Schiavo in Her 'Last Hours,' Father Says Amid Appeals

PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 25 - The somber ranks of protesters swelled on Friday outside the hospice in which Terri Schiavo lay dying as two more last-ditch legal appeals wound through the courts on Friday and the sense there grew that this religious and political drama was rapidly coming to a grim conclusion.

"Terri is weakening and she's down to her last hours," the woman's father, Robert Schindler, told reporters beneath a glowering sky. "Something has to be done, and has to be done quick."

The question of whether the severely brain-damaged Ms. Schiavo should be allowed to die, as her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she wanted, or instead be turned over to the care of her parents, who want to keep her alive, has reached from this small, secluded hospice to the state's Capitol, the Vatican, the White House and the halls of Congress.

Robert Schindler and his wife, Mary, said doctors told them their daughter would most likely live 7 to 10 days after the removal of the feeding tube, which came out a week ago, on March 18.

The drama's coincidence with Good Friday and Easter weekend made protesters gathered here ever more fervent. At one point this afternoon as the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" and "Onward Christian Soldiers," demonstrators holding plastic cups of water for Ms. Schiavo stepped one by one across the police line at the hospice and were taken into custody.

Still battling despite a series of legal setbacks that went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, lawyers for the Schindlers filed a motion Friday before Judge George W. Greer of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, who had ordered the tube's removal, with what they said was "highly significant new information" indicating that Ms. Schiavo is more able to communicate than had been previously believed.

Barbara Weller, one of the lawyers, said she had been in the woman's hospice room on the day the tube was removed.

The motion before Judge Greer said that "at one point during her visit, Mrs. Weller attempted to elicit a direct statement from Mrs. Schiavo regarding her end of life wishes." It went on, "Mrs. Weller told Mrs. Schiavo that this whole matter could end if Mrs. Schiavo could articulate one sentence: 'I want to live.' In the presence of Suzanne Vitadamo, Mrs. Schiavo's aunt, she attempted to verbalize the sentence. She managed to articulate the first two vowel sounds, first articulating 'AHHHHHHH,' and then virtually screaming 'WAAAAAAAA.' She became very agitated, but could not complete the vocalization attempted."

The Schindlers argued that their daughter seemed to be trying to say "I want," and that her feeding tube should be reinserted to determine whether she could communicate.

George Felos, Mr. Schiavo's lawyer, called the motion "outrageous" and "an abuse of the legal system," saying the issue of whether Ms. Schiavo can communicate had been addressed in previous hearings. It is nothing more than a reflex caused by touching her, he said.

Although the court filing did not come until late Friday afternoon, whispers that Ms. Schiavo had tried to speak rippled through the crowd of protesters and were already beginning to appear on placards.

"Terry: I Want to Live," read one sign. "Terri asks Mom for food," read another.

In a second legal maneuver, this time in the federal courts, the Schindlers' lawyers asked the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, to overturn a ruling by Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court, denying their charge that that Ms. Schiavo's right to due process had been denied. On Friday night, the court declined to overrule Judge Whittemore.

As has been the case since crowds first began to form early in the week, nearly all of the protesters outside the Woodside Hospice House were siding with the Schindlers. "I believe what is going on here is a sinister act," said Marilyn Aleman of Orlando. Her sign, pointedly directed at Mr. Schiavo, "Divorce is an option, murder is not," flapped in a stiff, muggy breeze.

A handful of other protesters quietly waved signs asking that Ms. Schiavo be allowed to die in peace. "There's another side to this," said Raymond Simms, who described himself as a veterans' advocate. "No one, not even the government, should be allowed to interfere in the decisions between a husband and wife."

Pastors in the crowd urged calm and forgiveness, but tempers were clearly on edge. "It's easy to get caught up in anger here," said Pastor Rick Barnard of My Faith House of Prayer in Morris, Ill., as he led a noon service outside the hospice. "We need to ask the Lord for the grace to forgive even those who oppose us."

At the same time, many of the chants and slogans were taking on a gruesome edge. "Her skin is peeling," read one sign. "Terri's nose and lips are bleeding," said another.

Some protesters were even looking beyond Ms. Schiavo's death. "No cremation," said one sign. "We want an autopsy."

On Friday, however, much of the anger was also being directed at Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President Bush, for not taking further action to keep Ms. Schiavo alive, despite their efforts to prod the courts and their calls for legislators to "err on the side of life" as President Bush phrased it earlier this week.

