Fed Appeals Court Grant Terri's Parents Petition for Rehearing

FNC

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

FEDERAL APPEALS COURT WILL LET TERRI'S PARENTS FILE A PETITION FOR REHEARING FOR AN INJUNCTION TO REINSERT FEEDING TUBE... BREAKING

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Moderator update:

Court Says Yes To Schiavo Parents

March 30, 2005

(CBS/AP) A federal appeals court early Wednesday granted Terri Schiavo's parents the right to file a petition for rehearing for an injunction that could allow their daughter's feeding tube to be reconnected.

The ruling came just after midnight from a federal appeals court in Atlanta.

On Tuesday, Schiavo's 12th full day without food or water, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with her parents and joined conservatives in calling for state lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.

The former Democratic presidential candidate was invited by Schiavo's parents to meet with activists outside Schiavo's hospice. His arrival was greeted by some applause and cries of "This is about civil rights!"

"I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips," he said. "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

As the Schiavo deathwatch drags on, CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann spoke with two families who grappled with the same issues as the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo. On one side are Dorothy and Michael Brocato, who have provided care for their brain-damaged daughter Lisa, who suffered brain damage from a heart attack 15 years ago.

"We have devoted our lives to taking care of Lisa, says her mother. The Brocatos are sympathetic to the Schindler's wish to keep Terri Schiavo alive

"I love her. I love her. I couldn't picture not having her around me,'' says Dorothy Brocato.

Ron Oister has watched the Schiavo drama play out from a very different perspective. When Oister's father was essentially brain-dead, his son's wrenching decision was to let his father go.

"It was very hard,'' Oister told Strassmann. "That was my father. And he was in front of me. And I knew he could never return to what he had been."

Oister says Schiavo's parents helped create this needless public spectacle because they refused to face their hard reality.

"She died then, not now. My own experience would say that one ends life at that time."

Jesse Jackson's visit provided an emotional boost to Schiavo's parents and siblings, who have maintained that Schiavo would want to be kept alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, insists he is carrying out her wishes by having the feeding tube pulled.

Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, later made a terse but emotional appeal to Michael Schiavo: "Michael and Jodi, you have your own children. Please, please give my child back to me." Michael Schiavo and fiancee Jodi Centonze have two children, born long after Terri Schiavo fell into paralysis.

Although supporters of the Schindlers have claimed the dehydrated woman is being denied comfort measures such as ice chips for her dry mouth or balm for chapped lips, George Felos, the husband's attorney, defended how Schiavo is being cared for.

"Obviously, the parents and the siblings are desperate. Desperation may lead to different perceptions," Felos told CNN. "I can only tell you what I've seen, and Terri is dying a very peaceful, cared-for death." Felos did not return phone messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Jackson said he asked Michael Schiavo for permission to see the brain-damaged woman but was denied. He also telephoned black legislators in a last-ditch effort to bring back a bill that would prohibit severely brain-damaged patients from being denied food and water if they didn't express their wishes in writing. Lawmakers rejected the legislation earlier this month and appeared unlikely to reconsider it.

One of those contacted by Jackson, Democratic state Sen. Gary Siplin, said he told Jackson the issue had been "thoroughly discussed." Senate Democratic leader Les Miller added, "I have voted. It's time to move on."

The chief sponsor of the measure, state Sen. Daniel Webster, said he knew of no changed votes and that Jackson's efforts may have come too late.

"If he could sway votes — and I'm certain he may be able to — it would have been helpful if he had done that a little earlier" said Webster, a Republican. "We're running out of time. To do it now is not as timely as a couple of weeks ago would have been."

Bob Schindler described his daughter as "failing" following his visit Tuesday.

"She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances," Schindler said. "You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her."

First lady Laura Bush also commented on the case Tuesday, saying the government was right to have intervened on behalf of Schiavo.

"It is a life issue that really does require government to be involved," Bush said aboard a plane bound for Afghanistan, where she was to promote education and women's rights.

During Jackson's visit, a man was tackled to the ground by officers when he tried to storm into the hospice, police said. He became the 47th protester arrested since the feeding tube was removed March 18. The man had two bottles of water with him but did not reach the hospice door, police said.

Doctors have said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.

The parents also lost another round in the courts Tuesday when an appeals court upheld a pervious ruling by Judge George Greer that blocked the Department of Children and Families from intervening in the case.




Court Says Yes To Schiavo Parents

[Lauren BaRecall]

You addressed this post to me, and *I* did not do an abuse report on you.

[Jrabbit]

Has anyone posted the appeal yet?

[Fred Nerks]

This aussie is still hanging in there, praying for Terri, praying they take her out of that dreadful hospice.

[Hunble]

...and did not minister to You?

Are you implying that nobody has ministered to TS?

[ClaireSolt]

I saw it on Hannity and Combs. Hannity asked him if he had ever voted Republican and he said yes. He had supported Chuck Percy and Edward Brooks. They were teasing back and forth about how they have seldom agreed. I don't want anyone to take this as one of his extortion attempts. It was realpolitique a la what Sharpton was saying, showing blacks that they might have some advantage working with the majority rather than the minority party when they have common ground.

