Brain-damaged woman's feedings resume on Bush's order

[JohnathanJones]

Terri's feeding tube has been re-inserted by our govenor's order what do you think was it the right thing to do?

Story (http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/apnews/stories/102203/D7UB2LRG0.shtml)

[egarrard]

In this case, probably. In all cases, no.

[efernandez_98]

Brain-damaged woman's feedings resume on Bush's orders


By MITCH STACY
Associated Press Writer
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CLEARWATER, Fla. - The family of a disabled woman now under treatment by orders of Gov. Jeb Bush is barred from seeing her because her husband won't allow it, the family's attorney said Wednesday.

Michael Schiavo is Terri Schiavo's official guardian, and can designate who is allowed to see his wife. She had gone without food and water for six days under a court order that allowed her husband to remove the feeding tube that kept her alive for more than a decade.

Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday, acting under a hastily approved law by the Florida Legislature, ordered Terri Schiavo taken to a hospital where doctors could begin the process of rehydrating and eventually feeding her.

Attorneys for parents Bob and Mary Schindler said Terri Schiavo's brother, Bob Schindler Jr., was turned away Tuesday night when he attempted to see his sister. It was not clear what condition Terri Schiavo was in Wednesday morning, about 12 hours after she was moved from a Pinellas Park hospice where she was dying to Morton Plant Hospital in nearby Clearwater.

"They have been told Terri can have no visitors under Michael's order," said Tom Brodersen, a paralegal who is a member of the Schindler's legal team that has waged a years-long court battle to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday morning.

The fight over Terri Schiavo's life took a dramatic twist Tuesday with Bush's intervention in the decade-long legal battle between the Schindlers and their son-in-law.

Michael Schiavo says his wife never wanted to be kept alive artificially and doctors have testified she is in a persistent vegetative state. The Schindlers dispute she had such wishes and say their daughter has enough functioning ability to laugh, cry and react to them.

Felos called the reinsertion of the tube "an absolute horrible tragedy for Terri Schiavo."

"The governor of the state of Florida does not have the right to trump a patient's personal choice," he said.

Felos said that on Tuesday, Terri was showing signs of massive organ failure and that the reinsertion of the tube is just prolonging her death. He said he did not know her condition Wednesday.

"She was literally absconded from her death bed in the middle of her dying process," he told ABC's "Good Morning America."

Observers wondered whether the Legislature and the governor overstepped constitutional boundaries by ramming through legislation that overruled the courts.

"It presents a new legal issue that I've never heard of," said former Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen Grimes.

The feeding tube was removed last Wednesday after a court refused to intervene. Doctors said the 39-year-old woman would die within a week to 10 days without nutrition and water.

On Tuesday, an ambulance took Schiavo from a Pinellas Park hospice to Morton Plant Hospital after Bush issued his order to resume feeding her. A crowd cheered outside as she left. A hospital spokeswoman on Wednesday said she could not release any information on Schiavo.

Hours earlier, the Senate voted 23-15 for legislation to save Schiavo. Within minutes, the House voted 73-24 to send the bill to Bush. The governor signed it into law and issued his order about an hour later.

"It's restored my belief in God," said Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler.

Michael Schiavo, meanwhile, was "deeply troubled, angry and saddened that his wife's wishes have become a political pingpong," Felos said. "He, as many others, is absolutely stunned at the course of events."

Suzanne Carr, the woman's sister, called the lawmakers' action "a miracle, an absolute miracle."

Felos scrambled to try to stop Bush's order. He filed a request for an injunction, but Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer denied it on technical grounds. Felos refiled the request and State Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird also refused to grant it.

"We won. Terri won," her father said after the ruling.

Felos said he believes the legislation is unconstitutional. It is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially, and the courts have affirmed that, he said.

Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe said the action by Bush and the Legislature "violates the core principles" of a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The court ruled in a Missouri case that Nancy Cruzan, who had been fed through a tube for seven years, could be permitted to die if "clear and convincing evidence" proved that was what she wanted. Her parents had fought for the right to remove the tube.

Schiavo never signed a living will, which lets people exercise their right to die should they become comatose. But her husband says she told him she would never want to be kept alive artificially; her parents said she never told them of the wish.

"I've never seen a case in which the state legislature treats someone's life as a political football in quite the way this is being done," said Tribe.

