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Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Schiavo’s uncle discusses Terri’s condition
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terri Schiavo’s uncle, Mike Tammaro, from Corning, N.Y., said he had been trying to judge Terri’s condition from day to day.
“Obviously, there are changes. She doesn’t look totally weak, but you can tell she is failing some. You can see changes in her mouth and her color,” said Tammaro outside the hospice this afternoon.
Tammaro said Terri always responds to her mother’s voice but that his sister Mary is “having a hard time.”
“I’m having to have to talk her into going over now. She hates to see the changes. She realizes time is running out,” said Tammaro.
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Appeals court denies rehearing request
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The federal appeals court in Atlanta has denied a request by Terri Schiavo’s parents for a rehearing of a three-judge panel’s decision that her feeding tube not be hooked up again.
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Judge bars agency from taking custody
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TALLAHASSEE — A state judge issued an emergency order Wednesday to keep the Department of Children & Families from taking any action that would reconnect Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube.
George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, asked Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer to issue the order Wednesday while the judge considers a request from DCF and Gov. Bush to take custody of Terri Schiavo.
The request from DCF and the governor cited new allegations of neglect and challenges Schiavo’s diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state, based on the opinion of a neurologist working for the state.
Gov. Bush and Department of Children & Families Secretary Lucy Hadi argued they have statutory authority to intervene on behalf of Schiavo, who has been without nourishment since Friday afternoon.
State officials said earlier they were considering removing Terri Schiavo from the hospice, by force if necessary, despite numerous court orders upholding the removal of the artificial nutrition tube that has kept her alive for 15 years.
Hadi said Wednesday morning that her staff is relying on a state law that gives the department the authority to intervene on behalf of a vulnerable adult who is “suffering from abuse or neglect that presents a risk of death or serious physical injury.”
Hadi said that DCF would have to file a petition in order to remove Schiavo, but “it doesn’t mean that we’d have to have judicial approval in advance of taking the action if we believed it met the threshold for doing it.”
The law says emergency medical treatment can be given to the vulnerable adult as long as “such treatment does not violate a known health care advance directive prepared by the vulnerable adult.”
Schiavo did not have such a ruling, and Hadi said seven years of court rulings backing Schiavo’s husband, Michael, in his contention that she did not wish to be kept alive artificially would not stop DCF from taking action.
“We’re not compelled to look at prior judicial proceedings,” Hadi said. “What we’re compelled to look at is the presenting circumstance and any allegation of abuse and neglect that we’ve received. So we have to deal with those and fulfill our statutory responsibility, notwithstanding anything else that may have gone on before.”
But an elder law and guardianship expert says DCF is misinterpreting the law.
“My belief is that this would be a misuse of the statute,” said Scott Solkoff, a Boynton Beach attorney and chairman of the elder law division of the Florida Bar. “What the state is doing is they’re using yet another legal strategy that may or may not have grounds to attack what they believe to be a mistake from the judicial branch.”
Hadi objected to the notion that the court decisions unquestionably upheld Michael Schiavo’s case.
“There’s nothing about this case that has been clear-cut, except our concern,” Hadi said. “We’re doing everything we can to be of assistance.”
While Hadi sat in an outer office, Schiavo’s brother, Bobby Schindler, met with Sens. Walter “Skip” Campbell, D-Tamarac, and Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee. Schindler spent the morning trying to meet with senators who opposed the measure to persuade them to change their vote this afternoon.
Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings embraced Schindler outside Sen. Burt Saunder’s office.
“The governor sends his best,” she said.
Jennings hinted that some action was forthcoming, but declined to elaborate.
“I think they’re looking at the response to the abuse calls,” Jennings said. “You’ll be hearing more. Soon.”
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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President says no options left
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
WACO, Texas — President Bush suggested Wednesday that he and Congress had done their best to help Terri Schiavo’s parents prolong her life, and the White House said it has no further legal options.
“We felt like the actions taken with Congress was the best course of action,” Bush said.
He spoke during a news conference with his counterparts from Canada and Mexico.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan later said, “There really are not other legal options available to us.”
“We have explored all our options previously,” McClellan said.
The brain-damaged woman’s parents, racing against time, asked a federal appeals court in Atlanta on Wednesday for an emergency review of an appellate panel’s ruling that her feeding tube not be hooked up again.
Schiavo’s parents have also vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court
Asked what avenues might remain, Bush said, “Now we’ll watch the courts make (their) decisions. But we looked at all options from the executive branch perspective.”
“This is an extraordinary and sad case,” he added.
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Seven adults, three children arrested at hospice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Police arrested seven adults and three children today at Woodside Hospice after each tried to take a cup of water in to Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed Friday.
Chet Gallagher, 55, a former Las Vegas police officer who coordinated the demonstration for the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, said the effort was not an act of civil disobedience, but of “Biblical obedience.”
He said demonstrators were following Jesus’ mandate to offer water to the thirsty “among the least of these” in his name.
“When we do that for them, we do that for him,” Gallagher said.
Among those arrested were Eva Edl, 69, of Aiken, S.C., who spent time in a concentration camp in Yugoslavia as a child, she said; Dave Daubemire, 52, a 28-year veteran special education teacher, from Hebron, Ohio; Chris Keys, of Burnet, Texas, and three of his four children.
Keys held 2-year-old Farrah in his arms but handed her to his wife, Gaylen, as he was handcuffed and placed into a police van. His daughter, Josie, and sons Cameron, 12, and Gabriel, 10, were taken to a juvenile facility.
Demonstrators stepped onto the hospice driveway one by one, each holding a foam cup full of water. They dropped to their knees as Pinellas Park police stopped them. Officers gently pulled protesters to their feet, handcuffed them, and put them in waiting vans. The children were placed in a police cruiser.