[northernlightsII]

I hope the court saying it will hear this petition does not slow or impede the process in the Florida legisalture which was looking lke it could do something.

[bubbleb]

Thanks.

[razorbackmama]

Per Sekulow on Sean's radion show, maybe Fridayish, an actual DE NOVO would actually take 2-3 months, so to me, the reinsertion would be a no-brainer. Perhaps that's why it didn't occur to the Senate to specify that. That's exactly it. I heard one of the Senators (for the life of me I can't remember which one), and he said exactly that - that in order to get a de novo review they would HAVE to reinsert it. But there was something about the language or SOMETHING, so they left it out since it was so "duh."

[Fred Nerks]

Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?

[concerned about politics]

At least she could be re-taught the basics of childhood.

With the technology we have now, she can speak just by pushing buttons. She can do a lot on her own with the gadgets we have now!

[GeekDejure]

A feeding tube is NOT the same as a sip of water !!!

[TexKat]

Evan Vucci, Associated Press Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., talks with Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, outside the Woodside Hospice where Schiavo is a patient.

Pennsylvania senator follows Jackson with hospice visit

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

By Maeve Reston, Post-Gazette National Bureau

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., last night visited the hospice of Terri Schiavo last night to say prayers with the family of the severely brain-damaged woman whose feeding and hydration tube was removed 12 days ago by court order.

Santorum was the first member of Congress to visit the hospice where she is being cared for. He was scheduled to take part in a Social Security forum in Tampa yesterday, but it was canceled in what his aides described as a gesture of respect for Schiavo's family.

"This is about trying to do right by a woman who legally is being wronged by the system," said Santorum, who took a leading role last week in passing the law that allowed Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to plead their case anew in federal court.

Their effort failed.

Santorum said that he was continuing to make calls at the state and federal level but that the situation "doesn't look good."

"My feeling is she is still alive and to keep trying," he said. "We've been trying all avenues."

Earlier yesterday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson offered counsel to the Schindler family and called on reluctant Florida lawmakers to once again take up legislation that would allow her feeding and hydration tube to be reinserted.

Jackson's appearance on Schiavo's twelfth day without food or water -- the result of a five-year legal battle between her parents and her husband -- lent a new dimension to the battle.

Until now, conservative Christian and anti-abortion activists have formed the core of group that has supported efforts to keep their daughter alive. Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, has said his wife would not have wanted to live in what doctors describe as a "persistent vegetative state," and his view has been upheld in countless state and federal court decisions.

But Jackson, the leader of the Rainbow/Push Coalition who was invited to Florida by Schiavo's family, said he believed Schiavo's death by dehydration and starvation was "immoral" and "inhumane." Schiavo suffered severe brain damage 15 years ago due to a lack of oxygen to the brain related to a potassium imbalance.

Jackson spent part of his morning calling members of the Florida Senate -- and specifically members of the black caucus -- asking them to revive legislation that failed last week for emergency intervention in the Schiavo case.

Under the legislation before the Florida Senate, a patient in a "persistent vegetative state" could not be denied food and water unless they had written instructions asking doctors to do so.

The legislation would have affected only patients where that wish was in dispute among family members. Jackson said he was focused on convincing Florida lawmakers who voted against the bill to change their vote.

Schiavo's father said yesterday that his daughter was still alert.

"She's failing," Bob Schindler said. "She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances, but you can see the impact that twelve days without food and water is having on her... We still have her. It's not too late to save her."

Yesterday evening the family made a personal appeal to Michael Schiavo, who is in a relationship with woman and has two children with her.

"You have your own children," Mary Schindler said. "Please, please give my child back to me."

[Fudd Fan]

"I simply stated my belief that TS's tube will be removed once again..."

you did more than simply state. You went on to accuse FRs of causing Terri more pain and torture. And you did it in a ham-handed, condescending way. Now do you have a clue?

[Diogenesis]

Incredible, isn't it. Evil is watched across oceans
yet the corrupt, odious, Florida Judges/etc. have done NOTHING.

I will make sure all colleague schedule future meetings in Australia
rather than ever going to Florida "The-Execution-by-Starvation State" again.

[kingattax]

With Greer's wife on the board of directors of the Hospice, there is certainly a conflict. With Judge Greer serving on the FL State advisory board on matters of "END OF LIFE" decisions. There is a serious conflict of interest that should have required Judge Greer to recuse himself

where did you get that info please......do you have a source or link ?

[sageb1]

If that's the best you can do...refer to your own quote with "duh," then I don't blame whoever reported you. If you don't have anything intelligent to say, then leave. I was one of the only ones who stuck up for you. Dumb move on my part.

[Hunble]

You addressed this post to me, and *I* did not do an abuse report on you.

You are correct, and I apologize for using your posting as a reply and protest.

No hard feelings?