Felos will have five days to file additional arguments with the judge and the state will have five days after that to respond. The judge will then hold another hearing.

"It is simply inhumane and barbaric to interrupt her death process," Felos said. "Just because Terri Schiavo is not conscious doesn't mean she doesn't have dignity."

Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance.


Copyright Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. All this just to keep her warm?

[Artcwolf]

It is generally accepted that the govener overstepped his bounds by doing that.

I feel bad for her, but I think she needs to move on.

[thephenom]

Originally posted by Artcwolf
It is generally accepted that the govener overstepped his bounds by doing that.

I feel bad for her, but I think she needs to move on.
Just another publicity move to get re-voted as Florida State Governor........

[Vector Man]

I remember I did this thread. Anyway, they should have unplugged her veggie azz a long time ago.

Let it go.

[Silent_Death911]

awww.....wtf....let her live......if they really know shes gonna die naturally....which they dont....then let her die (w/ or w/o the tube).....let her live all she can...

[WazLady73]

My question is this: "Why has it been 13 years of this???"

I would NOT want to live like that. If I was in a veggie state...LET ME GO! Let me see God in heaven, bury me and get on with your lives...

If she could have be rehabilitated...why hasn't she by now? What is the hold up? The husband? He wants her gone so he can get on with his life...and her parents want her alive...

What kind of life is she going to have...or had???

I just don't understand why this has dragged on for 13 long years....

[WazLady73]

Originally posted by Silent_Death911
awww.....wtf....let her live......if they really know shes gonna die naturally....which they dont....then let her die (w/ or w/o the tube).....let her live all she can...

I don't think it is right to let her starve to death. But something has to be done....I cannot belive she would have wanted to live like that..

[Artcwolf]

Originally posted by WazLady73
My question is this: "Why has it been 13 years of this???"

I would NOT want to live like that. If I was in a veggie state...LET ME GO! Let me see God in heaven, bury me and get on with your lives...

If she could have be rehabilitated...why hasn't she by now? What is the hold up? The husband? He wants her gone so he can get on with his life...and her parents want her alive...

What kind of life is she going to have...or had???

I just don't understand why this has dragged on for 13 long years....

I agree.

The family can't move on until she does. I know this sound heartless but it's really torture on the husband.

The selfish (yes, I said that) family members that wish her to be kept alive are doing so for their own emotions. Very selfish in the reality that she is never going to come out of her current state nor will the husband be able to emotionally heal from a very tradgic loss.

[Maro]

Why does a Politician get invovled - he is elected to run the state.

I don't wwant some numpty who is in it for the power changing the rules to consign me to that fate
:mad:

[WazLady73]

Originally posted by Artcwolf
I agree.

The family can't move on until she does. I know this sound heartless but it's really torture on the husband.

The selfish (yes, I said that) family members that wish her to be kept alive are doing so for their own emotions. Very selfish in the reality that she is never going to come out of her current state nor will the husband be able to emotionally heal from a very tradgic loss.

I agree...the parents went to everyone to try to keep her alive. And she will never fully recover what has happened to her.

I read the husband has a girlfriend and children with her, and he wants to move on. I am sure he loves Terri very much, but he needs to move on too.

It is a sad story.....and one I hope never happens to me or a family member.

[JohnathanJones]

Originally posted by thephenom
Just another publicity move to get re-voted as Florida State Governor........

I never liked him. But, he went to the capital asked for this power to get involved plus, I really think he's playing this compassio- nate conservative game in order to win over some well, I won't call them dumb but "Mis-informed" people hearts so he can gain more power and people and senate will vote on any bill he presents. Because some will think he's a good govenor anyway. He did some things I liked but a lot of them are mistakes as with this Scivo case.

[JohnathanJones]

Originally posted by WazLady73
I agree...the parents went to everyone to try to keep her alive. And she will never fully recover what has happened to her.

I read the husband has a girlfriend and children with her, and he wants to move on. I am sure he loves Terri very much, but he needs to move on too.

It is a sad story.....and one I hope never happens to me or a family member.

I think this is also a financial issue also because it takes a lot of time and money to keep someone alive like that even if she "may" comback someday she's still a human with emotions (I seen her smile on the news :) ) so, this may be a good sign she still is "alive" so to speak somewhere. :luxhello