Please don't feel bad. So many of us are just so overwrought and desperately needing to hear some good news. Tempers seem to be running short these days. It's not your fault if the news media can't get their facts straight.
State could rescue Terri
despite judge's denial
Florida Department of Children and Families says law permits action without judicial OK
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43458
from World Net Daily
Florida's DCF indicated it might remove the brain-injured woman, by force if necessary, from the hospice where she has lived the past five years.
Department secretary Lucy Hadi told the Palm Beach Post her staff is relying on a state law giving authority to intervene on behalf of a vulnerable adult "suffering from abuse or neglect that presents a risk of death or serious physical injury."
Hadi said DCF must file a petition to remove Terri Schiavo from the Pinellas Park, Fla., hospice but could take action without judicial approval if the department believes it's warranted.
The law says emergency medical treatment can be given to the vulnerable adult as long as "such treatment does not violate a known health care advance directive prepared by the vulnerable adult."
The court history would not prevent DCF from taking action, however, according to Hadi.
"We're not compelled to look at prior judicial proceedings," Hadi told the Post. "What we're compelled to look at is the presenting circumstance and any allegation of abuse and neglect that we've received. So we have to deal with those and fulfill our statutory responsibility, notwithstanding anything else that may have gone on before."
She insisted the court decisions upholding Michael Schiavo are questionable.
"There's nothing about this case that has been clear-cut, except our concern," Hadi said. "We're doing everything we can to be of assistance."