Posted on 04/08/2005 10:29:19 AM PDT by Theodore R.
National Disgrace
The coverage of the Terri Schiavo tragedy by the cable news channels was a national disgrace. They provided a national megaphone for fanatics to make wild and unsubstantiated — and, in some cases, previously discredited — allegations about Michael Schiavo and Florida Circuit Judge George Greer.
Their feverish greed for sensationalism caused them to disregard the truth.
One falsehood repeated by many people, including some who should have known better, was that Mrs. Schiavo's wish not to be kept alive was decided on the basis of "hearsay." That is untrue.
The legal term "hearsay" refers to a situation in which Person A says that Person B told him what Person C said. That is hearsay and is not admissible in American courts. In the case of Mrs. Schiavo, three people testified as to what she said directly to them at a luncheon following a funeral for an elderly relative. Presumably, the opposing party could not produce any evidence to refute that, because Judge Greer's decision was upheld repeatedly throughout the state and federal court systems.
You should also note that Schiavo and his in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, had a falling out not over the fate of Terri Schiavo, but over money. A malpractice suit resulted in an award of about $700,000, which went into a trust fund administered by the court for the medical expenses, plus $300,000 to Michael for what the law refers to as loss of consortium. The Schindlers apparently expected him to split that $300,000 with them, and when he refused, there was a terrible, vitriolic shouting match. Prior to that, Schiavo and his in-laws had been close and had worked hand in hand trying to rehabilitate Terri.
Michael Schiavo had been told from the beginning by neurologists that Terri's condition was hopeless, but for a number of years he stubbornly refused to believe it. He was so persistent and insistent that Terri Schiavo get the very best of care that he was described as "a nursing-home manager's worst nightmare." A man who didn't care for his wife would not have done that. When he finally accepted the grim truth, he went to court, and the Schindlers opposed him.
The fact is that if this family dispute had not been seized upon by national organizations with political agendas that used this poor woman as a fundraising tool, you would never have heard of it. Families have to make these kinds of terrible decisions every day in this country. Occasionally, they don't agree. In those cases, the standard procedure is to have the question settled by a judge. That was done in this case, and based on sworn testimony by people subject to cross-examination, Judge Greer decided that (1) her medical condition was hopeless, and (2) her wishes were not to be kept alive by artificial means. There is no justifiable doubt on either point, despite what rabble-rousers, quacks and people with grudges have blurted out on television.
It was shameful for the Florida governor, the Florida legislature, the U.S. Congress and President Bush to involve themselves in this private family matter. The courts, all the way up to the Supreme Court, have properly squelched their attempts. It was shameful for those fanatics to show up in Pinellas Park and disturb the dying in the hospice with strident shouts and irrational claims. Fortunately, those ugly faces, angry and threatening, do not reflect Christianity. National polls have shown that an overwhelming majority of Americans, including those who describe themselves as evangelicals, support the decision to remove the feeding tube and disapprove of the political intervention.
We are our brains. The rest of our body exists to carry the brain and to obey its instructions. When the brain dies, we die, even though the rest of the body can continue to function on automatic, provided the primitive part of the brainstem still functions. Terri Schiavo, the person, died a long time ago.
People should be encouraged that the rule of law has survived an onslaught by a mob of fanatics, a gaggle of opportunistic politicians and a swarm of television vultures.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2005 by King Features Syndicate, Inc. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apparently Charlie resigned from the Orlando paper just in time, before his condition took a turn for the worse.
And if memory serves, the three Shaivo's claimed they heard Terri say simply that she wouldn't want to "live like that," in referring to an 80-something year old grandmom who had been kept alive with artificial respiration.
Obviously the Shaivo's, and Judge Greer, are so psychokinetic that they could go back in time 15 years to that luncheon (at the Buck Hotel, just outside Philadelphia) in order to read and decipher Terri's mind.
In reality, NO ONE wants to be an 84 year old dying grandmother on a respirator, which makes one wonder exactly what in the freaking world possessed Greer to side with the Shaivo's.
