Terri Schiavo: 13 years of questions and uncertainty
 
 
In February 1990, a heart attack deprived Terri Schiavo of oxygen to her brain for five minutes -- five minutes that have led to 13 [FACT: No matter how many times the 'major muzzled media' 'reports' a 'heart attack' -- just like they 'reported' 'vegetative' rather than brain damaged -- it does not make such 'reporting' true. Please read this: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/2004/articles3/schiavo.htm. FACT: It's not been 13 years, it's been FOURTEEN YEARS, and it will be FIFTEEN YEARS on February 25th. Terri will have her 41st birthday on December 3, 2004.] years of emotional distress and legal battles. There was initial hope for recovery, but there came a point at which the views of Terri's future diverged. In 1998, her husband, Michael Schiavo, filed the first petition to remove Terri's feeding tube and allow her to die. Since then, Terri's future has been fought over in the courts until a judge once again ordered the feeding tube removed October 15, 2003. Legal avenues exhausted, Bob and Mary Schindler, Terri's parents, turned to the Florida Governor Jeb Bush and then to the Florida legislature, which passed a bill allowing the governor to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted.

Find links to our recent coverage below, including stories from our news pages and commentary from our columnists. For links to Times coverage beginning in 2000: http://www.sptimes.com/2003/webspecials03/schiavo/index.shtml#Anchor-49575

 
October 1, 2004
Court must weigh pope's words
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
A judge must decide: Does a statement by the pope override earlier rulings that Terri Schiavo wouldn't want to be kept alive by artificial means?
 
September 30, 2004
Lead lawyer for Schiavo's parents quits
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
After more than three years representing them, Pat Anderson says, "I've done my part shoving that rock up the hill."

 

September 25, 2004
Odds are highest court won't hear Terri's Law
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The ruling in the Schiavo case lacks federal issues that would concern the U.S. Supreme Court, legal experts say.
 
 
September 24, 2004
Court strikes down Terri's Law
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
Lawyers for Gov. Jeb Bush can seek a rehearing of the Florida high court's unanimous ruling or appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

September 24, 2004
Law's supporters disappointed but not surprised
By STEVE BOUSQUET
TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Supreme Court's decision to overturn the state law that has kept Terri Schiavo alive did not surprise opponents or supporters

 

September 24, 2004
Pariente is second woman named Florida chief justice
By Times Staff Writer
Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara J. Pariente, who wrote Thursday's unanimous opinion overturning the law that kept Terri Schiavo alive, is just the second woman to serve in that role.

 

September 24, 2004
Q&A: Schiavo story is long, with ending still unwritten
By Times Staff Writer
What happened Thursday?

 

September 1, 2004
Justices skeptical of Bush team's defense of 'Terri's Law'
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The Florida Supreme Court has questions and criticism of the law passed to preserve the life of Terri Schiavo.

 

August 31, 2004
Groups proclaim Terri's Law support
By Associated Press
Advocates of rights for the disabled gather on the eve of Supreme Court arguments to declare the Schiavo case "is basically the struggle for all of our lives."

 

August 7, 2004
Bush attorneys: New Schiavo trial needed
By Associated Press
TAMPA - As a Florida Supreme Court showdown looms over the law keeping a severely brain-damaged woman alive, attorneys for Gov. Jeb Bush argued Friday that a new trial is needed to determine Terri Schiavo's end-of-life wishes.

 

July 27, 2004
Schiavo arguments filed with high court
By Associated Press
Michael Schiavo contends that Gov. Bush is violating Terri Schiavo's civil rights by keeping her alive.

 

July 21, 2004
Schiavo case invokes pope
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The lawyer for Terri Schiavo's parents argues that the stricken woman would not defy her faith.

 

July 16, 2004
Parents' court filing defends 'Terri's Law'
By Associated Press
The Schindlers say she could "change her mind" about not wanting to be kept alive.

 

July 14, 2004
Groups for disabled side with Schiavo
By Times Staff Writer
Seventeen advocacy organizations file a brief asking the Florida Supreme Court to uphold "Terri's Law."

 

July 7, 2004
Lawyers defend Schiavo intervention
By Associated Press
Gov. Jeb Bush's attorneys file arguments with the state high court in the right-to-die case.

