent setting case.
Thanks for turning a laser-like eye on the real evil at the heart of this case.
What I find of most importance to the public awareness is the following statement:
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.
Wrong. They absolutely do not want ANY PUBLIC ATTENTION.
Especially after she is dead, if it comes to that.
There is an order of cremation , specified by Michael, against the wishes of her parents, and against HER RELIGION.
It is possible Michael has a hidden insurance policy on Terri (Michael's live-in girlfriend owns her own insurance company).
But that isn't the big payoff. The big payoff is the ORGAN HARVEST.
And the judge needs a new set of EYEBALLS. Terri is ideal because she is not that old, not like the rest of the people in the Hospice.
The 'interest' is in being able to terminate young healthy people to harvest their very valuable organs.
They can harvest and sell Terri's organs, and cremate her remains, and no one will be able to prove they did it. (illegal organ sales always have a much higher profit potential than legal sales).
BECAUSE, this is the USA, and in this country, POLITICIANS are elected by and are supposed to REACT TO THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. When Thousands and thousands of people contact the Governor of the state and demand he put a stop to MURDER BY ORDER OF JUDGE, then it is because the 'politicians' are following the 'will of the people'.
The thing that 'reeks' in this case is not the intervention of the Governor nor DCF, it is the actions of this JUDGE, and this LAWYER, and MICHAEL.
Gee, Michael, I hope promising Judge Greer he could have Terri's CORNEAS before you cremate her earn you one of the FAVORED SEATS IN HELL.
I didn't realize that there is even a provision that if Terri Schiavo dies, no autopsy is to be performed. I've never heard of anything like that. Michael sure is afraid of something. This is a huge red flag.
I hope that shyster lawyer and the criminal he is representing are both found out and go to prison. Be nice if Greer went along, too. They all deserve worse than prison, but I guess we'll have to let God take care of that.
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