"President Bush, Governor Bush: Fear God More Than Man," read one sign waved by protesters toward the burgeoning colony of cameras and reporters stationed across the street.

"To be certain, Jeb Bush has done a great deal on behalf of Terri, but how will history remember him if Terri dies?" asked Andrew Doran, a spokesman for Crossroads, Pro-Life, one of the groups holding a vigil. "Likely, as a weak, moral coward who did not have the courage to save a helpless, dying woman from those who so vehemently wished to take her life."

Randall Terry, the veteran anti-abortion advocate and head of a group called the Society for Truth and Justice, handed out what he said were five legal opinions showing that the governor did have more powers than he seemed willing to use.

The governor has told reporters that he had asked the state's lawyers to search for any legal avenue to put Ms. Schiavo back on her feeding tube, but had found none. "I cannot go beyond what my powers are," Governor Bush told reporters.

A cluster of cameras formed around the police barricade at the entrance to the hospice around 1 p.m., alerted by religious leaders that they would try to send volunteers across the police lines in an effort to deliver water to Ms. Schiavo.

"It's good, it's good, my son is going to be a man," said Scott Helbreth of Charlotte, N.C., as he watched his 10-year-old son, Joshua, take his place in line carrying a cup of water.

Mr. Helbreth said Joshua had read about Ms. Schiavo and asked his father to drive him to Florida. "I am so proud of him," Mr. Helbreth said. "Only in America do we have children like this."

The crowd sang hymns and one by one protesters took their place in front of the cameras, made a short statement, then stepped across the police line and were taken into custody. When it was Joshua's turn, he seemed cowed by the hulking camera crews, muttering quiet answers to their shouted questions. He didn't know how he felt. He just wanted to do the right thing. He wasn't afraid.

Joshua took two steps across the line, then looked up at a pair of police officers, each one thrice his size. They spoke to him quietly, placed a hand under each of the boy's arms and led him toward a police car.

"What a statement this makes," Mr. Helbreth said. "We have a culture of death in this country, but this strikes a blow for the culture of life."

Dennis Blank and Lynn Waddell contributed reporting from Pinellas County, Fla.,for this article.

Criminal...

Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies, and Pinellas
Park, Fla., police officers arrest 10-year-old Joshua
Heldreth, of Charlotte, N.C., for trespassing on
Woodside Hospice property in Pinellas park, Fla.
Heldreth was attempting to bring Terri Schiavo a
glass of water. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed
by court order Friday, March 18, 2005.

"Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give
You drink?..." And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly,
I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My
brethren, you did it to Me." Jesus, from St. Matthew 25:37-40

Terri Schiavo Before dehydration

God Bless you Terri in your hour of death

Let everyone who said your beautiful smile was fake be haunted by it for the rest of their days.

The Church grows from the blood of the martyrs and the prayers of the confessors. What matters is doing what is right, not rationally forseeable consequences.

Let Judge Greer file appeals against the actions of the Florida executive rather than the other way around. Let those backing her death be seen to be tyrants when police manhandle pious priests and elderly folk going to perform an act of mercy. Let her receive Holy Unction (or whatever the Latins now call the anointing of the sick) and the Eucharist with what might be her last sips of water, when a wave of righteous folk who fear the Righteous Judge Who sits on the Throne of Glory overcome those who fear more the unrighteous judge who sits in the local district court.

Our little Orthodox mission shares a priest with our mother parish, so we had a Liturgy this morning. At the end we knelt and prayed Psalms 69, 142 and 50 (according to the numbering of the LXX) on Terri's behalf. Since I as a subdeacon am the only person besides our priest who has been tonsured as a reader, it fell to me to read them. I felt as if I was pronouncing a curse on Michael Schaivo, George Felos and Judge Greer, and strangely felt better about doing so than about many many things I have done in my life, even those which are not obviously sinful. Throughout the Diocese of Wichita and the Great Plains, all the Antiochian Orthodox will be doing the same. I wonder how many of the other readers will have the same feeling.

David, just like all the others, you have failed to address my question.

Even if Jeb decided to break the law, Michael will sue and he will gain custody again.

The courts have made it absolutely clear that they are upholding the law that puts the husband as the next of kin.

He will do this to her again. She is past the point of pain now.

He has now hurt her for the last time.

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