Methinks anyone who agreed with the execution of Terri Shindler Shaivo in reality has some sort of guilt at the way they think about one of their own disabled or elderly relatives -- and in fact simply wishes that someone or another would just die.
How else to explain the uncaring hate one must have in their heart in order to think that it's OK to starve some poor helpless disabled girl to death.
Reese ceased to be relevant years ago.
Er..the Pope? Not quite.
No. Hearsay is when Person A says that Person B said something, and Person B's statement is being offered (through Person A) as proof of whatever it was that Person B said. There are many exceptions where hearsay is allowed in, but it's still "hearsay."
Charley Reese has been like that for 40 years. He was one of the editors of the Orlando Sentinel, and he's been writing controversial stuff the entire time.
This is the issue. The only issue. Those who were on Michael's side do not understand and therefore cannot accept the concept of the soul. If everything else Reese had written here were true, this would still stand out as the issue.
And because it is the soul that gives us life, because it is the soul that cannot be controlled by anyone but God, the unGodly deny its existence.
Situations like this make me more and more sure that the "story" of Adam & Eve has to be true. Man is still trying to become his maker -- and man is still failing, as he always will.
I was reading the Orlando Sentinel 30 years ago, and agreed with Reese because he was so conservative and on target with his assessment of the news event of the day.
Something has changed with him.
He's bitter.
I want to know how Teri got a fractured femur, ankles, knees and back????
Before I get flamed, I want to point out that if there was any chance for Terri to regain even so much cognizance as that of a one year old, she should not have been killed. I understand from reading here on FR that things may not have been as open and shut as Charley alleges in his article. Although I have spoken to 2 doctor friends who agree on the hoplessness of her case, I think I have read where other very qualified doctors disagree.
Perhaps someone could educate me as to what he means by this: "dispute had...been seized upon by national organizations with political agendas that used this poor woman as a fundraising tool"
This is another disputed "fact." After a lot of research, what I've found is that Terri & Michael lived in the Schindler's condo for a number of years. They lived in their own apartment for maybe a year before her "accident." From the time of the accident on, Michael quit his job, lived with the Schindlers and had all of his expenses and Terri's paid for by his in-laws up until just before he sued for malpractice.
When Mary and Bob supported him, there was an understanding that they would help him take care of Terri, but that they would be given the funds to do so; and Michael would share part of the settlement since they were considering bankruptcy based on the fact that so much of their money had been spent to support Michael and Terri.
If anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate knowing if my read on this is accurate. Thanks.
Well I don't know the Florida rules on evidence specifically but my Evidence professor in law school distilled hearsay down to this simple rule (it must be simple because its one of the few things I can still remember from law school):
hearsay is any out-of-court statement that is used to prove the truth of the matter asserted.
In every state and under the Federal Rules of Evidence, there are dozens of exceptions that will make an out-of-court statement admissible but its not just a third party statement as Reese says.
Ok Charley. Lemme ask you this. If say, I dunno, Osama Bin Laden had been captured in a raid. Then, lets say, I dunno, he tried to off himself during the raid, as he said he would if ever captured. Then, lets say, he botched the job, and was saved by doctors and kept alive, say, via a feeding tube. Do you really think Charley, the lefties in this country would be crying for his feeding tube to be removed. I mean, afterall, didn't he express his wishes not to be kept alive by trying to off himself in the first place? No, Charley, they would be crying that he should be kept alive, not starved. Afterall, he has rights, he deserves better.
Get it now Charley. A citizen of this country was deprived by a judge of the same basic rights that have been extended to the terrorists in Gitmo. Perhaps the "fanatics" just can't square that.
The only thing that's changed is that he's not representing the conservative viewpoint anymore, and he doesn't have to get his column past the editors. When he was on the Sentinel, he was the token conservative, and all of his columns therefore reflected what he viewed as the conservative viewpoint. Now he has no constraints, and says what he wants.
Exactly. Kind of funny when someone makes a technical legal argument to open an article, but gets it completely wrong. I imagine he's probably getting bombarded with criticism now. Heh.
Kind of like this one: "We are our brains."
We suspect that's true...but do we really know?
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