Terri Schiavo update
Judge Greer issued a temporary stay until 5:00 p.m. Wednesday. Terri's parents are seeking the opportunity to have new neurological tests performed, taking advantage of recent advances to determine her level of awareness. Greer will hear their request Wednesday at 2:45.
The effort to raise money for an ad in Sunday's St. Petersburg Times to raise public awareness is nearing its goal. You can contribute here.
There's a video I haven't seen before, showing Terri responding with laughter and other vocalizations as her dad reminisces about how, when she was a girl, she would upset her mom by letting her lazy eye turn in. If you believe that Terri is comatose or in a persistent vegetative state, you need to watch this minute long video. And if you won't watch it, ask yourself -- are you just afraid of changing your mind?
I've seen an increasing number of references to a website that has the trial court's determination of Terri's condition. But it's the trial court's findings that are at issue -- suppression of evidence, ignoring evidence. Judge Greer's findings of a persistent vegetative state don't line up with the videos and the testimony of caregivers about Terri's responsiveness and vocabulary. As I understand it, even if Judge Greer had some hidden conflict or bias that is coloring his judgment in this case, his findings of fact wouldn't be overturned, as long as he follows proper procedure. We need to pray that he will have a change of heart or that he'll be removed from the case. The videos don't show someone who has constantly been in a PVS for 15 years. Doesn't Terri deserve a judge who will give her the benefit of the doubt?
Here's a list of e-mail addresses for submitting letters to Florida newspapers. And there's a link to an example letter.
More in later entries.
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I don't understand why everybody is equating the removal of feeding tubes with abortion. Would they deny her anything she could consume orally? To me that's important because if Terri could live by her own devices, she would. A fetus is different, because the natural state of a fetus is to be alive. There is a difference between ending a life and allowing somebody to die. Of course it's hard in the case of Terri Schiavo, but I think the reason some people have been so in favor of ending life support in this case is that there's a worry that medicine has gone too far in its efforts to maintain life that should otherwise come to its natural end. Nobody's found a way to beat the system yet, and the world death rate is holding steady at 100%. So spending millions of dollars to give somebody six more months seems misguided. But I'm not imagining somebody like Terri when I say that, because some of her is clearly still there, and she's in a stable condition, not rapidly deteriorating.
In response to your question, sg, yes, Judge Greer has denied a motion from her parents to allow them to attempt to give her nutrition and water by mouth. The fact that she is able to swallow her own saliva suggests that it might be possible, and caregivers have testified that she was sometimes given Jell-o without her husband's knowledge. Judge Greer has sentenced her to death. Unless she gets out of bed under her own power and pours herself a glass of water, she won't be getting anything to eat or drink if Judge Greer has his way, and even then, I'm not sure that he wouldn't order her bound and gagged.