Thursday, March 31, 2005
By Jane Roh
Terri Schiavo, the severely brain-damaged Florida woman at the heart of an epic legal and political battle that launched a national debate on end-of-life issues, died Thursday morning.
The 41-year-old woman died in her Pinellas Park, Fla., hospice at 9:05 a.m. EST, nearly 14 days after doctors removed the feeding tube that had kept her alive for 15 years. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, held her in his arms as she took her final breaths, his attorney said.
George Felos declined to describe in detail his client's wife's death, but said: "It was evident to everyone around him, the profound emotion and loss for Mr. Schiavo. It was clear to everyone he loved Terri deeply and her passing was a tremendous loss for him."
Later Thursday afternoon, Terri Schiavo's father, sister and brother spoke sorrowfully at a press conference. Schiavo's mother, so prominent during the increasingly desperate fight to keep her daughter alive, did not attend.
"As a member of our family unable to speak for yourself, you spoke loudly," said Schiavo's brother, Bobby. "We know that God loves you more than we do. You must accept your untimely death as God's will," he said, addressing his late sister.
Speaking to the family's supporters, Schiavo's sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, said, "We assure you you can be proud of this remarkable woman who has captured the attention of the world."
Vitadamo also asked supporters who were upset to refrain from acts of violence, and her brother asked forgiveness for anything the family had said or done that "did not honor our faith."
Earlier in the afternoon, Felos disclosed for the first time that Michael Schiavo had been living in the hospice since March 18, when his wife's feeding tube was removed. He said Terri Schiavo's breathing became irregular and her heart weaker on Wednesday, signaling to doctors that she was "entering the final stages of the death process."
After Schiavo died and a van from the Pinellas County medical examiner's office arrived, about 30 to 40 people gathered around her body as a hospice chaplain said a prayer. The group included Michael Schiavo, his brother Brian, Felos, another attorney, the hospice workers who had cared for her over the years, and the law enforcement officers who protected her in her final days.
Those who knew Schiavo have often observed that the lively but shy woman who struggled with weight problems since childhood would never have imagined herself as the object of so much attention.
Terri Schiavo Battle Not Over
Thursday, March 31, 2005
By Jane Roh
Schiavo's death Thursday morning brought home the solemn point that at the heart of what was an intense, vicious feud was a woman lying on a hospice bed, unable to stand up and referee the fight of her life.
While grief momentarily quieted the din, new battles over the Florida woman were already taking shape.
To a series of yet-to-be-proven accusations against her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, that include murder and wife-beating, those who opposed removing her feeding tube could add "heartless cruelty."
Not more than two hours after her death in Pinellas Park, Fla., a spokesman for Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, accused their son-in-law of blocking their family from being with their daughter in her final moments.
"And so his heartless cruelty continues until this very last moment," said Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "This is not only a death, with all the sadness that brings, but 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."
Later in the afternoon, Michael Schiavo's lawyer scolded Pavone and other Schindler supporters for injecting rancor into what should have been a day of mourning.
"It was disquieting to hear the priest issue venom and make those extremely harsh statements about Mr. Schiavo," attorney George Felos said. "Instead of words of healing, words of reconciliation, compassion and understanding, we had a platform for an ideological agenda. It was counterproductive and disquieting."
Felos then went on to explain that his client barred his wife's brother, Bobby Schindler, from her room only after he became hostile to a police officer standing guard.
Michael Schiavo's "overriding concern was that she [Terri Schiavo] had a right to die with dignity and in peace. Mr. Schiavo was not going to permit a potentially explosive situation" in the room as Terri Schiavo lay dying, Felos said, in a dig at the Schindlers' spiritual adviser.
In a later press conference, Bobby Schindler and his sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, told supporters not to be angry, and asked God's forgiveness for anything the family had said or done that "did not honor our faith." But it wasn't long before TV pundits were accusing Michael Schiavo of heartlessly banning his wife's family from her deathbed.
Laying Terri to Rest
Disagreements over how to say goodbye to Terri Schiavo popped up even before she died.
In one of numerous court filings, the Schindlers asked Florida Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer to allow them to give their daughter a Roman Catholic funeral and bury her in Florida.
But Michael Schiavo has said his wife wanted to be cremated, and he planned to inter her ashes on his family's plot in Pennsylvania. The Schindlers have said their Roman Catholic daughter was very religious and would not want to be cremated.
FOX News' senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said the Schindlers had little recourse.
"Judge Greer did find Michael was still the guardian and had the powers to make those decisions," he said.
Michael Schiavo's brother Scott said his sister-in-law's ashes would be interred at an undisclosed location near Philadelphia. But, "if Mike knew they would come in peace, he would have no problem with" her immediate family also attending, Scott Schiavo told the Associated Press.
Michael Schiavo did not want Terri Schiavo's funeral to turn into a media spectacle, his brother said.
