AJC.com > Breaking News > Archives > 2005 > March > 23 > Entry
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.
Permalink | Categories: Schiavo case
Comments