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Posted on 02/28/2005 7:08:08 AM PST by floriduh voter
Terri's Freepers,
Judge George Greer denied Terri's parents' Motion for a Stay to protect their daughter's life while there are still pending issues in this LIFE AND DEATH MATTER. In addition the Department of Children and Family Services made a surprise visit to the court hearing the other day and asked Judge Greer if they could approach the bench. Judge Greer denied DCF the opportunity to speak. DCF asked for 60 days to conduct a complete investigation of allegations that have surfaced in the form of a Complaint to their agency.
What was set in motion instead? On Friday, February 25th, Judge Greer REFUSED TO issue another Stay because he was "not comfortable" issuing a say to protect a Ward of the State but instead "set a date certain" (on his calendar at least, not on mine) to BEGIN THE BARBARIC, ANTI-AMERICAN, STARVATION-DEHYDRATION SLOW MURDER OF TERRI.
Attorney Gibbs for Terri's parents held a press conference after J. Greer's order that was so tastefully written to indicate that "he was giving the Schindlers until March 18th so they could "prepare for Last Rites." Attorneys Gibbs called this ruling and prior rulings "Hitler-resque". Indeed.
If Judge Greer wasn't LEGALIZING EUTHANASIA in his courtroom, why any need for Last Rites? Greer's urgency to fulfill this killing places urgency on every one of us to lobby Governor Bush, Florida's House and Florida's Senate.
A Judge in America is ordering the manner of someone's death, a disabled woman who is healthy but needs rehabilitation.
Time is short so we don't really have time to get into Greer's mind to see why he is Florida's Til of the Hun.
What can we do?
1. LOBBY TO SAVE TERRI
2. HELP BUMP THIS THREAD.
3. POST ARTICLES YOU SEE ABOUT TERRI.
4. VISIT PINELLAS COUNTY FLORIDA AND VIGIL WITH US AT HOSPICE WOODSIDE.
5. VISIT TALLAHASSEE AND LOBBY IN THE HALLS OF THE LEGISLATURE.
6. HOLD A DEMONSTRATION AT THE GOVERNOR'S MANSION.
7. Join the Message Board that freepers started at the Crystal Cathedral/Hour of Power. TELL YOUR CHURCH ABOUT TERRI.
8. Tell your friends that Terri is alert and aware of her surroundings and to visit www.terrisfight.org to see her videos.
9. PETITIONS. We will gather current Petitions here for you. At this time, you can sign a SAVE TERRI PETITION AT www.renewamerica.us. THERE ARE ALSO IMPEACH GREER PETITIONS ABOUT.
Finally, the Pope has no Living Will. He will be SAFE as long as he stays away from George Greer's courtroom. The Pope is in our thoughts and prayers and he knows of Terri. He wants Terri to be freed from oppression and from a painless death by starvation-dehyration.
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO EVERY DAY, THE PAY ISN'T VERY GOOD BUT THE FRINGE BENEFITS ARE THE GREATEST. You are Great Americans and liberty is Terri's and freedom from oppression. Freepers, that is the big payoff if we continue our daunting task.
Terri's family is grateful to you and all of your prayers are being heard by the Giver of Life.
This is Terri's Fight and the battle is enjoined. JOIN US TO SAVE TERRI FROM FORCES THAT HAVE BUT ONE GOAL THAT IS AGAINST EVERYTHING AMERICAN.
GUIDELINES: If you want to start frivolous discussions, please start your own thread in chat.
If you like something from www.theempirejournal.com, please do not post the entire article at Free Republic. Unless I hear otherwise, I believe that we are allowed to post the title and link. TEJ is a great team member of Terri's network. Thanks, TEJ for making a difference and for getting the truth out there.
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR CONTACT INFO, IT IS ON THE WAY. Thanks, floriduh voter
I so love it when you are on the board, which is .... pretty often.
i HOPE c-sPAN IS GOING TO COVER THE u.s. cOMMITTEE MEETINGS
OF WHICH i HAVE SOME news.
