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A year ago today, the parents of Terri Schindler-Schiavo headed back to the U.S. Supreme Court in one of their last judicial efforts to save the life of their brain injured daughter who had been ordered to die by Pinellas County probate court judge George Greer.
A year ago today, the Supreme Court again refused to hear the case.
Terri, who had sustained debilitating brain injuries in unexplained circumstances in 1990, was in her seventh day without food and water after her estranged husband and guardian had removed her feeding tube on March 18, arguing that it would have been her wish to die.
Florida’s Department of Children and Families had filed to intervene in the case and to take Terri into protective custody pursuant to statutory law while they conducted an investigation of alleged abuse, neglect and exploitation of her by her husband, Michael Schiavo.
Gov. Jeb Bush said that in view of the report of neurologist Dr. William Cheshire who said that in his opinion Terri was not in a persistent vegetative state, that Greer must allow DCF take protective custody of the disabled woman.
But Greer refused to allow DCF to perform its statutory duty and when DCF appealed his denial which under normal circumstances automatically stays the judgment, Greer vacated the automatic stay, determined to carry forth his execution of Terri Schiavo.
The Second District Court of Appeals refused to reinstate the stay and the Florida Supreme Court dismissed the motion, saying that the motion had failed to invoke the court’s jurisdiction.
With a 2-1 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals had denied the Schindler’s appeal of U.S. District Court Judge James Whittemore’s refusal to reinsert the feeding tube after Congress had granted a de novo review of the case in the federal courts.
On March 23, the Florida Senate, led by Sen. Jim King, by a vote of 21-18, refused to pass the bill that would have saved Terri’s life although the Senate Judiciary Committee had endorsed it on March 15 and recommended its passage. The bill would have prohibited the removal of artificially provided sustenance or hydration of a person who has been designated in a persistent vegetative state if the purpose of the suspension was solely to end that person’s life.
The Schindlers appealed the Court of Appeal’s denial to the nation’s highest court. The Supreme Court had rejected the Schindlers three times previously. And once again Justice Anthony Kennedy refused to grant certiorari.
http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/32305scotusmot.pdf
Of course Michael Schiavo opposed the efforts to save Terri’s life.
http://files.findlaw.com/news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/32405acluopp.pdf
Schindlers’ attorneys had argued that Whittemore of the Middle District of Florida in Tampa should have considered the entire state court record and not just the procedural history when he ruled against Terri’s parents in their quest to keep her alive. David Gibbs III of the Schindler legal team argued that the federal courts couldn’t have considered the full record in its review because the full record hadn’t been filed with the federal courts.
Gibbs said he could prove to the federal court that the “evidence supporting Terri’s alleged wishes is not credible and that a reasonable fact finder would hold---under any standard of proof—that her wishes were to the contrary”. He was referring to the self-serving hearsay of her estranged husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo who only recalled his wife’s alleged wishes after he had received over $1.5 million in an insurance settlement from a medical malpractice claim. Although the jury had awarded $750,000 for his wife’s therapy and rehabilitation, after receiving the money, Schiavo ordered that no therapy or rehabilitative services be provided to her and he then sought court permission and sanction to kill her.
Congress had passed a bill last Palm Sunday and President Bush had quickly signed it into law that would have granted the Schindlers a de novo review of their case in the federal courts. The legislative intent of the bill was for the feeding tube to be reinserted while the matter was reviewed in the federal courts. However, the courts refused to grant an injunction to stop Greer’s death order and the family did not receive the full review of the case in the court as Congress and the President intended.
Greer ordered that her feeding tube be removed on March 18 and consistently refused that she be given swallowing tests to determine if she could eat and drink without the gastric feeding tube.
In February, 2005, he denied a motion by the Schindlers to give the disabled woman food and water orally after the tube was removed. 3-23-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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