 

July 1, 2004
Court: Schiavo's parents can't intervene
By Associated Press
An appeals court agreed Wednesday that the parents of a severely brain-damaged woman should not be allowed to intervene in the court battle over a law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to order reinsertion of the woman's feeding tube last fall.

 

June 17, 2004
Schiavo case to highest court
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The Florida Supreme Court will decide the fate of "Terri's Law" in a move that bypasses the 2nd District Court of Appeal.

 

June 5, 2004
Judge okays visits by Schiavo's parents
By KELLY VIRELLA
Another court decision puts the question of her feeding tube on a fast track to the Florida Supreme Court.

 

June 2, 2004
Legal wranglings may nudge Schiavo case
By Associated Press
Gov. Bush resists an appeals court attempt to speed the case to the Florida Supreme Court.

 

May 27, 2004
Parents allowed a 90-minute visit with Schiavo
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
But the judge's order leaves the parents' and husband's attorneys arguing after the hearing.

 

May 18, 2004
Visiting barred, Schindlers say
By Associated Press
Terri Schiavo's parents say their son-in-law has continued to keep them from their daughter.

 

May 12, 2004
Schiavo's parents demand visitation
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The Schindlers file a motion to force Terri Schiavo's husband to let them see their daughter.

 

May 7, 2004
Terri's Law is declared invalid
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The governor immediately appeals the ruling that says a law violates Terri Schiavo's right to privacy in medical decisions.

 

May 1, 2004
At pope's word, new Schiavo cases?
By LISA GREENE
It's unclear what impact, if any, will come from the pontiff's stance on sustaining life with feeding tubes.

 

April 28, 2004
Schiavo's parents ask for visitation
By Associated Press
Terri Schiavo's husband has banned all visitors, including her parents, from her room.

 

April 24, 2004
Schiavo lawsuit doesn't have to move, court rules
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
A challenge to the state law that forced doctors to reinsert a feeding tube is allowed to stay in Pinellas County.

 

March 31, 2004
Schiavo's marks still a mystery
By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
A toxicology test comes back negative, but officials still aren't sure what caused five puncture marks on her arms.

 

March 30, 2004
Doctors examine Schiavo 'wounds'
By LEANORA MINAI
CLEARWATER - Terri Schiavo was being examined Monday night in the Morton Plant-Mease Hospital emergency room after workers at her nursing home discovered "fresh puncture wounds" on her arms.

 

March 27, 2004
Schiavo's parents say data not being shared
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - The husband of a severely brain-damaged woman is violating a court order by not sharing enough medical information about her with her parents, their attorney told a judge Friday.

 

March 13, 2004
Judge: Schiavo's parents can't join fight
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - A judge has rejected a request by the parents of Terri Schiavo to intervene in the court battle over a law that allowed Gov. Jeb Bush to order the reinsertion of the woman's feeding tube.

 

February 24, 2004
Testimony in Schiavo case to be challenged
By Associated Press
For a second time, Michael Schiavo will try to block depositions that a court has said state attorneys may seek.

 

February 20, 2004
The swarm that moved a legislature buzzes still
By MARY JO MELONE
Dennis Jones will not soon forget it. How could he?

 

February 14, 2004
Bush, Schiavo's parents win court decisions
By Associated Press
A lawyer for the brain-damaged woman's husband calls the appellate court rulings "no-decision decisions."

 

February 10, 2004
Regret plagues King after Schiavo vote
By ADAM C. SMITH
The Senate president says he bowed to pressure to pass a law that would reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

 

February 4, 2004
Committee delays vote on Schiavo-inspired bill
By Times Staff Writer
TALLAHASSEE - The House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday postponed voting on a bill inspired by the Terri Schiavo case that would presume an incapacitated person would want tube feeding unless there are specific directions to the contrary.

 

January 22, 2004
Bush makes court request in Schiavo case
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - Gov. Jeb Bush has asked the 2nd District Court of Appeal to be allowed to question witnesses and collect evidence to defend his right to keep a brain-damaged woman alive.

 

January 10, 2004
Circuit judge turns down Bush request for Schiavo advocate
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - Gov. Jeb Bush's request to keep an independent advocate watching out for Terri Schiavo was turned down Friday by the chief circuit judge for Pinellas County.

 

January 7, 2004
Schiavo's family wants guardian reappointed
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - The family of a severely brain-damaged woman is urging a judge to reappoint an independent guardian to protect the woman from her husband.

