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On the road again.
 Yep, Pinellas County probate court judge George W. Greer is packing his black robe and embarking on yet another engagement outside of Florida.
But then Greer told the St. Petersburg Times last year that he travels to unwind.
Already scheduled to appear on Monday, May 1 at a symposium at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics in Philadelphia on a program featuring Michael Schiavo, Jay Wolfson, Ronald Cranford and Arthur Caplan, all prinicipal players in the Terri Schiavo case, now Greer has a new gig.
He’s headed to Boston University on March 31, the first year anniversary of the death of Terri Schiavo for a conference on the case, an internationally renowned case of judicial homicide.
Not only is he scheduled to appear yet again with Dr. Ronald Cranford, “Dr. Humane Death”, but yet another award has been codgered up for him, this one called the Pike Prize for the murder of an innocent disabled woman.
Greer caused the death of Terri Schiavo, 41, by ordering that all food and water be withheld from her, contrary to Florida Statutes, causing her death by dehydration on March 31, 2005, 13 days after his order to allow estranged husband Michael Schiavo to remove Terri’s feeding tube was effected.
In an August, 2004 interview, Greer said that as a judge he is barred from commenting on anything “that has the word ‘Schiavo’ in it” and couldn’t “defend himself” on anything that was said about his role in the Schiavo case.
Judicial canons say that as a judge he can’t advance the interests of any particular group or party but Greer has been regularly appearing with proponents for euthanasia in discussing the Schiavo case. Seemingly there are ethical rules about benefiting financially from decisions made as a judge. The question is who’s paying George Greer’s expenses for this speaking engagement and how much is he getting paid.
According to the brochure, members of Boston University’s School of Public Health Department of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights along with “distinguished” commentators, scholars and national leaders, will present their views on “The Terri Schiavo Case: One Year Later”, on Friday, March 31 at the second annual Health Law Program Conference. http://www.bu.edu/dbin/sph/about/news/index.php
The conference is free and open to the public with registration at http://www.bu.edu/law/news/schiavo/schiavo.htm.
The conference will consider the political, medical, media and legal lessons in the Schiavo case and will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Boston University George Sherman Union Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston.
Congressman Barney Frank, an openly gay Democrat who represents the Massachusetts Fourth Congressional District and who unsuccessfully tried to block the measure in the House last March seeking federal intervention in the Schiavo case, will be the keynote speaker, speaking on ‘Reflections on the Role of Congress”.
“Terri and Katrina” Culture of Life vs. Culture of (in)Competence” will be the topic of medical ethicist George J. Annas. Annas is the Edward R. Utley professor and chair of the Department of Health Law, Bioethics and Human Rights of Boston University School of Public Health and professor in the Boston University School of Medicine and School of Law.
He was the author of an article appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine in April, 2005 entitled “Culture of Life: Politics at the Bedside—The Case of Terri Schiavo”.
Annas was the keynote speaker along with Cranford at the symposium held last weekend at the University of Miami School of Law in Coral Gables, Fla., entitled “The Schiavo Case: Interdisciplinary Perspectives”.
Cranford, professor of neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School and retired from the Department of Neurology, Hennepin County Medical Center, will speak on “Doctors in the Courtroom”.
Michael Schiavo says that Cranford “is a very close family friend” and a “great man”. Cranford was Schiavo’s “medical advisor” during Schiavo’s campaign to end his wife’s wife.
Cranford was the neurologist chosen by Terri's estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo and his attorney, George Felos, as a medical witness in proceedings before . Greer. Cranford testified that there was no hope for recovery for Terri and that she was in a persistent vegetative state.
Dr. Michael Grodin will speak on “Doctors and Families. He is the director of the Bioethics and Human Rights Program and professor of Health Law, Bioethics, Human Rights, Socio-Medical Sciences and Community Medicine and Psychiatry. He is also the medical ethicist at Boston Medical Center.
CBS news chief legal analyst Andrew D. Cohen, JD, who covered the Schiavo case for CBS will speak on ‘Media and the Law of the Schiavo Case”. 2-20-06
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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