"Gilmore was sued for some of those things after trying to save Hugh Finn, and later, after Hugh was killed with dehdyration, Gilmore was exonerated. "
I don't know anything about that case -- could you elaborate, please?
2000-03-04 - Virginia governor released from fine in right-to-die case
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled unanimously Friday that Gov. Jim Gilmore does not have to pay $13,000 in legal costs to a woman who fought the state to remove her brain-damaged husband's feeding tube. The decision reverses previous sanctions levied against Gilmore for his lawsuit to try to prevent Michele Finn from removing the tube from her husband, Hugh Finn. A county circuit judge had said Gilmore had no legitimate basis for intervening. Finn, a former television anchorman in Louisville, Ky., had been in a persistent vegetative state after a 1995 car accident. His wife wanted the tube removed, but other family members disagreed and asked the governor to intervene. Gilmore filed a lawsuit on Sept. 30, 1998, to try to prevent Michele Finn from having the feeding tube removed, but the state Supreme Court rejected his petition. Doctors removed Finn's tube in October 1998, and Finn died eight days later. The court said Friday it was reasonable at the time for Gilmore to believe that his lawsuit was legitimate. The justices also cited a Virginia law that gives the governor the "duty to protect and preserve the general welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth," and said the governor should be given the
benefit of the doubt when exercising his duties. "I'm very pleased the court recognized the governor has a right, and even a duty, to protect those who can't protect themselves," Gilmore said. Michele Finn said she wasn't sure further appeals would do any good. "I am surprised and extremely disappointed," she said of the ruling. "It's scary that a government has unlimited resources to file a lawsuit and a private citizen has to respond with their own resources" and can't recoup expenses when the government loses. The $13,000 penalty that had been assessed against Gilmore is separate from $48,000 in legal expenses approved by the General Assembly for Michele Finn's legal expenses.