 

December 24, 2003
Judge ready to rule on validity of Terri's Law
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The decision will not be announced until after a related appeals court ruling. That may be days or weeks away.

 

December 23, 2003
Bush wants guardian reinstated for Schiavo
By Times Staff Writer
Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday asked a Pinellas-Pasco circuit judge to reinstate Terri Schiavo's independent guardian ad litem one week after the guardian's appointment ended.

 

December 18, 2003
Hospice relocates Schiavo, others
By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Patients are being dispersed so the complex can be renovated over the next six months.

 

December 18, 2003
Judge delays hearing on state end-of-life law
By Associated Press
CLEARWATER - A judge agreed on Wednesday to postpone an initial hearing on the constitutionality of a law keeping a severely brain-damaged woman alive, even as the attorney for the woman's husband accused Gov. Jeb Bush of needlessly delaying the case.

 

December 14, 2003
Lawmakers move to make withholding care tougher
By STEPHEN NOHLGREN
Stirred by the Terri Schiavo case, legislators are wading back into the right-to-die thicket.

 

December 11, 2003
Appeals court rules judge can stay on Schiavo case
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The 2nd District Court of Appeal rejects arguments by the governor's lawyers, who claim Douglas Baird is biased against "Terri's Law."

 

December 10, 2003
Schiavo case spurs living-wills campaign
By Associated Press
TAMPA - Spurred by the Terri Schiavo case, a national right-to-die group launched a public relations campaign in Florida this week to raise awareness of end-of-life choices, including the importance of living wills.

 

December 7, 2003
Voters: Schiavo law was bad move
By ADAM C. SMITH
A joint poll shows most people oppose gay marriage and a majority thinks the governor is doing a good job.

 

December 4, 2003
A wise voice pierces bitter chaos of the Schiavo case
By MARY JO MELONE
It is not usually Jay Wolfson's job to play Solomon. He is a professor of public health and medicine at USF as well as a lawyer who teaches at Stetson University College of Law.

 

December 3, 2003
Guardian asks, can Schiavo eat?
By WILLIAM R. LEVESQUE
The governor's appointee says there seems little hope of recovery, but requests swallowing tests.

 

November 27, 2003
Schiavo tries to head off governor's attorneys
By Associated Press
Jeb Bush's attorneys want to depose seven people, including the husband of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo.

 

November 26, 2003
Schiavo wants ruling now
By Times Staff Writer
TAMPA - Michael Schiavo, who says his brain-damaged wife should be allowed to die, will ask a Pinellas circuit judge to rule on the case now, rather than go through a trial.

 

November 13, 2003
A thousand words about the Terri Schiavo you never knew
By KELLEY BENHAM
Careless Whisper was her favorite song. She rode horses. She saved birthday cards. She didn't go to prom.

 

October 28, 2003
What would God say?
By SHARON TUBBS
Many religious leaders say it is within His will to withhold basic needs from someone with no chance of recovery, such as Terri Schiavo.

 

Oct. 21, 2003
House votes to save Schiavo
The Florida House passes a measure that gives Gov. Bush power to issue a "one-time stay.'' Senate takes it up today.

Oct. 18, 2003
Effort to intervene for Schiavo falls short
A judge won't compel the governor to get involved, leaving Terri Schiavo's parents with no apparent place to turn.

Oct. 17, 2003
Schiavo's supporters push Bush to intervene
The governor says he's troubled by the brain-damaged woman's situation, but it's unclear if he has the legal right to get involved.

Oct. 16, 2003
Battles end with quiet removal of feeding tube
Terri Schiavo's parents hope for the governor's intervention, but barring that, she will die in weeks.

Oct. 15, 2003
Schiavo's family ends legal fight
An attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents says they are out of options and must face the removal of her feeding tube today. "It's in other hands now."

Oct. 11, 2003
Decision increases deadline urgency
A federal judge won't block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Her parents will fight as Wednesday draws near.

Sept. 29, 2003
Feeding tube case inflames emotions
As the date gets closer for disconnecting Terri Schiavo, testy messages are reaching those associated with the case.

Sept. 18, 2003
Judge sets new date to remove food tube
Terri Schiavo would die a week or two after Oct. 15. Her parents vow to keep fighting in a case that has raged for nearly six years.