Just got off the phone with my source in The House Judiciary Committee, he says that every Republican is going to support the bill in Committee and the Republicans are in the Majority. He was extremly sure of himself that they have every Republican Vote.
I called my Senators FeinGOLD and Kohl, and they still do not have a position...
I have called every day starting last week so I will call them again tomorrow.
Then what the hell do you call what Greer admitted in to court evidence as fact about those five teeth last May, 2004? I saw the note Bushnell sent to the Schindlers to let them know that Terri had to have five teeth extracted. Are you saying Bushnell, one of Michael's attorney's, made up the whole thing about the teeth, and then a dentist testified in court in May that it was caused because of neglect? That was all made up? Get real!
House Bill 701 has passed through the House Judiciary Committee and goes to the Health and Families Counsel tomorrow morning at 9.30 am.
Today's vote was 9-2.
Awesome!!!
http://www.abcactionnews.com/stories/2005/03/050314schiavo.shtml
I envision bushnell going to mary labyak's office...discussing the medicaid fraud they are perpetuating, discussing the fact that the document that admitted terri there in the first place is now in the PUBLIC arena and AVAILABLE for PUBLICATION! (thanks to TheEmpireJournal.com !) I can see her braying to mary about the FRAUDULENT admission papers, MISSING A DOCTORS SIGNATURE, which, deemed by law, must be in place stating the patient is indeed terminal with anticipated SIX MONTHS to live or less. I see this mini hellhound FURIOUS that this document is now published....and I can see this lapdog for felos and his vampirish "HEMLOCK SOCIETY", SCIENTOLOGY BUFF, as it were, and mary, also a member of a society that merged with the formal 'Euthanasia group' BOTH sweating manly sweat as they ponder what horror they can lay upon Terri to end this corruption that is now spiraling out of control and cracking under the light of truth.
Think I will pray again for Terri. She needs mighty protection.
These women are part of a scam that is driven to murder Terri lest their own abuse and treatment of Terri come to light.
May Terri be monitored carefully, lest one of these death mongers approach her....it is bad enough that this vile attorney can go into Terri's room, and speak to her, with words that probably match the horrors michael lays upon terri when they are alone.
You BET that is awesome.
I am a little Fuzzy but after the vote on Wednesday I think he said that it would get a full House Vote on Friday.
Talk about cutting it close....
We're all praying for miracles.....and for Terri's protection....may God continue to show us wonderous, amazing things!
The Unted States House of Representatives Judicial Committee Meeting is 2pm on Wednesday.
I am so sorry I missed this!!! My link just wouldn't work!!.......will there be live feed tomorrow of the Health committee??
I just got up from a nap..
Is there a link to the story of the passage??
Pollywog, you and Pegita cover your ears.
I HOPE that that Son of a B*tch George Greer took note of what is happening in Clearwater and in Talahassee.
May he rot in Hell
(And I know I am supposed to pray for him but ladies it's kind of hard today, perhaps tomorrow)
Amen
It is the duty of the state to protect all of us, but especially the weakest among us.
So you noticed that the DEAD ADVOCATES actually look DEAD. Talk about being immersed in a cause.
Amen.
The kiss of death
Monday, March 14, 2005
By Melania Zaharopoulos
Photo by: Chris Riley/Staff Photographer
The case of Terri Schiavo, a woman who fell into a vegetative state 15 years ago, has polarized the state of Florida and drawn the attention of a nation to the topic of death.
The questions raised by the case cast in sharp relief the questions medical ethicists have asked themselves for years. What is the meaning of death? Who holds the right to decide its time, place and means? Can the desire to lapse into eternal stillness be healthy? And can the same hands that heal be entrusted to kill as well?
In the United States, as in many of the world’s developed nations, the notion of death is technical.
Here the standard is brain death, when all electrical activity in the brain, the most vital sign of life, ceases. The body itself may be kept alive via artificial means, but the person who once inhabited it is deemed to be gone.
