abstractappeal.com/schiavo/infopage.html
Here THE TERRI SCHIAVO INFORMATION PAGE As a Florida law blogger, I have created this page to help people underst and the legal circumstances surrounding the Terri Schiavo saga. In my vi ew, there continues to be a need for an objective look at the matter. Th ere is an unbelievable amount of misinformation being circulated. To be clear at the outset, I have no interest in taking any "side" in thi s dispute. Remarkably, I've been accused of being biased in favor of eac h side at one point or another. I have never met, spoken with, or even seen anyone in the Schiavo or Schindler families. I use first na mes on this web log simply for convenience, and my interest is simply as someone who enjoys Florida law and wishes to add some clarity to the ev ents here. Pick a given month's archives (linked on the right) since I s tarted this web log and you'll see what I mean. Finally, and without unnecessary elaboration, Ill point out that I sympa thize with everyone involved.
More Information INITIAL THOUGHTS Before delving into the details of this case, I have two overarching sets of thoughts to share. Over the past 18 months, I suppose I've received thousands of emails concerning the Schiavo case. I've also read various message boards, and I've caught various talk radio and televisi on news discussions, all discussing this case. One thing I've observed r epeatedly is a sense of complete bewilderment by the public. I have a simple suggestion to anyone whose information about this case ju st leaves them befuddled about how "this" could be happening or how ever yone involved could be ignoring or overlooking "so much": Keep looking for more information. The facts of this case are terribly sad, but they are not hard to underst and. There's really nothing to be confused about, and as best I can tell , nothing's been overlooked by anyone. Terri's situation has arguably re ceived more judicial attention, more medical attention, more executive a ttention, and more "due process," than any other guardianship case in hi story. Terri's family has had the benefit of excellent legal representat ion as well as the Governor's own top-notch attorneys, all of whom have scoured the case for ways to assist the effort to keep Terri's feeding t ube in place. As you probably know (or will learn if you read the material below), Judge Greer held a full tri al in this case to determine how Terri would choose to exercise her priv acy rights. In the end, the judge ruled th at Terri would not wish to continue receiving nurishment and hydration t hrough a surgically implanted tube. Trials like this, where someone's life may literally be on the line, are held every day in courtrooms across the state and around the country. In every case, lawyers marshal witnesses , present evidence, and make arguments to further their clients' interes ts. The decisions made by the judge or jury may affect whether someone l ives or dies, whether someone spends his or her life in prison, or wheth er someone will have to pay another debilitating sums of money. Whether as a party, a witness, or a juror, those who have the opportunity to participate in trials should take their roles seriously, offering th eir best efforts to further the search for truth. At the same time, the public should realize that once a trial is over, the decision is made, a nd it was made based on the evidence. Appeals are almost always availabl e, but if the judgment is affirmed, only very rarely will there be an op portunity to get a new decision based on evidence not previously present ed. OVERVIEW In updating this page recently, I decided to include a summary about the case's events. After some efforts, it occurred to me that I should simpl y reproduce an email and my response that I recently blogged. Here's the email: Hi Matt, I stumbled across your site and quickly became immersed. I have been an avid follower of Terri Schiavo as I feel quite passionately about the c ase as explained in the letter I wrote to the Rocky Mountain News which was recently published (see below). So far, no amount of legal jargon has been able to quench my desperate desire to understand this case. I have been searching for answers for so very long, that I felt some sens e of relief when finding your site. I would really love to hear your op inion as to whether or not there is any hope whatsoever to save Terri a t this point, or is this it? Thank you so much in advance for your time and for listening. Here was my response: Thanks for the kind words and the sincere thoughts. This is a very tough situation for all involved -- and mind you I'm not at all involved. I just discuss the case as part of what seems to be my running commentary on Florida law. Ultimately, Terri's case is understandable, though painfully so. If you take away the "evil" all egations that have been leveled against everyone, it's easy to see what you're left with. You're left with a woman who suffered a heart attack 15 years ago, who e ssentially died but was resuscitated, though not entirely. Her brain ha d suffered enormous damage from the heart attack. As time passed, her b rain further deteriorated -- to the point where much if not most of her cerebral cortex (the portion of the brain that controls conscious thou ght, among other things) was literally gone, replaced by spinal fluid. Doctors hired by Terri's husband say the deterioration of Terri's brain left her without thoughts or feelings, that the damage is irreversible , and that Terri's life-like appearance is merely the result of brain s tem activity -- basically involuntary reflexes we all have. An independ ent doctor hired by the court reached the same conclusions. Doctors hir ed by Terri's parents did not dispute the physical damage done to Terri , but they claim there are new therapies that could improve her conditi on. In two separate trials, the trial court found such claims of potent ial improvement to be without merit. Terri's body continues to function without her cerebral cortex. She is sustained by a feeding tube surgic ally inserted into her stomach. She cannot eat through her mouth withou t a strong likelihood of choking to death. You're left with a husband who lived with his in-laws following Terri's heart attack, who apparently provided care and therapy for years but wh o later came to believe Terri would never recover. He believes she woul d not have wanted to be kept alive in this brain-degenerated condition by a surgically implanted tube. He is apparently willing to continue hi s fight to achieve what he believes Terri would want despite ridicule, hatred, expense, and threats. You're left with parents who were once allied with Terri's husband in an effort to care for Terri and restore her but, unlike Terri's husband, they never lost hope. They believe Terri reacts to them and has conscio us thoughts. They believe Terri would not want, and does not want, her feeding tube removed, and that some cognitive function could be restore d through new therapies. Terri's parents are willing to continue their fight to achieve what they believe Terri would want despite ridicule, h atred, expense, and threats. You're left with judges who have been placed in the utterly thankless po sition of applying Florida law to this impassioned situation. Florida l aw calls for the trial court to determine what Terri would chose to do in this situation, and after a trial hard fought by Terri's husband and her family, where each side was given the opportunity to present its b est case about what Terri would do, the court determined the evidence w as clear and convincing that Terri would chose not to continue living b y the affirmative intervention of modern medicine -- that she would cho se to have her feeding tube disconnected. In a second trial, brought ab out by Terri's family's claims new therapies could restore her and that the existence of such a therapy would make her "change her mind," the trial court again heard evidence from all sides and determined that no new therapy presented any reasonable chance of restoring Terri's brain function. The propriety of these decisions -- from the sufficiency of t he evidence to t...
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