Their mother followed the caravan of police vehicles to sign for their release. “I’m proud of them,” she said.
Each of those arrested were charged with trespassing after warning, a misdemeanor.
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Mother makes plea for daughter’s life
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
About 12:45 p.m., a stoic Mary Schindler made another plea for her daughter’s life.
“I see my daughter dying, starving to death. Please, someone out there stop this cruel treatment. Stop this insanity. Please let my daughter live,” Schindler said outside the hospice.
Schindler was accompanied by her husband Bob, daughter Suzanne Vitadamo, and two Franciscan friars.
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Parents ask for full appeals court review
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Racing against time to save their brain-damaged daughter’s life, Terri Schiavo’s parents asked a federal appeals court Wednesday for an emergency review of an appellate panel’s ruling that her feeding tube not be hooked up again.
The request for an “expedited rehearing” of the full 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was made 10 hours after the three-judge panel had rejected Bob and Mary Schindler’s earlier filing.
A majority of the 12-member court would have to agree to hear the case before it would be considered, said Matt Davidson, the court’s calendar clerk. There was no immediate word on when the court would make that decision.
In their appeal, the Schindlers said their daughter’s medical condition is “deteriorating rapidly.” They asked that the full court order the hospice in Florida where Schiavo is staying to immediately transport her to a hospital “for any medical necessary to sustain her life and to re-establish her nutrition and hydration.”
In a 2-1 ruling earlier Wednesday, the three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit said the parents “failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims” that the feeding tube should be reinserted immediately.
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Fla. legislator scrambles for votes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A state senator pushing a bill to keep Terri Schiavo alive said Wednesday is the Senate’s last chance to pass legislation to have the brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube reinserted. But another senator predicted the courts would strike such a bill down.
Sen. Daniel Webster was scrambling to secure votes to pass a bill that would prohibit patients like Schiavo from being denied food and water if they didn’t express their wishes in writing.
“Whatever it is, today is it,” said Webster.
The Senate began discussing Webster’s bill around 1:30 p.m.
Webster had said Tuesday that he needed at least two senators to change their position on his bill, which could be debated when the Senate begins its session Wednesday afternoon.
“I don’t even know if I have a majority vote,” said Webster, a Republican.
Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday renewed his call for the Legislature to step in and “spare Terri’s life.”
The Legislature had stepped in before, in 2003, and Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube was reinserted after six days at that time. But “Terri’s Law” was later struck down as unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court, which said it violated Terri Schiavo’s right to privacy and delegated legislative power to the governor.
The Senate minority leader, Sen. Les Miller, said the new bill faced a similar fate.
“By the time the ink is dry on the governor’s signature, it will be declared unconstitutional, just like it was before,” said Miller, a Democrat. “So I don’t see anything or any language that can persuade my vote.”
But at least one senator said he was considering changing his vote Wednesday morning.
“I’m praying about it,” said Sen. Gary Siplin, also a Democrat. “I don’t want anyone to die who doesn’t have to.”
If the Senate passes Webster’s bill, it would have to take a second vote requiring two-thirds approval to immediately sent it to the House. Otherwise, the House would have to wait until Thursday to consider the measure. The full House is not scheduled to meet Thursday, but it could be called into session if necessary.
The House has already passed a bill, but it has broader language than the Senate version. The Senate bill would apply only to cases where families disagree on a patient’s wishes.
Schiavo, 41, has been at the center of a court battle between her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, over whether she would want to be kept alive in a severely brain damaged state. She has gone without food and water since Friday, when her feeding tube was removed under court order. Doctors have said she could live through next week.
Michael Schiavo says she wouldn’t want to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state. The Schindlers say those weren’t her wishes and contest the diagnosis, saying their daughter is conscious and could recover.
Her parents’ options continued to narrow as a federal appeals court refused to order the reinsertion of the tube Wednesday. The Schindlers said they would take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Her brother, Bobby Schindler, arrived in the state capital early Wednesday to plead with lawmakers.
“I’m not going to give up hope,” he said. “My family never has. We’ll keep doing what we have to do to somehow get my sister out of this mess.”
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Schiavo parents ‘devastated’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo, rested at their home Wednesday as their lawyers continued to fight to keep their daughter alive, their spiritual adviser said this morning.
“As you can imagine, they are devastated,” said Brother Paul O’Donnell, a Franciscan friar, outside the Florida hospice where the 41-year-old brain-damaged woman resides.
Another clergyman, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington D.C.-based Christian Defense Coalition, expressed hope that Schiavo’s feeding tube would be restored through a full review by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, or action by the Florida Legislature.
If those efforts fail, Mahoney said, he hopes Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will take Schiavo under protective state custody and have the tube restored.
“Governor Bush,” he said. “You may be Terri’s last hope.”
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Case will go first to Justice Kennedy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thomas J. Perrelli, an attorney for Michael Schiavo, said he believes the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the Terri Schiavo by late afternoon today.
“My sense is (the parents’s lawyers) will file by midday and then we’ll literally file as fast as we can” in response, he said.
The case would first go to Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Reagan appointee who has staked a moderate position on social issues.
Kennedy would have the option to act on the petition alone, although on previous emergency requests involving Terri Schiavo he has referred the matter to the entire nine-member court.
Michael Schiavo won court orders to have his brain-damaged wife’s feeding tube removed.
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Protesters remain outside Schiavo’s hospice
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Pinellas Park, Fla. — A handful of faithful protesters today braved a steady rain with occasional thunder and lightning to stay outside the hospice where Terri Schiavo lies.
Gordon Watts of Lakeland, Fla. , spent the night in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Watts has been fasting except for water for three days to show solidarity with Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed Friday.
“The situation is desperate,” he said after hearing that a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta had refused to order the feeding tube reinstalled.
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