If that person is young enough and the family is willing, these beating-heart cadavers may become organ donors before the plug is inevitably pulled, writes Mary Roach, author of “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers.”
But brain activity may not stop completely. When the body experiences severe trauma, such as that suffered through stroke, head injury, hemorrhage or infections like meningitis or encephalitis, the brain may continue to record a minor level of activity, and the heart and lungs may continue to function normally.
In the short term, this state is called a coma or, as days progress into weeks, a persistent vegetative state. And with each week, the chances of the person laying motionless in a hospital bed waking to experience a normal life again dwindle.
“We usually give them a month,” said Dr. Anthony Vitto, a Gilroy-based neurologist. “At that point, not too many come out of it, or they don’t come back normal, put it that way. People can be in comas for years, and those are the kind of people who can occasionally, miraculously wake up one day, but they’re sort of mythical, anecdotal kinds of cases. Most people who are kept alive this way die within a year.”
Though loved ones know that their relatives may never wake up, the decision of whether to pull the plug, to euthanize another human being, is heart-wrenching. If the unconscious party leaves no instructions, the spouse or family is left to make the decision.
In most cases this decision is made amicably, but in the Schiavo debacle, the families have met with disagreement.
Michael Schiavo wants his wife’s feeding tube and water source removed, while her parents have asked for life-sustaining measures to remain in place, charging that Michael has abused and neglected Terri, who fell into the state when a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder stopped her heart.
The court battle over the case has raged for seven years, with last-minute interventions prolonging Terri’s life on more than one occasion.
But this time her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, may be on the losing end of the fight.
On Thursday, Circuit Judge George W. Greer blocked an attempt by the Florida Department of Children & Families to stall the March 18 removal of Terri’s tube, denying their request to investigate claims of abuse lodged against Michael by the Schindlers.
The claims had already been investigated on numerous occasions and been found false, the judge said.
Still, doctors and ethicists debate the notion of active euthanasia. Euthanasia differs from assisted suicide, in which a patient who is lucid and competent, but deemed to be within the last six months of his or her life and suffering from intractable pain, requests the administration of death rather than a drawn-out, painful end.
With euthanasia, the decision to end a patient’s life is made by an secondary party, usually a spouse or family member. Active euthanasia, which is what Michael Schiavo requests for his wife, consists of removing life-saving means, such as tubes that provide vegetative patients with food, water or air.
“There’s something just not agreeable about starving someone to death,” said Vitto, who noted that most physicians and families prefer the practice of passive euthanasia, whereby a secondary infection such as pneumonia or sepsis is allowed to go untreated so that the person may finally die. “That’s either in the living will or it’s just agreed upon by the family.”
According to Rita Manning, chair of the philosophy department at San Jose State University and a professor of medical ethics, “I think the official position of the American Medical Association is still probably opposition, but I think sort of privately, one of the things physicians will tell you is that, as a matter of fact, this is a practice that goes on all the time.”
Though some may consider it a crass effort at reason, economics can play a role in this decision as well.
In the event of a major head injury or other brain-related health issue that would place a patient in a coma, those who have insurance will be covered, but only up to a point, said Dave Fluker, an independent insurance agent in Gilroy.
“If you have an HMO plan, technically it’s unlimited coverage, but on the side, I think it’s well-known that HMOs will find a way to limit that,” said Fluker. “They can’t kill you off literally, but in reality, an HMO is not going to spend $30 or $40 million to give you the best and most advanced care available. If you just keep lingering and lingering, they’ll just keep you in the most basic state.”
PPO’s, which generally offer more open access to coverage up front, are written with lifetime spending caps, often topping out at $5 million to $6 million in care. Once that amount is reached, the insurance policy is canceled, said Fluker.
If the person on life support is insured, this extra cushion of time can allow the family to consult with an attorney, restructuring their assets so that a vegetative loved one can be cared for through MediCal, which imposes limits on income and assets for those who wish to qualify, said Fluker.
