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Judge issues stay, Terri Schiavo safe
for now
February 22, 2005
By Joni B. Hannigan, Managing Editor
Florida Baptist Witness
P.O. Box 10289
Jacksonville, FL 32247-0289
800-226-8584 x 3165 or 904-596-3167
To submit a Letter to the Editor: http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/editorletter.fbw (website
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Clearwater, Florida - Florida's Sixth
Circuit Court Judge George Greer issued an emergency stay at 1:45 p.m.
ET temporarily preventing the removal of Terri Schiavo's food and
nutrition tube.
[Michael] Schiavo intended to remove the tube today at 1 p.m.
when Florida's Second District Court of Appeal issued its
mandate denying an appeal by Terri's parents, Bob and Mary
Schindler, in a case involving their daughter's religious liberty
rights.
The 2nd DCA's announcement ended a stay Greer issued in October-when the U.S. Supreme Court denied an appeal of the Florida Supreme Court's ruling last fall which found "Terri's Law," a measure passed by the Florida Legislature and enacted by Governor Jeb Bush in October 2003, unconstitutional. The hastily-passed law authorized the Governor to order Terri's feeding tube to be reinserted following a seven day period in which her husband had begun the starvation and dehydration process. Judge Greer's emergency stay will be in effect until 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 23, 2005, to "permit the orderly process" of considering a motion for a stay filed February 15 and originally scheduled for a hearing February 21. Greer Monday said he wished time to consider the 2nd DCA's latest decision and so had postponed the hearing for the emergency stay until Wednesday afternoon. Terri Schiavo, an otherwise healthy 41-year-old woman, was found unconscious in her home in 1990, having suffered brain damage after her heart stopped. In recent years her legal husband and her parents have been in a battle over whether she should continue to live. Michael Schiavo says Terri would not wish to continue to live in her present condition. However, no written request from Terri Schiavo exists. He has lived with his long-time girlfriend, with whom he has had two children, for at least nine years. There are a number of other legal motions already in proceess -- one of which dates back to 2002 and challenges Michael Schiavo's fitness as a guardian. In that case the court ordered Michael Schiavo to appear for a deposition with Gibbs in April. Other motions and appeals have to do with whether Terri has received due process of law and appropriate representation in court, and whether her religious rights are being considered. Gibbs' firm still plans to file -- within the 90-days allowed -- an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on the religious liberty issue, he said Monday. A new motion Gibbs plans to put before Greer this week will ask that the court take into consideration new medical advances related to people formerly considered in a "Persistent Vegetative State" (PVS). "It would certainly seem that Terri may not be in PVS, but may be in MCS, a 'minimally conscious state'," Gibbs said. Urging Christians to pray and to visit the Web site, http://www.terrisfight.org, for regular updates on the situation, Gibbs also said individuals should express to their elected officials and representatives the need for protection for the disabled and a new look at guardianship laws.
Copyright 2005, Florida Baptist Witness.
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