A spokesman for the Pinellas County medical examiner's office said Schiavo's body would be returned to her husband by Friday, but that autopsy results may not be available for weeks.
Felos announced earlier this week that there would be an autopsy of Terri Schiavo's body, though Florida law mandates a medical examiner's investigation. Felos said his client hoped to settle once and for all questions over her physical state as well as some recent allegations that Michael Schiavo abused and attempted to kill his wife after she was hospitalized in 1990.
The Schindlers have not objected to the autopsy; they hope the findings will prove their daughter was not in a persistent vegetative state as had been diagnosed by numerous doctors. They and their supporters have said, against all known medical evidence, that Schiavo was able to communicate and respond. In one emergency legal filing last week, they claimed she had said she wanted to live.
Americans Divided?
Protesters who had kept vigil outside the hospice for nearly two weeks were seen crying, screaming, praying and singing hymns after Schiavo's death was announced. Some held signs comparing Schiavo's predicament to the passion of Jesus Christ.
The scene outside the hospice was hardly a microcosm of the rest of the nation. The latest FOX News poll shows 54 percent of Americans saw the removal of the feeding tube as "an act of mercy," compared with 29 percent who called it murder. Many polls, including FOX's, show that in a medical catastrophe most Americans want the right to determine when to die. Most Americans also feel that the government has no business meddling in their end-of-life decisions.
But the loudest talking heads in the media have been conservatives who opposed removing the feeding tube.
"It seems to me the right has been more powerful in expressing its views than the left," said Eric Burns, host of "FOX News Watch."
"They seem to have common sense on their side — it seems to be a better idea to live than die. When you defend the position that Terri Schiavo's husband has taken, you invite your opponents to sound so pious and moralistic. You invite them to say, 'I'm moral and you’re not.'"
Indeed, Michael Schiavo has largely avoided talking to the media, whereas the Schindlers and their supporters have all but saturated the airwaves for the past two weeks.
While Michael Schiavo's supporters have praised him for treating the matter of his wife's death with seeming restraint and sobriety, Burns said: "It's not just a matter of dignity. So many people in the media have cast him as the villain ... superficially speaking, he's in the more villainous position."
Burns said because Schiavo's position was on the surface the more indefensible one, it was wise of him to limit his exposure.
But the fact that the majority of Americans backed Michael Schiavo pointed to the limited power of even 24-hour blanket news coverage, Burns said.
"The other side played to the media in almost outrageous fashion. But isn't it interesting that the side that got the most of the coverage was the side that most Americans disagreed with?"
New Laws Ahead
Legal analysts said to expect legislatures across the country to examine their end-of-life laws.
"In my view, the most material question is the status of a guardian," said Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University who has followed Schiavo's case closely.
"I personally believe that the Schindlers had good ground to question whether Michael Schiavo should have continued as the guardian after he formed a new family with another woman and ultimately had two children by that individual," Turley told FOXNews.com.
Michael Schiavo has repeatedly refused to give up legal guardianship of his wife despite her parents' pleas. Schiavo has always said, and the courts have affirmed, that his wife did not want to be kept alive artificially. But the Schindlers have insisted that Terri Schiavo wanted to be kept alive, and have even disputed the consensus of court-appointed doctors that she would never recover.
FOX News' Judge Napolitano said even if it turned out Schiavo was not in a persistent vegetative state, her husband could not legally be held liable because the courts have consistently sided with him.
Napolitano also predicted that legislatures would lay down specific guidelines for courts in ruling on such cases, pointing to the fact that Judge Greer, who has presided over the Schiavo case from the beginning, has never gone to see her himself.
"I insist on going to the bedside" in cases like this, Napolitano said. "I want to see this person. There is no rule of law telling me to do so, just as there was none telling Judge Greer to do so.
"Had he done that, there would have been a little more acceptance of his decisions. I think you'll find the legislature making judges perform these visitations," Napolitano said.
George Washington's Turley also said the extraordinary measures Congress took two weekends ago to prolong Schiavo's life hurt the Schindlers' case.
"Congress' political intervention shifted attention away from the merits of the [Schindlers'] case to a constitutional controversy. It essentially poisoned the well for later legal arguments, and goes into the category of how the best of intentions can produce the worst of results," Turley told FOXNews.com.
Because of a 1990 Supreme Court ruling on which most right-to-die legislation was built, courts are tasked with determining what the patient's wishes would be, most often based on the spouse's testimony absent written instructions. The parents' wishes or the wishes of the government cannot override what the patient would have wanted.
The Schindlers' attorneys may have known what they were up against, hence some of the more novel arguments they made as time ran out, including that Schiavo was speaking but only in the family's presence, and that her husband was abusive, an allegation that did not surface until well after the two sides of the family stopped speaking.
Napolitano predicted that the battle over Schiavo would cause legislatures and courts to re-examine the issue of self-determination to prevent more such contentious cases.