Sept. 16, 2003
Schiavo parents request delay
The family thinks speech therapy will increase Terri Schiavo's chances of surviving without a feeding tube

Sept. 3, 2003
Schiavo's parents rebuffed by judge
A federal judge tells Terri Schiavo's mother and father to refile for a restraining order to keep her on a feeding tube.

Aug. 27, 2003
Bush weighs in on Schiavo
How about a guardian for the brain-damaged woman? The judge in the right-to-die case respectfully declines.

Aug. 22, 2003
Schiavo's parents ask for priest's visits
CLEARWATER - The parents of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo asked a judge Thursday to force the woman's husband to allow a priest at her bedside.

June 7, 2003
Appeals court again rejects pleas to save woman
Terri Schiavo's parents once again are left to ponder a new strategy in the quest to keep their daughter from having her feeding tube removed.

Nov. 23, 2002
Judge: Schiavo can't recover
The brain-damaged woman's feeding tube will be removed Jan. 3, the ruling states. Her parents vow to appeal the decision.

Nov. 13, 2002
Attorney claims a beating may have caused Schiavo's coma
An attorney for the husband of Terri Schiavo calls the allegations "garbage."

Times columns
February 20, 2004
The swarm that moved a legislature buzzes still
By MARY JO MELONE
Dennis Jones will not soon forget it. How could he?

 

December 4, 2003
A wise voice pierces bitter chaos of the Schiavo case
By MARY JO MELONE
It is not usually Jay Wolfson's job to play Solomon. He is a professor of public health and medicine at USF as well as a lawyer who teaches at Stetson University College of Law.

 

November 6, 2003
An insider shifts his stance on removing Schiavo's feeding tube
By MARY JO MELONE
On the crowded stage where the melodrama about Terri Schiavo is played, Richard Pearse Jr. had a smallish role.

 

October 23, 2003
Schiavo's life confiscated by agendas of strangers
By MARY JO MELONE
What happened this week in Tallahassee was a breathtaking display of mob rule.

 

October 22, 2003
Arrogant Legislature finally walks all over itself
By HOWARD TROXLER
Only now, after all these years of anguish, only after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed for almost a week ...

 

October 21, 2003
Schooling the young in sadness of Schiavo
By MARY JO MELONE
There is no way around it.

 

Other opinion
Letters to the Editor (Oct. 23, 2003)

Letters to the Editor (Oct. 29, 2003)

The lost lesson of Terri Schiavo
In November 1992, a jury in Clearwater returned a verdict in favor of Terri and Michael Schiavo for more than $6.8-million.

How the story began
Here are some highlights from the Times when the Terri Schiavo story came into focus.

Jan. 25, 2000
Deciding the fate of Terri
When Michael Schiavo decided to take his comatose wife off life support, her parents saw things differently.

Jan. 26, 2000
Parents say comatose daughter understands
Their daughter, in a coma for 10 years, "knows who I am," her mother testifies.

Jan. 27, 2000
Husband once offered to give up $700,000
But parents of a woman in a coma refused to remove her feeding tube in return for the gift to charity.

Jan. 28, 2000
Family says marriage unhappy before coma
As Terri Schiavo lay in a coma, her family and friends testified in court this week that she had grown frustrated with her husband in the months before her 1990 accident and considered divorce.

Jan. 30, 2000
Mary Jo Melone:
The doubts shaping life, death decision
Terri Schiavo's story is terrible to contemplate.
A family divided
It was Valentine's Day 1993, and Michael Schiavo planned on an evening of dinner and dancing with his in-laws.

Feb. 11, 2000
Motion seeks say in fate of woman
A group of doctors, lawyers and other professionals want a judge to allow a 36-year-old St. Petersburg woman with brain damage to continue being fed through a tube despite her husband's request to let her die.
Judge rejects intervention of group in Schiavo case
Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer will not allow a group of doctors, lawyers and other professionals to intervene in the case of a St. Petersburg woman with brain damage whose family is divided on whether to remove her feeding tube.

Feb. 12, 2000
Judge: Schiavo's life can end
Her shocked parents plan to appeal the decision allowing the removal of her feeding tube. The judge, like her husband, says that is what she would have wanted.

March 29, 2000
Schiavo's parents file appeal to keep her alive
The parents of a woman whose right-to-die case has drawn national publicity filed an appeal Tuesday to keep her alive.

April 26, 2000
Parents oppose care at hospice
The parents of Terri Schiavo argue that a nursing home would be better for her.

