Terri Schindler Schiavo's parents have asked Florida's Second District Court of Appeals to grant their daughter a divorce from her husband, Michael Schiavo. They charge him with a conflict of interest based on alleged adultery. When Robert and Mary Schindler made the plea to Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Judge George Greer, he refused to accept any new filings in the case that are unrelated to plans for Terri's death. But Terri's father, Robert Schindler, said the divorce petition must be considered in order to protect Terri from Michael Schiavo.
Michael Schiavo announced his "engagement" in 1997 to the woman with whom he has since fathered two children and currently lives. Since that time, he has referred to the woman as his "fiance" while remaining married to Terri, the Schindlers argue, so that he can continue to deny her rehabilitation and other therapy and to control her estate.
The motions Greer did agree to consider include requests concerning what might be the final days of Terri's life and the period immediately following her death. The Schindler family wants to be able to take photographs with Terri, something Michael Schiavo has forbidden with Greer's approval. They also want some members of the press to be present while they interact with their daughter to document her actual condition.Robert and Mary Schindler also want Terri to be allowed to die at their home rather than in the hospice where she currently lives. They have also asked that her body be released to them for burial after her death. Michael Schiavo has made arrangements for Terri's body to be cremated immediately upon her death.The Schindler family is appealing the new motions in Terri's case to the U.S. Supreme Court, as well.
4 comments:
I hope that there are more ppl like you out there with blogs like yours. I wish there was something we could do-if there were the admins and members of our board would be more than glad to do whatever it takes to help.This is so terrible it's hard to imagine.
Thank God for ppl like you to speak out. I hope we're not the only ones.This judge should be removed from the bench and poor Terri should never have married this man. He turned down a million dollars. I would have thought if he wouldn't let her go out of love or morality he MIGHT have done it for money. He wants her dead awfully bad.
Stop in our board sometime.We'd be glad to have you.
Will keep an eye on your blog!
http://pub20.ezboard.com/bcatholicpillarandfoundation
People are under the mistaken impression that a "Living Will" is the all-encompassing solution to disabling injury. My father-in-law, a rural country person was coached into an agressive bypass and heart valve replacement surgery while in his 80's by overzealous heart doctors. He was also coached into making a general Living Will with his lawyer. When he made the will, his frame of mind was coming from the point of a large majority of the population who see a disabled person and it fills them with horror thatone a vital as they are could be reduced to being dependant on others and they vow (in their independant state) that THEY never want to have that happen to them, and theat they would rather die. Unfortunately, this comes from a mind that is unaware of the development of the Human Character through suffering. Even nature itself show us that the strongest come not out of a pampered, but an adverse environment. The problem with my father-in-law's Living Will, was that he put his son in charge with power of attorney, and his son never tried to come out of the country and try to communicate with his father to determine whether his opinion of what to do was changing as he was going through the struggle. To those of us who did go daily, there was a way to communicate with the man. It took time and patience and a little coaching to reduce his responses to yes and no, but he did offer responses. Yet the Will was weak in that it didn't force all means of communication to be explored first, before enacting the will by the person with the power of attorney. The doctors didn't want to try, because of their procedure, a little piece of blockagge broke off and worked its way to the brain, giving the poor man a stroke. Instead of the procedure helping him, it disabled him, and put him in the position of disability. We had to fight tooth and nail to have them work to resuscitate him, not once, but twice. They even had abhorrent care where his breathing aid, a suction device to remove fluid from his airway, was allowed to be in place for so long without being changed, that bacteria was growing in it that resulted in the man getting bronchitis from which he had to have aggressive IV treatment. As long as a patient is a 'star pupil' and is progressing, the doctor orders the staff to do all manner of things, but when a procedure goes awry, and the insurance money stands to run out, the doctor is quick to do everything to allow the problem to go away and die rather than fight tooth and nail to make the patient's lot as conducive to recovery to some state better than dying. If you think nurses and orderlies are going to risk their high paying jobs by reporting the doctor or others, you're crazy! They're going to do just what they're told and are going to keep quiet unless by legal action they are implicated. Just ask around your office for those that are older than 30 years old and by that time thy will have horror stories of people who have gone to hospitals for seemingly routine things and who haven't come out because they mysteriously died of some obsure infection, or some unreleased reason, or some outrageous reason like they slipped and fell. This is not the rarity, but is becoming more commonplace, because people are having a screwed up mentality in this 20th century schitzoid society. The respect for self and others is diminishing and the idea of work is that it isn't a thing of pride but a thing that is done reluctantly to accrue money to buy toys and otherwise be comfortable. The family struggle continued with my father-in-law regarding feeding tube removal, feeding tube relocation to the stomach with the implications that once inserted there, it could not be legally removed. The son just kept quoting the Living Will. We kept giving him anecdotes of our daily visits with the father. It finally came to the final day and the son , despite asking for our advise, was still adamant to following the Living Will, rather than trying to communicate with his father. That night, before the son could communicate the desire to the doctor to remove the tubes, the father-in-law passed away - hopefully by the Grace of God, rather than having the son living with the knowledge that he contributed to the death of his father. The good news for the Christian community is that even in the midst of this ordeal the father, even in his desparate state was able to give his life to Christ. God knew that he needed the proper chance, and despite two resuscitations, he still had the presence of mind to make that decision.
What is wrong with Americans that this can happen without a total outcry. If my dog got hit by a car, and I didn't do everything to try to save it they would arrest me for abuse. We don't even starve prisoners on death row. H E L L O people its really sad when an animal and a common criminal have more say than a married woman who is disabled! Dear Lord help thier family, and show the truth behind Micahael Schavio's actions, and those of the judges who are part of a legal system that is to protect and to serve. Who are they protecting, and just who are they serving. Someone has forgotten to ask what's in the best interest of Terri!
To Whom It May Concern:
Are we becoming like Nazi Germany, where the severely disabled were killed because they were considered worthless?
What has become of our natural human compassion?
The drama that is playing out in Florida and on our TV screens isn't the famous movie"Schindler's List," but the human drama is just as compelling. Truly it is "Schindlers' Wish."
Terri is their daughter; she is their blood. The blood bond will always be much stronger than a marriage. You can divorce your spouse, but you cannot divorce your biological parents or your siblings.
We could not expect Michael Schiavo not to move on with his life, and hehas.
But Terri's mom, dad, and siblings want to take care of her. They should be allowed to do so. It's the humane solution.
It seems that we give more importance to animal rights and the rights of death row inmates than we do to Terri's rights.
We are starving her like she was in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Many people say that they would not want to live in Terri's condition, and they assume that she would not either.
I cannot agree with this.
For myself, if I am ever in such an unfortunate position, I would wish to be kept alive. I would want my wife, and especially my 2 1/2 year old daughter to visit me in the healthcare facility as often as they could, so I could see with my own eyes, though I couldn't speak and barely move, my
wife grow old, but especially my daughter grow up, graduate from college, get married, have children of her own and so forth.
These things would mean everything to me.
It would not matter if I was lying in a hospital bed, and had been
diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Who is to say that such people cannot recognize their own family members even though they are locked inside without the ability to communicate? The Schindlers insist
that Terri does recognize and respond to them. Who are we to disagree?
If Florida law says that the spouse has sole guardianship in such cases, it should be amended to deal with situations like the present one, in which two loving parents merely ask to be allowed to care for their disabled
daughter.
During this Easter season, instead of being like the Romans who put Jesusto death, let's give Terri a new life by letting her family take care of her.
Sincerely,
Steve Mozena
Post a Comment