Reuters: Schiavo Slams Florida Lawmakers Over Right-To-Die (Nightline)

[Hissyspit]

Husband Slams Florida Lawmakers Over Right-To-Die
Wed Mar 16, 2005 1:33 AM ET

MIAMI (Reuters) - The husband of a brain-damaged Florida woman at the center of a right-to-die controversy criticized Florida's governor and lawmakers who are making an 11th-hour attempt to pass legislation to keep her alive.

In an interview on the ABC news program "Nightline" late on Tuesday, Michael Schiavo called "outrageous" a bill that could pass the state legislature this week barring people from withholding food and water from brain-damaged patients unless they left written directives.

Schiavo accused Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the younger brother of President Bush, of interfering with state courts, which have consistently ruled in Schiavo's favor in his bid to allow his wife to die.

"He's basically jumping right over the state court's decision. We might as well not have any state courts," Schiavo said.

MORE AT: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=2005-03-16T063300Z_01_N16668797_RTRIDST_0_USREPORT-RIGHTS-SCHIAVO-DC.XML

[blogbear]

1. Of Course Jeb Bush Interferes..That runs..

In his family doesn't it?

[DemBones DemBones]

2. Michael Schiavo gave consent for the feeding tube

in the first place, which he could have refused if he'd only remembered then that she wouldn't want to be kept alive. That's the main thing that bothers me about his argument: it took several years before he started claiming she wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive with nutrition and hydration, years in which he'd allowed nutrition and hydration by feeding tube to be started.

Without her wishes in writing, the judges are deciding this case based on hearsay evidence from someone who is hardly a disinterested party.

It's a misnomer to call it a "right-to-die" case because Mrs. Schiavo is not asking to die, her husband is asking for permission to starve her to death.

[qazplm]

3. baloney

if he wanted to get away from her, he could just divorce her and be done with it.

I am sure his current girl is just peachy keen that he hasnt yet by the way lol

bottom line, he gets nothing but grief out of this all by staying married to her and fighting this, he HAS an out, divorce, one that would be damn easy to get, so WHAT is his motivation to lie about what she wanted?

There is none!

[clydefrand]

13. Are you sure he can get a divorce in FL without her consent?

I've heard to the contrary.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

31. No one "consents" to a divorce

It's a legal proceeding, and all it takes is one person.

It's to be applauded, Michael Schiavo's standing by his wife through all of this horrid absurdity.

[Old and In the Way]

4. Back then he thought there was a chance she could

reverse her state, but now, 15 years later, he knows that is impossible....and you find fault with that? Man, you are tough. He's in a no win situation with you...damned that he did, damned if he didn't.

As far as "starving" her, that condition assumes she is cognitive of her condition to experience the state. She obviously isn't. And why is that method used? Because the "right-to-lifers" would be screaming "euthanasia" or "murder" if we used a more humane method to help her pass. If we were as compassionate with her as we are our family pets, we'd administer a morphine drip and let her remains pass quickly, so there'd be no "starvation" .

[OldLeftieLawyer]

32. Let me save you the trouble, friend

No matter how many ways you explain it to them - even verrrrrry slowly - the folks who maintain that Mrs. Schiavo will be 'starved' are never going to yield to the reality you're trying to show them.

"There are none so blind as those who will not see."

Save your energy, friend. We've been around this one too many times here at D.U.

[sandnsea]

5. This is just sad

The man did what he could to give his wife every opportunity for recovery and you're using that against him???

She is dead. Dead. If you believe in God's will so much, why would you fight the death that would come without human interference?

You are taking Catholic reverence for life way beyond anything that was ever intended. It is a perversion, quite frankly. It is the equivalent of stuffing a body like a taxodermist. There is absolutely nothing Catholic about your view. I don't think
God would remotely approve of keeping a dead body hooked up to machines at all.

[ima_sinnic]

8. play god much?

keeping this shell "alive" for years beyond what would have been a natural death is downright cruel--not to mention hypocritical, in light of all the millions who are really alive but suffering from inadequate medical care, abuse, hunger, etc.

pious, self-righteous busybodies need to butt out. as do those, like the Florida governor and legislature, who merely have a political axe to grind and could really care less about Terry Schiavo the human being.

[What Is This Crap]

16. you sound like that hatemonger glenn beck

the repukes just want to make this poor woman suffer. let it end!

[Scairp]

27. How do you know she is suffering?

Is she suffering now more than if she would if she is slowly starved to death and denied hydration? Give me a friggin break! She is not any kind of advanced life support machinery, there is no evidence she is in pain, and merely providing basis sustenance does not qualify as life support. Her family should be permitted to take over. This guy is a monster, IMO.

