Florida Loses Appeal in Schiavo Case

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Fla. Loses Appeal in Terri Schiavo Case

By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court refused Monday to reinstate a Florida law passed to keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked to a feeding tube, clearing the way for it to be removed. How soon that would happen, however, was unclear.

The Florida Supreme Court (news - web sites) had struck down the law last fall, and the justices were the last hope for state leaders who defended the law in a bitter long running dispute over the fate of Terri Schiavo.

Her husband, Michael Schiavo, contends she never wanted to be kept alive artificially. But her parents told justices in a filing that their son-in-law is trying to rush her death so he can inherit her estate and be free to marry another woman.

The Supreme Court did not comment in rejecting an appeal from Gov. Jeb Bush, who argued that the state had the authority to step in and pass the 2003 law that ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted six days after her husband had it removed.

The case goes back to state Judge George Greer, who already has ruled that the brain-damaged woman's husband could withdraw her feeding tube. Although several legal challenges are pending, the Supreme Court was considered the best hope to stop the removal of the tubes.

"It's judicial homicide. They want to murder her," her father, Robert Schindler, said Monday. "I have no idea what the next step will be. We're going to fight for her as much as we can fight for her. She deserves a chance."

The case was one of two right-to-die appeals pending at the high court. Justices are expected to decide in the next month whether to consider a Bush administration request to block the nation's only law allowing doctors to help terminally ill patients die more quickly. Oregon voters passed that law in 1998.

At issue Monday was "Terri's Law," which the Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously was an unconstitutional effort to override court rulings.

The 41-year-old Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart temporarily stopped beating because of an eating disorder. In 2001, her parents lost an emergency Supreme Court appeal seeking to keep her feeding tube in place, but more appeals followed.

Terri Schiavo has lived in nursing homes. She can breathe on her own but depends on a feeding tube to stay alive because she cannot swallow on her own. She left no written directive.

George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, was hesitant to predict if pending legal motions would mean Terri Schiavo is kept alive for weeks, months or longer.

"The only issue here is when the courts are going to summon up the resolve to say, 'No more. We're not going to put up with these frivolous motions and give stays and permit any other delays,'" he said.

Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice chief counsel who represented the Schindlers at the Supreme Court, said: "While there are still legal options available in Florida, the Supreme Court's refusal to take the case makes it more difficult for those legal options to prevail."

Issues in dispute are whether she is in a persistent vegetative state with no chance of recovery, and if she had said before her illness that she did not want to be kept alive by machines.

Washington attorney Robert Destro, representing Florida, told justices to consider "the most vulnerable of our citizens who cannot speak for themselves."

Michael Schiavo did not file any arguments with the court, but his attorney had accused Florida leaders of engaging in delaying tactics to prevent Terri Schiavo from carrying out her right to die.

The case is Jeb Bush v. Michael Schiavo, 04-757.

Well, that's it: the SCOTUS has spoken, and I doubt there's a single thing short of a Presidential order that can be done to prove it wrong.

[Steven Snyder]

Well, that's it: the SCOTUS has spoken, and I doubt there's a single thing short of a Presidential order that can be done to prove it wrong.

Lucky for them, the governor of Florida does have a brother that works in the White House that has some pull with Cheney.

[Edi]

Well, that's it: the SCOTUS has spoken, and I doubt there's a single thing short of a Presidential order that can be done to prove it wrong.

The president can't contradict the SCOTUS by an executive order after the ruling, that would make the whole court system completely meaningless. I don't know what the other legal challenges referred to in the article are, but after this decision, they have very little weight. It's mindboggling that the parents' case was even taken up, as the spouse is legally the closest next of kin and thus has power of attorney in cases when a person is permanently or temporarily but non-trivially incapacitated.

Edi

[Vohu Manah]

Well, that's it: the SCOTUS has spoken, and I doubt there's a single thing short of a Presidential order that can be done to prove it wrong.

A Presidential Order on a matter of law, such as this, would mean jack and shit. If SCOTUS has spoken, I wouldn't be surprised if the feeding tube isn't pulled within the next few days.

[Vohu Manah]

I don't know what the other legal challenges referred to in the article are, but after this decision, they have very little weight. It's mindboggling that the parents' case was even taken up, as the spouse is legally the closest next of kin and thus has power of attorney in cases when a person is permanently or temporarily but non-trivially incapacitated.

Doesn't surprise me one bit that their case was taken up, even those fat-asses who sued McDonald's (for being fat) at least had the honor of being laughed out of court. What surprises me is that it wasn't dismissed outright after being seen by a judge, like said McDonald's case. They might have had some say if they were providing any kind support in the matter, but they clearly aren't.

[Jalinth]

Well, that's it: the SCOTUS has spoken, and I doubt there's a single thing short of a Presidential order that can be done to prove it wrong.

A Presidential Order on a matter of law, such as this, would mean jack and shit. If SCOTUS has spoken, I wouldn't be surprised if the feeding tube isn't pulled within the next few days.

All SCOTUS has done is say this case isn't being accepted for review. Why is anyone's guess since it was the normal "no comment". Could be that they thought the Florida courts were right, possibly a state's right issue (this is a matter for the state itself to handle - and it has through its own court system), not important enough on a national scale, etc...

I'd expect a last gasp attempt at getting a stay from a Florida court and it not being granted (likely on the basis that the case has been fully settled/appealed, etc... and nothing further need be done except allow the doctors to withdraw the feeding tubes.)

[Steve]

The parents are stupid bastards who refuse to accept reality and literally pounce on every single teeny-tiney thing the proclaim their daughter "might recover".

They were just smarter than the husband, who left it to the courts and didn't go on a PR campaign like the parents did, which led to that stupid abortion of a law that the State Supreme Court, thankfully, struck down for the bullshit it was. When he finally did go to PR, the evidence he brought out was thankfully damning (and of course, the parents refused to accept it and never bothered with it): the scans and actual medical findings that proved Terry Schiavo was brain-dead, is brain-dead, and will remain brain-dead and catatonic until her life is mercifully ended.

I only regret they just can't put her to sleep instead of starving her. We put fucking murderers to sleep instead of electrocuting or gassing them, why the hell can't we put an innocent woman out of her misery in such a peaceful way?

[Seggybop]

By saying she's in such "misery" you imply she's actually still feeling something...

Personally I don't understand why they can't simply let the parents have her, seeing as someone who's effectively dead is incapable of caring either way and it would make them feel better, but whatever.

[LordShaithis]

I suppose starvation is rather distasteful, and I do it otherwise if it were up to me, but it's really a moot point. They could feed her body to wolves, after all, and it's not as if anyone would be home to feel it.