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There's something wrong in Florida.
No, we're not talking about the Mark Foley e-mail sex scandal involving the House page program or if House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republican leaders knew and did nothing.
We're talking about dehydration deaths of the elderly and disabled in America.
The injustice in the Terri Schindler-Schiavo death becomes more and more obvious as times goes on.
While the Republicans are being hammered for Foley's improper e-mail messages to a 16-year-old male, a former page, the Republican leadership in the House was pushing his reelection from his Florida district and he was virtually a shoo-in. Now it's likely that not only will it cost the Republicans Foley's Congressional seat but for the first time since the 1994 election, the control of the House.
But Florida Republicans, at least in Pinellas County, have more to atone for than Foley's sexual advances to a male teenager. The Pinellas County Republican block has blood on their hands, the death of an incapacitated, vulnerable adult. Just like the House Republicans who stood by and allowed Foley to continue on, so did Republicans Charlie Crist, Sheriff Everett Rice who voted against saving Terri's life as a member of Florida's House, state attorney Bernie McCabe and of course, the quintessential Republican, Judge George W. Greer.
Allegedly attempting to seduce minors over the Internet is one thing, court ordered homicide of innocent people is something else.
In Wisconsin last week, police arrested a woman for neglecting hamsters at her home. She was criminally charged by police for 39 counts each of failing to provide food and drink and failing to provide proper shelter to animals after 33 live and six dead hamsters were removed from her home after her roommate reported her.
She was already facing criminal charges for failing to provide food and water to a Great Dane.
They arrest people in Wisconsin for failing to provide food and water to hamsters.
In Florida, the Republican court of George Greer ordered the death of a human being by dehydration, not only ordering that her feeding tube be withdrawn but ordering that "the guardian, Michael Schiavo, shall cause the removal of nutrition and hydration, from the ward, Theresa Schiavo, at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, March 18, 2005".
Greer's death order didn't contain the words "artificial life support"; it was to remove ALL nutrition and hydration, including natural intake of food and water, from Terri Schiavo. There was no testimony and nothing to support Greer's unlawful order to deny the disabled woman food and water, nor did the order address the ability of Terri Schiavo to swallow and receive food and hydration orally.
Greer's final order was intended to cause Terri Schiavo's death by the denial of food and water by any means. And that was illegal.
It was a wrongful death….. gross negligence in view of the fact that neither Schiavo nor Greer would allow new testing for Terri Schiavo…..and also in violation of state statutes.
Under FS Chapter 825.102 (3)(a) "Neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult" means:
1. A caregiver's failure or omission to provide an elderly person or disabled adult with the care, supervision, and services necessary to maintain the elderly person's or disabled adult's physical and mental health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing, shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent person would consider essential for the well-being of the elderly person or disabled adult.
Neglect of an elderly person or disabled adult may be based on repeated conduct or on a single incident or omission that results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, serious physical or psychological injury, or a substantial risk of death, to an elderly person or disabled adult. Under Florida Statutes, a person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects an elderly person or disabled adult and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the elderly person or disabled adult commits a felony of the second degree.
George Greer aided and abetted Michael Schiavo, in the premeditated murder of his wife and allowed and, in fact, condoned, the neglect of Terri Schiavo, refusing medical testing, refusing therapy and rehabilitation. While other states are arresting and prosecuting people for withholding food and water from hamsters and other animals, Florida is killing people with the stroke of Greer's pen and claiming, with serious questions surrounding the credibility of Michael Schiavo and his familial witnesses, that Terri wouldn't want to have lived.
In Mississippi, a wrongful death lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court against a nursing home for allegedly causing the death of a 74-year old resident by dehydration after the facility "consistently" failed to provide her with sufficient fluids.
