Free Republic

There is a tremendous amount of suffering in the world. In the United States the suffering of Terri Schindler-Schiavo and her family has been the lead news story for weeks. Now it's the Christian Holy Week, where the suffering of Jesus is the religious focus of Christians around the globe. Even Terri's maiden name, Schindler, is a reminder of the millions who suffered under Hitler. If you'll recall, Oskar Schindler was the man who rescued a thousand Jews from Nazi persecution and death. On Fox News, the Schindler family's spiritual adviser, Brother Paul O'Donnell, drew a parallel between the plight...

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) -- Jennifer Johnson, barefoot and in her pajamas, ran to her grandfather's bedside once a hospice worker said his death was moments away. She got there - one minute too late. Johnson said the chaos outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo is dying kept her from saying goodbye. When Johnson arrived, a police officer demanded identification; she had none. And after a hospice employee cleared her, another officer halted her for a search with a metal detector. The delays lasted three to four minutes - the last of her grandfather's life. "It's a terrible, extra obstacle...

A man has been arrested and charged with offering a $250,000 reward for killing Michael Schiavo. Richard Alan Meywes was arrested in Fairview, North Carolina by the FBI and the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office. On March 23, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office forwarded an email to the FBI in Tampa which purportedly offered a $250,000 bounty on "the head of Michael Schiavo." The email placed an additional $50,000 bounty for the elimination of a judge who recently denied a request to intervene in the Schiavo case.

TAMPA, Fla. — In what may prove to be Terri Schiavo's parents' "final shot," their attorney was trying to persuade a judge Friday that the severely brain-damaged woman had expressed her will to live. According to an emergency motion filed late Friday afternoon, attorney Barbara Weller said that during a hospice visit on March 18, she asked Schiavo pointedly what her wishes were. Weller directed Schiavo to say the words, "I want to live."

They call it Terminal dehydration, a legal form of euthanasia. Terminal dehydration, the total withdrawal of food and water that hastens death.  Terminal dehydration may be a stressful and excruciating experience for the patient as well as the caregivers because death by terminal dehydration can take as much as to fourteen days. It is an extremely agonizing death and is crueler than physician-assisted suicide. A conscious person would feel it (dehydration) just as you and I would. They will go into seizures. Their skin cracks, their tongue cracks, their lips crack. They may have nosebleeds because of the drying...

Is it just me, or does it seem exceedingly suspicious to others that the only way for Terri Schiavo to shed even the slightest light on what exactly happened to her in her home that February morning in 1990 is if she could be rehabilitated to some degree – which her husband, the only other person home with her at the time of her "collapse," absolutely forbids in any way, shape, or form? Continues... =============================================================== Death by forced dehydration very peaceful. Trust us. So, from all the break-neck developments this past week, I gather that Democrats favor waging an unrelenting...

Judge George Greer ruled that the State of Florida has no right to take custody of Terri Schiavo, which ruling came hours after an appeal by Terri's parents to re-insert the feeding tube was refused by the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, another hearing was scheduled tonight before US District Judge James D. Whittemore .. the same judge who previously heard and denied the request subsequent to the 'de novo' intention of the law past last weekend by the Congress and signed by President Bush, in an effort to confirm that no stone was left unturned before Terri would endure legally...

I returned home last night from Tallahassee, where I helped to lobby the Florida Senate to try to convince them to save Terri. I’ve not been registered at FreeRep for very long, so please try to bear with me as I try to tell you what I saw there. When the vote came up, several Senators pushed for debate. In several very long winded speeches, they argued. It seemed to me that every opponent has pulled a feeding tube on a loved one, and watched them die, and it wasn’t so bad for them, so we should just shut up....

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Terri Schiavo's parents have appealed a federal judge's ruling that kept their brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube disconnected.

Jeb Bush may take Terri Schiavo into state care The war over the fate of Terri Schiavo was entering its final stages today as her parents clung to two slim hopes of preventing their severely brain-damaged daughter from being allowed to die. The 41-year-old has been without food or water for almost seven days, after her feeding tube was removed last Friday on the orders of a Florida state judge. Friends and lawyers say she is showing signs of dehydration - flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, and sunken eyes. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week...

My position on the Schiavo matter has vascilated back and forth over the past few days as I've agonized over the matter.Should she be given a chance at life? If so, what kind of life are we talking about? Is there a chance at rehabilitation? Is Michael Schiavo an evil S.O.B., or is he simply a heart-broken man?Conversely, is she truly in a vegetative state? A virtual zombie with eyes open, and nothing inside? Are her parents and family in denial about her pain and suffering? Are the evangelicals coming to her aid getting so worked up that they are...