Political Crossfire Forums

[Scribbler1]

David wrote: While I agree that the lawyer has more to gain by clouding the issue it's my understanding that morphine suppresses breathing not enhances.
I can't argue either way, and I don't know for sure as to it actually being used or not. However, I am highly suspicious of anything the Schindlers do at this point. If they are still in a serious case of denial they will continue to use any and all means to get that tube in before she dies. Of course if they have been seduced by the cameras and whoever is supporting them they will still use all means available. At this point I don't think it makes a difference but I have a feeling Terri Schiavo's supporters may be disappointed in the near future.
I hope I'm wrong but I believe it will be over soon but it will NOT be the last we see of the Schindlers. OTOH, I figure Michael Schiavo will pretty much drop under the media's radar and maybe reclaim a normal life. He'll probably write a book though.

[David]

Scribbler1 wrote: David wrote: While I agree that the lawyer has more to gain by clouding the issue it's my understanding that morphine suppresses breathing not enhances.
I can't argue either way, and I don't know for sure as to it actually being used or not. However, I am highly suspicious of anything the Schindlers do at this point. If they are still in a serious case of denial they will continue to use any and all means to get that tube in before she dies. Of course if they have been seduced by the cameras and whoever is supporting them they will still use all means available. At this point I don't think it makes a difference but I have a feeling Terri Schiavo's supporters may be disappointed in the near future.
I hope I'm wrong but I believe it will be over soon but it will NOT be the last we see of the Schindlers. OTOH, I figure Michael Schiavo will pretty much drop under the media's radar and maybe reclaim a normal life. He'll probably write a book though.

I have to agree with you.

[kittykaiokahn]

earthmother wrote: :cry: To those of you who think it's ok to kill surplus people who are extremely sick or injured: Just in case you didn't know, starving any living being to death is cruel. No matter what the circumstances. If it is acceptable to kill people like Terry S. then why not be honest about it. Just pull the plug and walk away? What a supreme copout! Lethal injection perhaps? This is how they put animals to sleep for petes sake! Doesn't a human at least have the right to be treated as well as your dog? This ain't about political affilliation, friends. This is about right and wrong. Trouble is, people seem to be getting farther and farther away from the knowledge of right and wrong. It's not a matter of opinion. It's a matter of fact. Truth don't change. Right and wrong don't change. This idea of legally starving to death folks who are unwanted by a small handfull of particularly small minded baboons, just goes to show what sort of legal system we're having forced upon us. Terry's husband, if he gets his way in the end, will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life, and I sure wouldn't want to be in his shoes. Karma is real and he's got some REAL BAD coming.

I agree fuly. Starving someone isn't right. Although I do belive that she should have the right to die.

[Static-I]

Quote: Terri Schiavo has died

PINELLAS PARK, Florida (CNN) -- Terri Schiavo, the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman who became the centerpiece of a national right-to-die battle, died Thursday morning, nearly two weeks after doctors removed the feeding tube that had sustained her for more than a decade.

Brother Paul O'Donnell, a spokesman for Bob and Mary Schindler, Schiavo's parents, said they were with their daughter's body and praying. (Terri Schiavo's obituary)

The Schindlers and their other two children earlier requested permission to be with Schiavo during her last moments, but police barred them from being with her, O'Donnell said.

O'Donnell, one of the family's spiritual advisers, said Schiavo's family was "begging to be at her bedside...but are being denied."

Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and guardian, controlled who could visit her and when.

David Gibbs, a lawyer representing the Schindlers, said his clients were "with Terri up until 10 minutes before she passed.

"This is indeed a sad day for this nation. This is a sad day for this family. Their faith in God remains consistent and strong," he said. "They are absolutely convinced God loves Terri more than they do."

The Rev. Frank Pavone was with the Schindlers during their final visit. He said, "This is not only a death with all the sadness that brings, this is a killing. And for that we not only grieve that Terri has passed, but we grieve that our nation has allowed such an atrocity as this, and we pray that it will never happen again."

Wednesday, the Schindlers lost what their lawyer described as their "last meaningful legal appeal" in their desperate battle to have their brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube reinserted.

The U.S. Supreme Court late Wednesday refused once again to hear an emergency appeal from the Schindlers.

Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer in Clearwater, Florida, ordered the feeding tube removed March 18 at Michael Schiavo's request. He has said that his wife wouldn't have wanted to live in her condition -- what Florida courts have deemed a "persistent vegetative state."

The parents believed otherwise and had sought to take guardianship of their daughter from her husband. Their bitter court battles began in 1998.

"I don't understand why Michael Schiavo at some point didn't walk away," Gibbs said.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has jurisdiction over Florida, Georgia and Alabama, and could have ruled on the petition on his own, referred the appeal to the entire Supreme Court at 10:40 p.m. Wednesday.

There was no breakdown of the vote, and the high court issued no explanation for its decision. The petition had been filed earlier in the night.

It was the second time in a week the high court refused to hear the case, and the sixth time since 2001.

The Schindlers "can know they have done everything possible under the law in letting government know that they wanted to fight for the life of their daughter," Gibbs said.

In his Supreme Court filing, Gibbs and other lawyers for the parents wrote that removing the tube represented "an unconstitutional deprivation of Terri Schiavo's constitutional right to life."

The Supreme Court's rejection came hours after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia, rejected the parents' petition 9-2. That court denied three similar requests from the parents last week.

On March 21, three days after Schiavo's feeding tube was removed, Congress passed a bill transferring jurisdiction of the case from Florida state court to a U.S. District Court, for a federal judge to review. President Bush signed it into law the next day. But federal courts refused to overturn the state courts' decision.

2002 videotapes released
The Pinellas County Probate Court released nine of 11 videotapes of Terri Schiavo recorded in the summer of 2002 and shown in a Florida appeals court hearing on her medical condition.

The videos show several doctors talking to and examining Schiavo to get ready for their court testimony. The tapes were recorded from July to September 2002.

Family members, including her mother and husband, also appear in the video.

Two of the 11 tapes remain sealed by the court, but it was unclear why.

In October 2002, Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal heard a week of testimony from five doctors who examined her, including two picked by Michael Schiavo, two by her parents and one picked by the court.

Three doctors, including one appointed by the court, testified that Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. The two doctors selected by the Schindlers testified they thought she could recover.

The appellate court concurred with a lower court decision that Schiavo had no hope of recovery and that her feeding tube could be removed.

Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home in 1990, suffering from heart failure that led to severe brain damage because of lack of oxygen.

Her husband has said she suffered from bulimia, an eating disorder, that resulted in a potassium deficiency that triggered the heart failure.

[Warmonger]

God rest her soul.

[Lagspike]

Warmonger wrote: God rest her soul.

There's no such thing as a soul. Fake god rest her liquidized brain.

[Warmonger]

Don't you watch Southpark, Lagspike? Asians are the only ones without souls.

[morph]

Can i just say that it is totally screwed up that people are so enthralled by this whole fiasco? That and most of the people who were for keeping her alive are more interested in the living then they are the dead or dying...maybe it's time to rethink their core beliefs...

[Davao]

Lets think about the real argument, the parents have every right to want thier daughter to live, however, the court physicians have said repeatedly that there is no chance of here recovering. The husband wishes to move on with his life after caring for his wife, whom I believed he cared for.

Let's be humain here also, no one wants to spend 15 years on a bed in a hospital finding it a wonderful day if a bird flys by the window, that is no life for any one to be subjected to.

[WilliamC]

I didn't know Jennifer Wilbanks was on a feeding tube!

[HB3]

Again why is the government getting involved in personal issues? Stay out of my home is all I say.