I have no clue why people here see this as an issue that is freepers on one side and liberals on the other. I see this as a human rights issue, and perhaps even a domestic violence case. A husband wants to off his wife legally, and you guys are okay with that? Everyone's judgment is being clouded by the hatred of the Bush clan. I hate em too, but what is happening to this woman is just not right.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

33. Sorry, but you're wrong

Feeding tubes are life-support. Maybe not the big, fancy, made-for-TV types you're used to seeing, but it's all life-support.

And it's called a 'feeding tube" because it's NOT a meal. Otherwise, it would be called a "meal."

That's why it's life support. Terri Schiavo can't swallow, can't chew, can't use a fork, can't even comprehend that this idiocy is taking place around her.

She died fifteen years ago.

[Old and In the Way]

42. She's not suffering.

You need a brain to experience suffering. Her body's on autopilot. Has been for 15 years.

A feeding tube is life support. It's fuel that keeps the engine running, awaiting the owner to use it. But the owner permanently left it running 15 years ago, so the neighbors have kept refueling the engine ever since- in the false hope that the owner will return to reclaim it.

Tell me, would you want to have Terri's quality of life for the past 15 years? Is it right to condemn to "live" like this for another 30? I certainly wouldn't want to be her. I'd hope that my spouse would do the right thing and let me go. This is not my definition of living.

This is nothing but a very sad tale of parents who won't face reality and whom are being manipulated by a cynical bunch of "family values" hypocrites, intent on keeping this body alive as a fundraising tool.

I find it curious that the same people who are such firm believers of God and the glory of His Plan for us after death, would be thwarting Terri's opportunity to meet Him. Why do they hate Terri so much; what did she do to deserve this government-imposed purgatorial state?

[moobu2]

22. He decided to pursue the discontinuation of life support on doctors advice

If you had bothered reading the court documents, you would quickly see everything in your post is factually incorrect. It's almost as if you're talking about another case or you got the false information from Right to lie website.

Anyway, it was more than Michaels word. It was Michaels brother and his wife, who don't really have an interest to commit perjury. also, other evidence of her personality and decision making was considered. Again, it's very clear in the courts ruling if you care to know what the truth is.

The Schindlers on the other hand said they would never disconnect Terri's life support under any circumstances, even if Terri herself told them personally she would not have wanted it.

[Scairp]

26. Finally!

Some common sense being posted on this forum regarding this case! There has been a dearth of that in previous discussions. If this jerk really cared about her, he would have bowed out of the situation years ago and allowed her family to take over caring for her. This crap about wanting what's best for her makes me nauseous.

I wonder how the children he has with his current girlfriend will feel when they are old enough to understand the way in which he handled this situation. I have a feeling they won't think much of it.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

34. You "have a feeling"?

What a pompous, uninformed, self-aggrandizing, idiotic statement!

You know the kids?

Jesus. That kind of thinking is downright laughable.

Those kids will grow up knowing their father fought for his wife and would do the same for them and their mother. What more heroic act can a father do?

You really blew it with that one, you really did. Michael Schiavo IS her family, whether you approve or not. And I applaud everything he's done for his wife. Every husband should be as respectful and conscientious and loving as Michael Schiavo.

[Name removed]

41. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Old and In the Way]

43. Gee, suggesting someone kill himself?

You must be quite conflicted. Wishing a person with a functioning brain to kill himself, all the while arguing for a brain-dead person to be kept alive. What an odd universe you inhabit.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[moobu2]

49. In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 65 percent of Americans say

the spouse rather than the parents should have final say in such disputes; 25 percent say it should be the parents.

Look on the second page for a breakdown along religious denomination lines.

It's interesting that even among religious conservatives, when the question was "Would they want life support" more than 80% to more than 90%, depending on which groups, would not want life support for themselves.

March 15, 2005 — In family disputes over life support, a broad majority of Americans think final say should go to a patient's spouse rather than his or her parents — placing the public firmly on the side of Terri Schiavo's husband and the Florida courts that have ruled in his favor.

Schiavo has been in a persistent vegetative state after suffering extensive brain damage brought on by heart failure in 1990, when she was 26. She left no living will, and her parents and husband have been locked in a dispute on whether to continue life support. Her feeding tube is to be removed Friday, though legislators may intervene.
In a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, 65 percent of Americans say the spouse rather than the parents should have final say in such disputes; 25 percent say it should be the parents.

Schiavo's husband, Michael, wants to discontinue life support, saying that would be her wish. Her parents want life support continued. Here, too, the husband's position is in line with what most Americans would want for themselves: Eighty-seven percent say that if they were in this condition, they would want life support terminated.