"Where it is not crystal clear what the patient would have wanted, or where there is great dispute over what she would have wanted, or where the patient inarticulately or imprecisely expressed her wishes, then courts should err on side of life," Napolitano said, adding that most people, if given the choice, would want to live in all but the most extreme instances.
Conflicts of interest in
Terri Schiavo tragedy
By Judi McLeod, Editor
Canada Free Press
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Every time a rock is lifted in the Terri Schiavo tragedy, another conflict of interest comes slithering out.
The conflict-of-interest potential in the right-to-die connections among current figures involved in the case are only outdone by the Woodside Hospice board of director's conflict of interest reality.
Mrs. Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance. She was 41.
There's the death-is-beautiful, "right-to-die" activist and Michael Schiavo attorney, George Felos.
Don't make eye contact with Felos, who claims he can ascertain a person's desire to die by "looking into their eyes" and letting their spirits speak directly to him.
A jumped-up volunteer at Woodside Hospice, Felos became chairman of the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, which runs Woodside, and only came off the board about a year after Michael Schiavo placed his estranged wife there.
Then there's Dr. Ronald Cranford, handpicked by Michael Schiavo to examine Terri and on whose say-so Terri was categorized in "persistent vegetative state". Cranford is the MD who officially ordered Terri's feeding tube removed on March 18. A neurologist, Cranford testifies in cases such as Terri's around the country, always pumping the dehydration and starvation side. He was 1992's featured speaker for the pro-euthanasia Hemlock Society, which was renamed The Choice in Dying Society. (WorldNetDaily).
Cranford nicknamed himself, "Dr. Humane Death".
A bioethicist, and a pioneer in euthanasia and right-to-die issues, Dr. Humane Death is a fully-fledged member of The Choice in Dying Society.
At least Cranford is not a board member of the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast.
Mary Labyak, CEO of Woodside Hospice has direct ties to the Euthanasia Society of America and Hemlock for Hospice, described by Hyscience.com as "an organization that seeks to accelerate the dying process."
Everett Rice, former Pinellas County Sheriff (1988-204) endorsed Judge George Greer for reelection in campaign ads. Rice, a former board member for the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, hired Michael Schiavo while Schiavo's guardianship proceedings were being heard in the courtroom of his longtime friend, Judge George Greer.
Senator Jim King, who originally upheld the passage of "Terri's Law", was a board member of Woodside.
Then there's Gus Michael Bilirakis, Florida State representative 1998-2000 and between 2001-2003, who was on the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast board of directors.
As a county commissioner, Judge Greer was a working colleague of Barbara Sheen Todd (county commissioner) for eight consecutive years. Sheen Todd is also on the board of the hospice where Terri lingered.
Judge Greer's fellow judge, Judge John Lenderman is the brother of Martha Lenderman, on the same board.
The mainline media has not reported on the myriad conflicts of interest connected to the Terri Schiavo tragedy, although any one interested can read about them on the Internet.
Canada Free Press founding editor Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the media. A former Toronto Sun and Kingston Whig Standard columnist, she has also appeared on Newsmax.com, the Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, and World Net Daily. Judi can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com.
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blogsforterri.com
Making Food and Water Life Support: Who had the law changed and why?
Michael Schiavo's attorney George Felos took his case and then filed the
petition to introduce HB 2131 in 1999. Then the law in Tallahassee gets
changed. Then the Schiavo case gets heard. In that order.
In April 1999 - House Bill 2131 was introduced in the Florida legislature
by the Florida Elder Affairs & Long-Term Care Committee to amend Section
765 (Civil Rights) of the Florida Statutes. The amendments to Section
765.101 were the legal definition of "life prolonging procedures" to add:
"INCLUDING ARTIFICIALLY PROVIDED SUSTENENCE AND HYDRATION, WHICH SUSTAINS,
RESTORES, OR SUPPLANTS A SPONTANEOUS VITAL FUNCTION". It becomes law on
October 1, 1999.(update) HB 2131 actually never made it out of the House
however a very similar bill, S 2228 , which included the same language,
passed both houses and was signed by Governor Bush on June 10, 1999.
Who lobbied for changing the law to make food and water be defined as
"artificial" life support in 1999?
HB 2131 GENERAL BILL by Elder Affairs & Long-Term Care (HFC); Argenziano;
(CO-SPONSORS) Heyman; Sobel; Reddick; Fiorentino; Bilirakis; Littlefield;
Kosmas; Bitner; Jacobs; Levine; Bloom.
David Allen contacted the Clerk of The Florida House and was informed that
"Bilirakis" was Representative "Gus Michael Bilirakis" (terms 1998 - 2000
and 2001 - 2003).
Note that the hospice where Terri Schiavo has been held is operated by
Suncoast Hospice. Rep. Gus Michael Bilirakis lists himself on the Suncoast
Hospice Board of Directors - along with George Felos who filed the suit in
the summer of 1998 to withdraw food and water form Terri Schiavo. Who else
has also been on that Board?