A wrongful death suit should be filed in the Schiavo case and there may soon be grounds to do so with the revelation, and in fact sworn statement from the Chief of the Bureau of Records of the Florida Division of Records, that Judge George W. Greer failed to file a requisite statement in order to legally qualify for office. As The North Country Gazette has long advocated, without having legally qualified for the 2004 election, Judge Greer did not have legal title to the office of Circuit Court judge effective January 2005. In the absence of jurisdiction, he could not have legally issued the Feb. 25, 2005, death order for the execution of Terri Schindler Schiavo by dehydration.
And now both the Division of Elections and the Florida Elections Commission has acknowledged the Greer did not comply with the Florida Election Law in regard to qualifying for judicial office.
The Countrybrook Living Center in Brookhaven, Miss., is the focus of a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Bonita Buie on behalf of the estate of Magdaline McNickles, alleging that McNickles received only 15% of her required daily fluid intake and during the last 36 hours of her life at the facility, the facility allegedly provided her with no fluids. The relationship of Buie to McNickles is unknown other than administratrix of the estate.
The operator of the facility, National Heritage Realty Inc., an Atlanta-based subsidiary of Mariner Health Care Inc., is named as a defendant as is Mariner Health Care Inc. and other subsidiaries.
McNickles was admitted to Countrybrook on March 25, 2005, a week after all food and water was initially withheld from Terri Schiavo. McNickles was a resident at the nursing home for 11 days and died there on April 4, 2005, four days after Terri, allegedly as a result of dehydration.
The lawsuit says that Ms. McNickles' stay can be divided into 31, eight hour shifts. The records demonstrate that Ms. McNickles had nothing to drink during 16 of those 31 shifts. The suit alleges that on one occasion she went three straight shifts without anything to drink and four straight shifts on another occasion. During her final 36 hours, she allegedly received no fluids. The suit alleges that the nursing home record reveal a negligenc and/or gross negligence by the nursing home and a reckless disregard for Ms. McNickles' safety in monitoring and ensuring her fluid intake. It is alleged there was no contact with any doctor regarding her dehydration, no treatment of her dehydration and that her dehydration, caused by gross negligence, caused her death. The lawsuit gives no indication of if a living will existed.
According to Buie's complaint, she should have been given more than three quarts of fluids per day while at Countrybrook but received less than one pint.
The wrongful death action seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
According to PACER, no response has yet been filed by the defendants.
The death of Terri Schindler Schiavo was wrong---legally, medically and morally. Other states are prosecuting individuals for withholding food and water from hamsters and a wrongful death suit for death by dehydration is proceeding in Mississippi. The Mississippi legal action could set a precedent for the rest of the country and stop the euthanasia movement of this country in its tracks, ceasing the barbaric, inhumane act of starving and dehydrating people to death.
Will there be a wrongful death lawsuit in the Terri Schiavo case? That's unknown at this time.
Can Judge Greer, who claims that he followed the rule of law, expect to claim judicial immunity in the death of Terri Schiavo? He can claim it but without jurisdiction, there is no immunity. He can be held individually and personally liable for all acts undertaken as a judge in the absence of jurisdiction.
The rule of law is in order to claim judicial immunity, one must first have jurisdiction. In order to claim jurisdiction, a public officer must have legal title to the office or in legal terms, be a de jure officer. In order to claim to be a de facto officer, or in other words for your rulings to stand even though the officer acted improperly, the officer must have had legal title to the office and acquired his certificate of election legally.
Such does not appear to be the case in the matter of George W. Greer. Michael Schiavo and Terri Schiavo.
According to the sworn document of the Division of Elections in the possession of The North Country Gazette, Judge Greer didn't legally qualify for the office, could not have legally appeared on the Aug. 31, 2004 ballot and therefore did not and does not have legal title to the office of Sixth Circuit Court Judge.
The Schiavo case may head to the 2nd District Court of Appeals one more time. In fact, it could head to the Florida Supreme Court and maybe even the U.S. Supreme Court but jurisdictional issues have been decided many times previously and case precedent exists.
The death of Terri Schindler Schiavo was premature and it was wrongful by moral and societal judgments. The next arena for judgment of her wrongful death may be in a courtroom other than that of George Greer.
There may be justice for Terri yet. 10-07-06
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© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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