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Lynn Vincent: Terri Schiavo's life may
hinge on her religion
October 4, 2004
By Lynn Vincent
World Magazine Online
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Since 1997, family members and lawyers have crossed swords over
whether Terri Schiavo should live or die.
Ms. Schiavo in 1990 collapsed in her home, suffering oxygen
deprivation that left her severely brain-damaged. Since then,
she has lived in care facilities, physically healthy and responsive to
her environment, but drawing nutrition through an abdominal
tube.
Her husband, Michael Schiavo, contends that Ms. Schiavo once told him
that under such conditions she would have wanted to die. On
September 27, on Larry King Live, Ms. Schiavo's mother, Mary
Schindler, summed up simply her commitment to her daughter's life:
"I want her. I'm her mother. I love her ... I would love to give
her therapy, but if I couldn't ... I'll take her home with me now and
take care of her for the rest of my life."
But the Florida judiciary on September 24 said no to that -- again. In
a rare unanimous ruling, the Florida Supreme Court ruled
unconstitutional a law passed last year by the Florida legislature to
save Ms. Schiavo's life. Passed on October 22, 2003, "Terri's
Law" allowed Governor Jeb Bush to order Ms. Schiavo's feeding
tube reinserted after healthcare workers removed it October 15 in
compliance with a judge's order. The Florida court ruled that Terri's
Law violated the constitutional separation of powers between branches
of government.
Ken Connor, lead counsel for Governor Bush, said much of the public
has been misinformed about the government's role in the case since it
became a fixture in national headlines last year.
"People think this is a lady who would have wanted to die and
that Governor Bush and the legislature won't let her," Mr. Connor
said. "But when you ask them whether they were aware that her
husband never told a civil jury his wife wanted to die, when he was
seeking millions of dollars in a malpractice claim, when you tell them
he ... was having an affair during that very trial, and that as soon
as he got the malpractice money he withdrew orders for his wife's
antibiotic and rehabilitative therapy, had her cats killed, melted
down her wedding ring, and had two children with another woman,
people say, 'That's outrageous!'"
Outrageous but true, courtroom documents show. Nevertheless, the
Florida Supreme Court's decision clears the way for Judge George
Greer, the lower court magistrate who ordered Ms. Schiavo's feeding
tube removed in 2001 and 2003, to do so again.
Now Ms. Schiavo's life depends on the outcome of separate but parallel
legal battles. In the case of Terri's Law, Mr. Connor is reviewing
whether to petition the Florida high court for a rehearing or to
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Connor said the Bush team might
base a federal appeal on an argument that the Florida judiciary denied
Governor Bush his right to due process, for example, by refusing to
allow his lawyers to depose Michael Schiavo and others during the
battle over Terri's Law.
Meanwhile, Schindler attorney David Gibbs planned to argue in a lower
court on September 30 that removing Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube would
violate her religious beliefs. Before sustaining brain damage, Ms.
Schiavo was a practicing Catholic, according to affidavits filed by
friends, priests, and family members.
In March 2004, Pope John Paul II, addressing an international
conference on life-sustaining treatments and bioethics, said,
"The administration of water and food, even when provided by
artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving
life, not a medical act ... and as such [is] morally obligatory."
He added that the withdrawal of a feeding tube as the only means of
preserving a patient's life "is a serious violation of the law of
God."
Michael Schiavo's attorney claims Ms. Schiavo was not a practicing
Catholic and that the Schindlers' religious-liberty motion is a delay
tactic. But Schindler attorney Pat Anderson said, "The
religious-liberty motion goes to the heart of the case. The engine
that is driving the judge's decisions is that Terri's wish is to die.
It is our contention that Terri, as a Catholic, raised in the tenets
of the Catholic Church, would choose not to defy the pope."
"The issue is Terri's wishes," Ms. Anderson added. "If
the judge determines that Terri's wishes now would be different
because of the pope's very clear teaching, I hope Michael Schiavo will
try as hard to uphold those wishes in saving her life as he has been
in seeking her death."
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