To further search our archives for relevant stories: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/search?st=

advanced&QryTxt=Terri%20Schiavo&sortby=RELEVANCE&datetype=6&frommonth=01&fromday

=01&fromyear=1990&tomonth=12&today=31&toyear=2002&By=&Title=&Sect=City%20and%20State&lb=1

Video links: Excerpts from the Terri Schiavo videotapes on record at the Pinellas County Courthouse:

Click for first video
[Small file | Broadband users]
Click for second video
[Small file | Broadband users]
You will need the free QuickTime Player from Apple to play the audio.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/webspecials03/schiavo  

=====

 

Additional articles for truth about Terri:

 

Judge Denies Another Last-Minute Motion to Save Terri Schiavo

(Note: FINALLY! A truthful and to-the-point article! "One year after Terri's collapse, a bone scan revealed that she had compression fractures and apparent traumatic injuries."

October 17, 2003

By Steven Ertelt

LifeNews.com Editor

news@lifenews.com

Clearwater, Florida - A judge on Friday denied another last-minute effort by Terri Schiavo's parents to save her. Bob and Mary Schindler filed a motion that would have required reinserting Terri's feeding tube and mandated that Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL) intervene on Terri's behalf.

Leon County Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Sjostrom rejected the writ of mandamus almost immediately after it was filed in Tallahassee.

However, the Schindlers plan to appeal the rejection of it to the First District Court of Appeal.

A spokesman for the family said the Schindlers' attorneys filed the motion in order to help Governor Bush obtain legal standing in the case.

Bush has said that, while he supports Terri and her parents, he has no legal grounds on which to overturn in the court decisions that ultimately allowed Michael Schiavo to remove the gastric tube that was providing Terri with food and water.

Terri's feeding tube was removed on Wednesday afternoon and experts say she could die of dehydration as soon as mid-day Saturday.

Pat Anderson, the Schindlers longtime attorney, said she wasn't surprised the judge rejected the writ so quickly.

"There has been an awful lot of judicial attention to this case," Anderson told the Associated Press. "Judges don't like to second-guess each other."

Some 19 judges and 6 courts have been involved in the decade-long lawsuit.

The Schindlers are still hoping Bush will launch an investigation into Michael Schiavo.

One year after Terri's collapse, a bone scan revealed that she had compression fractures and apparent traumatic injuries.

Michael wants Terri's body cremated following her death.

Attorneys with the Thomas More Legal Center, a pro-life law firm, are worried that doing so would destroy any evidence investigators could use to ascertain whether Terri was a victim of domestic abuse.

The evidence, along with the lack of medical care given to Terri during two recent hospitalizations, gives Bush "probable cause" to investigate, the attorneys say.

The attorneys say Michael has conflicts of interest because he is living with another woman -- while still legally married to Terri.

He and his girlfriend have one child already and are expecting another.

They also say Michael has violated a promise to a jury that $700,000 of a $1.5 million medical malpractice judgment awarded to him would be used to pay for rehabilitative and medical care for Terri.

After Michael received the award, he placed a "do not recesitate" order on Terri.

Michael adamantly denies having abused or mistreated his wife.

Copyright 2003 LifeNews.com

http://www.lifenews.com/bio92.html

Related web sites:

Bob and Mary Schindler - http://www.terrisfight.org

Letter #1 from law firm to Bush

http://www.terrisfight.org/downloads/More.pdf

Letter #2 from law firm to Bush

http://www.terrisfight.org/downloads/Supplemental%20More.pdf

http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles4/terrifrms.htm

http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles5/judge_denies_another_last.htm

=====

Terri's Light

Mary (Schindler) had a little Lamb

Her name was Terri Marie

And when she'd come into a room

Her Light was plain to see


The Shepherd made This Lamb special 

Unlike all the rest

For He knew the way, with all its trials

He made her for the test


Mary's Lamb grew more beautiful

A lovely sight to see

Michael promised to take care of her

But it was not to be


For all the love in parents' hearts

Cannot shelter from the world

Lambs frolicking and wandering

That get separated from the herd


Knowing the love in Mary's heart

Lamb's trust never failed

For years she glowed when Mary kissed

Though her body was assailed

Now it's up to us, the Flock

To do what we know is right

Our steps won't falter, how can they? They're

Guided by Terri's Light!



- Julie Kay Smithson, October 18, 2003
http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles5/terri1.htm