| The federal judge who refused to reverse the Florida court was certainly true to the law.
Terri Schiavo may well die because the Schindlers' attorney is incompetent. |
Posted on 03/22/2005 9:45:11 PM PST by Former Military Chick
If I were in Terri Schiavo's condition, I would not want a feeding tube. But Schiavo does not have the means to make her intentions known. We do not know what she would have wanted. We have nothing to go on. No living will, no advance directives, no durable power of attorney.
What do you do when you have nothing to go on? You try to intuit her will, using loved ones as surrogates.
In this case, the loved ones disagree. The husband wants Terri to die; the parents do not. The Florida court gave the surrogacy to her husband, under the generally useful rule that your spouse is the most reliable diviner of your wishes: You pick your spouse and not your parents, and you have spent most of your recent years with your spouse and not your parents.
The problem is that although your spouse probably knows you best, there is no guarantee that he will not confuse his wishes with yours. Terri's spouse presents complications. He has a girlfriend, and has two kids with her. He clearly wants to marry again. And a living Terri stands in the way.
Now, all of this may be irrelevant in his mind. He may actually be acting entirely based on his understanding of his wife's wishes. And as she left nothing behind, the courts have been forced to conclude, on the basis of his testimony, that she would prefer to be dead.
That is why this is a terrible case. The general rule of spousal supremacy leads you here to a thoroughly repulsive conclusion. Repulsive because in a case where there is no consensus among the loved ones, one's natural human sympathies suggest giving custody to the party committed to her staying alive and pledging to carry the burden themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
We are seeing slow-motion tyranny, where the wheels of government justice grind so slowly to produce a lawful result that is the opposite of justice.
One of the few times I disagree with him. Separation of Powers is important, and as a conservative I value it highly, but the life of a helpless woman supersedes this,or at least it ought to.
Yes. Psychiatrists do have MD's.
Well, we aren't euthanizing them yet. The Nazi doctors initially began their work on the 'Final Solution' by moving the mentally afflicted out of institutions and into group homes.
From Robert Jay Lifton's book, The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide
Wouldn't the simplest way to determine Terri's true wishes be to offer her food orally. If she makes an attempt to accept the food that would certainly be an indication that she doesn't wish to starve, would it not?
;<)
Can someone please explain this to me? Why is it that the husband is considered the sole guardian in this matter? The parents here want to take custody of their child. Why arent they allowed by the court to do so?
First you would have to negate Greers court order.
I can not understand why, when he evidently decided to "get on with his life" he didn't get a divorce and then she would have gone back to her parents care. Just dose not make sense to me.
I despise liberals for wishing death on an invalid. I think they lost millions of votes with this stand against Terri with handicapped people.
Thank You! I like Krauthammer, I will check it out.
Excellent.
He is also "pro-choice". I like the guy and find him insightful. Just hope someone in a black robe doesn't make the choice that life in a wheelchair isn't what he would want.
He is also "pro-choice". I like the guy and find him insightful. Just hope someone in a black robe doesn't make the choice that life in a wheelchair isn't what he would want.
This whole issue stems from one thing. The intention of some to separate GOD and COUNTRY.
The problem is not marriage, I know plenty of folks who are committed for life. The problem really isn't the courts. Contrary to what many might believe, most are constrained by the limits of the law. The problem is with us. Laws were not in place to help folks like Terri. Meanwhile, conservatives keep looking to the feds and Congress for help. That's absurd. State legislatures are best suited to address the problem. They need to be deluged with people demanding that the laws concerning guardianship and end of life decision-making be reworked.
| The federal judge who refused to reverse the Florida court was certainly true to the law.
Terri Schiavo may well die because the Schindlers' attorney is incompetent. |
Time was of the essence here. Do you realize how long it would take to plan, schedule and conduct a trial? Beside, Congress did not give the Schindlers the right to a new trial. They received the right to a federal appeal. That appeal would be allowed to consider all of the evidence presented at trial in order to make its decision.
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But see, the federal judge was not supposed to be asked to review the Florida case. Congress had given the Schindlers an opportunity for a completely new trial on the facts. But their bone-headed attorney filed what amounted to an appeal, citing alleged errors by Greer as the basis of his arguments. He left the federal judge with no choice. He made the one plea that was guaranteed to lose.