LINK

[OldLeftieLawyer]

48. My goodness...........

It's nice to know you're voicing your opinions based on your feelings, all the while ranting like some amphetamine-riddled fishwife.

I don't think you're despicable for having your "feelings."

I just think you're nuts.

Adorable, but nuts.

[me b zola]

54. Have you had to make" the call" for a loved one??

I have. You know their wishes. Their wishes are documented. But knowing the point of no return is the most difficult. My mother kept making "miraclulous" come backs, but always in a much more detriorated state, one that I know that she would not have wanted to live in. I kept her alive because I wanted to be sure that I would be doing the right thing. There was no easy decission.

My husband and I know each others wishes, and be damned what any court says. We will not starve the other in such a case, but will give a compassionate life-ending shot to remove all suffering. The trick is to know when.

If you want to continue in a vegitative state laying in feces, then that is your business, please don't tell the rest of us how to die with dignity.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

30. So you dismiss the sanctity of the marriage vows?

When they got married, he became her legal next-of-kin, and whether you approve or not, he speaks for her when she cannot speak. That negates hearsay, so that argument doesn't fly.

By the way, he never gave "approval" for the feeding tube. It was a standard medical procedure done when she was first taken to the hospital.

Get your facts straight before you posit your theories. You might find yourself coming to an entirely different, and better-informed, conclusion.

[Princess Turandot]

52. hmm..perhaps that was because he ..

was initially holding out hope that she might recover ??? That would be quite consistent with his efforts relative to her care for the first 7 years or so after her medical event. It also predated the liquification of all but her primitive brain.

[KaliTracy]

53. but did he know at that time that their was no hope of recovery? that she

was already in a persistant vegitative state? Wasn't that determined much, much later?

[Amfortas]

6. when will this circus end ?

sigh

[bluedog]

15. Yes this is a Expensive Circus for us

here in Pinellas county and the state.......

the parents of the school next to Hospice got letters telling them that the kids that walk to school and the bikers will meet at the end of the street for pick-up.....send buses and trucks -a block away so these kids K-6 don't have to walk through the protesters.......that was a very good decision...........cause G*d knows what kind of perverts are in these crowds.

A construction fence put up by our county workers to keep the herd off the road.as this is a dead end street......teachers have to get special parking passes to park in the parking lot....yesterday there were 15 policemen stationed by the fences.......


In the Capitol..protesters were handing out wilted roses.saying do not feed or water....and they themselves had "Red Tape" on their nmouths.....they are also doing on a starvation strike when her tube is pulled........

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

23. Is this the.................

The hospice on Tampa road?

[bluedog]

28. no.its in Pinellas Park......by

Cross Bayou school

[OldLeftieLawyer]

35. I like that

Red tape on their mouths. Good.

And I do hope they stay on the starvation strike until it's all over. For them.

[ima_sinnic]

46. lol -- yes, that's a bit too much to hope for, no? (nt)

[moobu2]

7. Read the Nightline transcript

<snip>"And not only that, it's not just Floridians' rights that are at stake, but everyone in the country. There is a bill in the United States Congress, and this bill in the United States Congress would virtually let any family member bring a federal court habeas corpus proceeding, which would tie up a case like that for years in federal court, which would make it virtually impossible for anyone to remove artificial life support.

And I want to mention, too, for everyone listening out there, this bill, filed in federal court, does not pertain just to vegetative patients. It doesn't pertain just to removal of feeding tubes. It pertains to removal or refusal of any type of medical treatment."
Read the Nightline-Michael Schiavo transcript

[okoboji]

9. wow

so here is my series of questions if this should ever pass....

Will special faciilties need to be built in order to house all of these people that will be attached to life support and feeding tubes for the possible years that it may require to house them?

Are medical insurance companies going to pay for this medical expense of keeping bodies alive?

Are Federal agencies willing to pay for the cost, long after the families monies have been depleted?

Or in the case of no money .... will those people have the plug or feeding tubes removed?


this world gets more bizare every day .... save the fetus, save brain dead people from dying ... but for the love of god, don't allow poor healthy children or adults enough money for food, health care, education, and a home....



fuckers

[biftonnorton]

10. There'd Be A Tax On The Patient Him/Herself

What they'd do is "tax" the fund-depleted patient by keeping them alive as long as possibe and selling the organs-- a cornea here, a kidney there, some skin for a graft over here... In that way the patient essentially pays for their own care, ya see. Of course, that care/warehousing could be privatized (with appropriate gov't oversight, of course.)