Families themselves can choose to pay for their loved ones’ care, but the costs mount quickly. The average cost of long-term care in the Gilroy area is $140 per day, according to Fluker.
Low for California averages, the costs still mount. Nursing home care doesn’t take weekends or holidays, vacations or sabbaticals.
Sum total, that $140 dollars per day adds up to more than $51,000 per year, and if a family member should cling to life in a vegetative state for long, the entire family could be placed in serious financial jeopardy.
In more expensive areas, the costs can rocket to more $85,000 for a mid-range facility, said Sandy Rose, owner of Sandy Rose Insurance Services in Hollister.
Long-term care insurance is not a common item for many people to purchase, but is recommended for those who face family histories of longevity or incapacitating illness.
Ranging in span from two years of coverage to unlimited lifetime support, the policies can be expensive, but ensure peace of mind for buyers.
“Someone in a coma could be put into a skilled nursing facility,” said Fluker. “MediCal does cover that. The only downside is, with a private policy, a family has a choice of where they want to go. If the policy covers up to $140 per day for two or three years and the facility near them costs $175 per day, they can choose to pay the difference.
“With MediCal, it’s predicated on where the state says they have an open bed. That way, it’s feasible that a family in Gilroy could end up with a loved one at a nursing home in Bakersfield.”
The best way to avoid confusion and fighting among family members over the terms of your end-of-life care, said experts, is to author a living will.
Describe for family members the life-saving steps, if any, you would like to have taken in the event of an emergency, the means in which you would like to be treated should you become incapacitated at some point and consult an insurance agent specializing in long-term care coverage about policy costs if you believe you will need such coverage in the long run.
For a 40-year-old person in good health, a two-year coverage plan with a benefit of up to $150 per day would result in a monthly fee of around $60, said Fluker. Unlimited care at the same benefit rate would cost a much higher $160 to $170 per month.
“Any insurance is kind of a gamble,” said Fluker. “You hope you don’t ever have to use it, but it can be reassuring to know it’s there.”
Melania Zaharopoulos is a writer for the Lifestyles section. She can be reached at melaniaz@svnewspapers.com.
Good to laugh, feels great! ( And I can tell you're feeling better....you have got your 'bad' sense of humor back!)
Now the Bill will go before the House of Rep. Health and Families Council at 9:30 am tomorrow and if it passes like it did today, then it will go before the Florida House of Representatives for a vote. Then it will go to the Florida State Senate for their OK... ! It is NOT over yet, they still have a loooong way to go, please know this. This is not the time to sit and wait, so ACT. YOU MUST CONTINUE TO CONTACT THE FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS (All Florida State Legislators) NOW!!! And PRAY We MUST keep the EMAILS, FAXES and CALLS GOING!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!!
Health & Families Council
Location: 200 House Office Building * 402 South Monroe Street * Tallahassee,FL 32399-1300 Contact: (850) 414-5600
Next Meeting: March 15, 2005 9:30 AM View Notice
Representatives:
Benson, Anna Holliday (R) Chair http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4187
Homan, Ed (R) Vice Chair http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4275
Bean, Aaron (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4192
Bendross-Mindingall, Dorothy (D) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4227
Brandenburg, Mary (D) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4281
Galvano, Bill (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4278
Garcia, Rene (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4239
Gibson, Hugh (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4240
Harrell, Gayle (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4211
Robaina, Julio (R) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4287
Sobel, Eleanor (D) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4142
Vana, Shelley (D) http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/representative_detail.aspx?id=4279
Florida House of Representatives re: HB701
850-488-6026 and 850-488-5000
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/legislators.aspx
Senate re: SB 2128
Senate President Tom Lee
1-800-560-4403
Florida Senate
1-800-342-1827
To get the names of the senators:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index.cfm?Mode=Member%20Pages &Submenu=1&Tab=legislators
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