Terry Schiavo

[Alcomedicism]

Schiavo Case Update:

Appeals court invites additional Schiavo review

Parents get green light to ask for new hearingThe Associated Press

Updated: 11:55 a.m. ET March 30, 2005PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo's parents and their lawyers were preparing for a new day in court Wednesday, after federal judges agreed to let them file a request for a new hearing on whether to reconnect their severely brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta issued a written order without comment late Tuesday allowing Bob and Mary Schindler to file the appeal, even though the court had set a March 26 deadline for doing so.

In the one-sentence order, the court said: “The Appellant’s emergency motion for leave to file out of time is granted.”

The court didn’t say when it would decide whether to grant the hearing. Last week, it twice ruled against the Schindlers, who are trying to keep their daughter alive.

In requesting a new hearing, the Schindlers argued that a federal judge in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not just the procedural history when he ruled against the parents.

Failing health

Time was running out for Schiavo, however. Bob Schindler described his daughter as "failing" on Tuesday, her 12th day without nourishment.

"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."

Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two of the tube being removed.

The request for a new hearing also asks to have the tube reinserted immediately "in light of the magnitude of what is at stake and the urgency of the action required."

Vigil continues

Tuesday's decision was a ray of hope for the Schindlers, who have lost a string of court battles over their daughter's fate. The case has wound its way through six courts for seven years; the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene five times.

Protesters keeping a 24-hour vigil outside the hospice praised the latest order.

"There's a chance for a miracle," said Christine Marriott, 43, who rushed to the hospice after hearing the news on TV. "Anything positive is a breath of life."

Early Wednesday, a man was arrested when he tried to bring a plastic cup of water into the hospice. Police officers stopped him at the gate as he shouted: “You don’t know God from Godzilla!”

He became the 48th protester arrested since the feeding tube was removed.

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

But the Schindlers have maintained that their daughter would want to be kept alive.

On Tuesday, they asked the appeals court to consider their request for a new hearing based on the seven-year history of evidence in the case, rather than whether previous Florida court rulings have met legal standards under state law.

The request contends that the federal court in Tampa had "committed plain error when it reviewed only the state court case and outcome history."

Court playing it safe?

Attorneys for the Schindlers have argued that Terri Schiavo's rights to life and privacy were being violated.

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

"I think the courts want to be sure that there's no accusation that any legal argument was ignored," said attorney Neal Sonnett, former chairman of the American Bar Association's criminal justice section.

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 have levels rebuffed the family.

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

Jesse Jackson, Laura Bush weigh in

The Rev. Jesse Jackson prayed with the Schindlers on Tuesday 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."

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. The man, who was arrested, had two bottles of water with him but did not reach the hospice door, police said.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I dont think putting her back on the feeding tube is going to save her at this point, she much too dehydrated by now to even recover. Her organs are going to continue failing at this point if it were reinsterted. The damage has been done.

I stil think that starving/dehydrating her is inhumane, she still has a nervous system, but I am not sure if she is feeling pain or if she is feeling nothing at all. Some people have said that when the body is deprived of food and water it goes into a euphoric state to keep pain at bay.

Just bringing in an update.

-Dixie

[THE_DITCH_DOCTOR]

She died. Update to follow.

[THE_DITCH_DOCTOR]

Schiavo Dies After Feeding Tube Removed

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged woman whose final years tethered to a feeding tube sparked a bitter feud over her fate that divided a family and a nation, died Thursday, her husband's attorney said

Schiavo, 41, died quietly in a Pinellas Park hospice 13 days after her feeding tube was removed despite extraordinary intervention by Florida lawmakers, Congress and President Bush — efforts that were rebuffed at every turn by the courts.

Her death was confirmed to The Associated Press by Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, and announced to reporters outside her hospice by a family adviser.

A shy woman who avoided the spotlight, Schiavo spent her final months as the focus of a media frenzy and an epic legal battle between her husband and parents over whether she should live or die.

Protesters streamed into Pinellas Park to keep vigil outside her hospice, with many arrested as they tried to bring her food and water. The Vatican likened the removal of her feeding tube to capital punishment for an innocent woman.

Politicians repeatedly tried to intervene as her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, pleaded for their daughter's life, calling the removal of the feeding tube "judicial homicide."

"Something has to be done and has to be done quick," Bob Schindler said, a week after the tube was removed March 18, as the family's legal options dwindled. "I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish."

[emtmoira]

It's sad to hear a fellow human being has passed away but I feel relieved that this struggle for this woman is over. I hope that this case makes a lot of people rethink the ways that they go about things and encourages people to make their requests known in writing. Rest in peace Terri and I pray for all who have similar situations.

[Alcomedicism]

Im glad its over too. I still cant believe one family's struggle divided a whole nation. Now Terri can rest in peace and be whole again. I bet she's up there dancing now.

-Dix

[THE_DITCH_DOCTOR]

From Ecclesiastes, Chapter 3 (although most of you are probably more familiar with the first part of it as a song by 1960's rock band The Byrds)

A Time for Everything

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboreth?

10 ¶ I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

16 ¶ And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

OK.....now from here on out this is my words:

We are all mortal and we all must do what we feel is most in keeping with whatever moral standards we cling to, but we must also remember that it is not just to judge any in a manner that we ourselves would not like to be judged. What is sin in one man's mind, may be the path to heaven in anothers. There is very little that is definitiveely right or definitively wrong in this world, at least that we are able to know, so we all must only do those things that we are willing to be judged for when the time comes. We should not expect others to do any less or any more than we ourselves do, nor should we allow the will of one person, or a group of persons be allowed to be forced upon the meek, the innocent or the suffering simply because the do not have the ability to stand up for themselves. We are all human, and we all have free will. We must maintain our ability to exercise this while at the same time seeking to not deprive others of the same freedom. Amen.

[matt]

she is recovering well and while she may not be able to take care of herself she is not brain dead. you cant just starve someone to death. its wrong to even consider removing her feeding tube. but to remove it and try to justify it... I'm speechless

[lil_animal_88]

Matt-

And let me guess a humane act would have been to let her exist in a vegetative state for many more years, just because we have the technology to keep her alive. Would you want to live like she did? I know I wouldn't, and as a matter of fact cant think of anyone who would. She is in a much better place now. May god rest her soul. The court system and her husband served her justice.

CASE CLOSED

[battlemedic345]

Guys,

I think that we should all sit back and marvel at Matt.

He knows everything.

He certainly knows, since he is so intimately involved with the Shiavo family, that Terry is "recovering well"

I for one am so grateful for him for posting here and I am so thankful we have people like him in the world.

Thank you Matt, you must be God since you know everything.

[MEDICMAN3872]

BEING SHE DIED YESTERDAY I BELIEVE HER DEATH WAS A GOOD THING. I BELIEVE THAT QUALITY OF LIFE IS EVERYTHING AND SHE HAD NONE. SHE WAS CONTRACTED AND COULD NOT FUNCTION. IF I EVER FALL INTO HER PLACE I HOPE MY FAMILY WOULD ALLOW ME TO DIE PEACEFULLY. THIS BEING SAID I HAVE DRAFTED A LIVING WILL AND HAVE MADE IT CLEAR TO MY FAMILY OF MY WISHES.