[sustarr]

14. After the families monies have been depleted..

They could go bankrupt!

[GiovanniC]

18. Bankrupt? No, No, No, No, NO! There IS No Bankrupt.

Haven't you heard? We just passed a bill that says, "You ain't got the money? Then we'll break your fucking kneecap. And then one extra bone in your body for every day that goes by that you don't pay me."

[GoddessOfGuinness]

25. They'll pass the debt along to the family of the victim.

Send the kids to debtor's prison or indenture them to Walmart.

[Delphinus]

12. OMG!

And I want to mention, too, for everyone listening out there, this bill, filed in federal court, does not pertain just to vegetative patients. It doesn't pertain just to removal of feeding tubes. It pertains to removal or refusal of any type of medical treatment."

What will the Christian Scientists do? Or Jehovah's Witnesses? This last sentence is waaaay scary. :scared:

[Lars39]

17. Somehow I knew they'd try something like this.

I'm going to post this in GD. People need to see this.
I wish the lawyer had given us the name of the bill, though.

[bluedog]

20. Bill SB 804

Bill SB 804 could make it to the full Senate as early as Thursday, when the House also will debate the issue.

Villalobos, the Senate majority leader, did not say he would support the bill on a final vote. The bill could fail if a half-dozen Senate Republicans balk.

Senate President Tom Lee said, "There is no agreement" with the House on a final bill. "We should move slowly and cautiously," Lee said. "I don't want to repeat the problems we had last time."


http://www.sptimes.com/2005/03/16/State/End_of_life_bills_rev.shtml

[Lars39]

21. Thanks!

Any idea of the name of the bill in Congress?
I hate to post and run, but I've got to leave in 5 minutes for all-day doctor appointments.

[northzax]

37. but you know what's really important?

second cousin bob has more rights than life partner steve.

how sick is this country?

[Massachusetts]

11. Who Benefits?

The person or persons that can't cope or conceive that some people on life support ARE BRAIN DEAD.

Keeping the BRAIN DEAD individual "hooked" up to "life" support (hypocrisy there somewhere), is nothing short of selfish and cruel.

Who also benefits? Shady Politicians who use this as a platform to further their sleaze, and Hospitals who keep feeding from the Insurance trough the living keep filled. IMO

[moobu2]

19. A lot of religious sects (Catholics, Baptists etc) operate hospitals

that would benefit a great deal financially from the maintenance of these lifeless bodies being fed sometimes for decades. I guess stock holders in these private hospitals would benefit also.


No, I'm sure they wouldn't let making billions of dollars influence their support for an issue.

[janx]

24. The epitome of BIG GOVERNMENT--something conservatives

wanted nothing to do with and fought at every turn. How things have changed...

[bluedog]

29. UPdate.........Court Won't Intervene in Schiavo Case

AP
Court Won't Intervene in Schiavo Case

56 minutes ago

Add to My Yahoo! U.S. National - AP

By VICKIE CHACHERE, Associated Press Writer

TAMPA, Fla. - A state appeals court Wednesday refused to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube later this week, shifting the focus in the right-to-die dispute to the Legislature.



The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland turned down a request by Bob and Mary Schindler for a delay while they pursue further appeals, and for a new trial on their daughter's fate.

The tube is scheduled to be removed on Friday at 1 p.m.

The appeals court said the issues that the Schindlers raised were not new and had been dealt with by numerous courts.

"Not only has Mrs. Schiavo's case been given due process, but few, if any similar cases have ever been afforded this heightened level of process," Chief Judge Christ Altenbernd said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=4&u=/ap/20050316/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman

[northzax]

36. what about children?

can parents make decisions for them, or do they have to leave instructions in writing?

infants in incubators? sorry kid, can't write? you're going to be force fed for decades.

[Ilsa]

38. I would think the parents of the minor would be the ones

to make decisions about their medical care.

[northzax]

40. why think that?

the spouse has always had that right in marriage, and the State wants to take that away, why not children as well?

[Old and In the Way]

47. You are correct.

Some people don't realize the magnitude of the unintended consequences at stake in these decisions. We are seem to losing our collective common sense.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

50. That's already been usurped, but people don't know

You cannot imagine how many times people like Jehovah's Witnesses, who believe that blood transfusions are against God's will, get hauled into court and nailed for refusing transfusions for their kids.

Invariably, the kid is transfused. Against the religious beliefs of the parents.

Amerika, our country.

[UTUSN]

39. Transcript and Congressional Wingnut Panderers Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3281289

[Catfight]

44. One fact, how many DEATH warrants has Jeb signed? n/t

[UTUSN]

51. Kick n/t