No DCF intervention in Schiavo case
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/10/Tampabay/No_DCF_intervention_i.shtml
Published March 10, 2005
CLEARWATER - A Pinellas-Pasco judge today refused to allow the Department of Children and Families to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case.
The decision by Circuit Judge George Greer also means the judge won't consider DCF's request for a 60-day stay of his order that Schiavo's feeding tube can be removed at 1 p.m. on March 18.
The agency had said it received abuse and neglect complaints about Schiavo that it needed time to investigate.
But in his order, Greer said all of the allegations have previously been brought before the court. Greer ruled that no law gave DCF the authority to become a party to a guardianship.
Greer also noted that DCF has received numerous abuse complaints about Schiavo in previous years and determined them to be unfounded.
Greer wrote in his order, "What is particularly unsettling is that when asked whether DCF believed that part of its mandated duty was to review orders of this court, the answer from DCF counsel was "yes.' "
The judge said DCF's action appeared intended to circumvent the final judgment of the court that Schiavo would not want to live by artificial means. She collapsed 15 years ago after suffering cardiac arrest related to a chemical imbalance in her body.
Her husband, Michael Schiavo, seeks to have the feeding tube removed while her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, have waged a long court fight to stop him, saying their daughter is not in a persistent vegetative state.
This is untrue. Protection of those who can't protect themselves is the very reason DCF was created.
Greer wrote in his order, "What is particularly unsettling is that when asked whether DCF believed that part of its mandated duty was to review orders of this court, the answer from DCF counsel was "yes.' "
Oh boy! Here we go! PRAY!