[Finalapproach29er]

When I think of medicine in the near future (5-10 years), I don't think anybody in a vegetative state should give up.

As Jesse says: Keep hope alive!

[samantha]

That is wonderful to use Yiddish and Hebrew to say wonderful prayers for our Beautiful Terri. My Hubby is Jewish and I learned these prayers by listening when I joined him in Synagogue. Our copy of the "joys of Yiddish" is on loan. I get the feeling that there is a sea change in attitude in the country. We must all continue to tell the real facts to people that don't get Fox,you can make a difference.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I don't know if this is redundant, but it may have some new info:

*************************************

Today: March 29, 2005 at 23:12:37 PST

Federal Appeals Court OKs Schiavo Review

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA (AP) -

0329dv-schiavo-tuesday A federal appeals court early Wednesday agreed to consider a petition by Terri Schiavo's parents for a new hearing on whether to reconnect their severely brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled without comment on Schiavo's 12th day without nourishment. Last week, the same court twice ruled against Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who are trying to keep her alive.

In seeking a new hearing late Tuesday, attorneys for Schiavo's parents argued that the District Court "committed plain error when it reviewed only the state court case and outcome history."

Now, the court will consider the request for a new hearing based on the facts of the case, rather than whether previous Florida court rulings have met legal standards under state law.

There was no time frame for the court to consider the motion, but the Schindler's attorneys asked to have the tube reinserted immediately "in light of the magnitude of what is at stake and the urgency of the action required."

The ruling was a rare legal victory for the Schindlers, whose appeals have been repeatedly rejected in state and federal courts.

Anita Fanshaw, 43, one of about 10 protesters outside Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., praised the court's latest decision.

"God has a way of making things work," she said.

Christine Marriott, 43, who heard of the court order on TV and rushed from her Seminole home back the hospice, said the ruling gave her hope.

"There's a chance for a miracle," Marriott said. "Anything positive is a breath of life."

Attorneys for the Schindlers and Schiavo's husband, Michael Schiavo, didn't immediately return phone messages early Wednesday.

Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed March 18 on a court order sought by her husband, who contends she wouldn't want to be kept alive artificially.

Doctors have said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance apparently brought on by an eating disorder.

Bob Schindler described his daughter as "failing" following his visit Tuesday.

"She still looks pretty darn good under the circumstances," Schindler said. "You can see the impact of no food and water for 12 days. Her bodily functions are still working. We still have her."

Federal courts were given jurisdiction to review Schiavo's case after Republicans in Congress pushed through unprecedented emergency legislation aimed at prolonging Schiavo's life. But federal courts at two levels rebuffed the family.

On Tuesday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with the Schindlers and joined conservatives in calling for state lawmakers to order her feeding tube reinserted.

The former Democratic presidential candidate was invited by Schiavo's parents to meet with activists outside Schiavo's hospice. His arrival was greeted by some applause and cries of "This is about civil rights!"

"I feel so passionate about this injustice being done, how unnecessary it is to deny her a feeding tube, water, not even ice to be used for her parched lips," he said. "This is a moral issue and it transcends politics and family disputes."

Mary Schindler later made a terse but emotional appeal to Michael Schiavo: "Michael and Jodi, you have your own children. Please, please give my child back to me." Michael Schiavo and fiancee Jodi Centonze have two children, born long after Terri Schiavo's collapse.

Although supporters of the Schindlers have claimed the dehydrated woman is being denied comfort measures such as ice chips for her dry mouth or balm for chapped lips, George Felos, the husband's attorney, defended how Schiavo is being cared for.

"Obviously, the parents and the siblings are desperate. Desperation may lead to different perceptions," Felos told CNN. "I can only tell you what I've seen, and Terri is dying a very peaceful, cared-for death."

Jackson said he asked Michael Schiavo for permission to see the brain-damaged woman but was denied. He also telephoned black legislators in a last-ditch effort to bring back a bill that would prohibit severely brain-damaged patients from being denied food and water if they didn't express their wishes in writing. Lawmakers rejected the legislation earlier this month and appeared unlikely to reconsider it.

One of those contacted by Jackson, Democratic state Sen. Gary Siplin, said he told Jackson the issue had been "thoroughly discussed." Senate Democratic leader Les Miller added, "I have voted. It's time to move on."

First lady Laura Bush also commented on the case Tuesday, saying the government was right to have intervened on behalf of Schiavo.

"It is a life issue that really does require government to be involved," Bush said aboard a plane bound for Afghanistan, where she was to promote education and women's rights.

During Jackson's visit, a man was tackled to the ground by officers when he tried to storm into the hospice, police said. He became the 47th protester arrested since the feeding tube was removed March 18. The man had two bottles of water with him but did not reach the hospice door, police said.

The Schindlers had lost a round in the courts Tuesday when an appeals court upheld a previous ruling by Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer that blocked the Department of Children and Families from intervening in the case.

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Associated Press Writer Mike Schneider in Pinellas Park, Fla., contributed