U.S. Supreme Court won’t intervene in Schiavo case
Schindlers low on options for brain-damaged daughter
Pinellas Park, Fla. ? With Terri Schiavo visibly drawing closer to death, her parents were rebuffed by both the U.S. and Florida supreme courts Thursday in their battle to reinsert their brain-damaged daughter’s feeding tube.
Bob and Mary Schindler held onto the slim hope that Gov. Jeb Bush would somehow find a way to intervene or a federal judge who had turned them down before would see things their way. But Bush warned that he was running out of options.
As of Thursday afternoon, Schiavo, 41, had been without food or water for six full days and was showing signs of dehydration: flaky skin, dry tongue and lips, sunken eyes, according to attorneys and friends of the Schindlers. Doctors have said she would probably die within a week or two of the tube being pulled.
“It’s very frustrating. Every minute that goes by is a minute that Terri is being starved and dehydrated to death,” said her brother, Bobby Schindler, who said seeing her was like looking at “pictures of prisoners in concentration camps.”
The brother of Schiavo’s husband, though, strongly disagreed with that assessment, telling CNN on Thursday night that Schiavo “does look a little withdrawn” but insisting that she was not in pain. He added that starvation is simply “part of the death process.”
“I’m sure you saw all the video of her before she had the tube removed,” Brian Schiavo said. “She didn’t look all that well.”
A lawyer for the husband, Michael Schiavo, said he hoped the woman’s parents and the governor would finally give up their fight.
“We believe it’s time for that to stop as we approach this Easter weekend and that Mrs. Schiavo be able to die in peace,” attorney George Felos said.
The Schindlers appeared before a federal judge in Tampa later Thursday to make another emergency request that the feeding tube be reattached while they pursue claims that Schiavo’s religious and due-process rights were violated. U.S. District Judge James Whittemore previously rejected a similar request and said Thursday he would work overnight to issue a new ruling.
Mary Schindler, Terri Schiavo's mother, meets her son-in-law Michael Vitadamo after arriving Thursday at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where Terri is a patient. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday turned aside the case of Schiavo, dimming her parents' hope of keeping her alive.
At the hearing, Whittemore asked Schindler lawyer David Gibbs III to focus on the legal issues because he was aware of Terri Schiavo’s declining health. Gibbs argued that, as she lay dying, her rights to life and privacy were being violated.
As Gibbs attempted to liken Schiavo’s death to a murder, the judge interrupted.
“That is the emotional rhetoric of this case. It does not influence this court, and cannot influence this court. I want you to know it and I want the public to know it,” Whittemore said.
Felos argued that Schiavo’s constitutional rights haven’t been violated, and that the Schindlers’ arguments were simply a rehash of what the court has already heard and ruled on.
“The real grievance is not they (the Schindlers) did not have a day in court, that they did not have due process,” Felos said. “The real grievance is they disagree with the result.”
Meanwhile, the area around the federal courthouse was evacuated during the hearing after a suspicious backpack was found outside. The hearing was not interrupted.
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Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. She left no living will, but her husband argued that she told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents dispute that, and contend she could get better.
The dispute has led to what may be the longest, most heavily litigated right-to-die case in U.S. history.
The U.S. Supreme Court, without explanation, refused Thursday to order the feeding tube reinserted. The case worked its way through the federal courts and reached the Supreme Court after Congress passed an extraordinary law over the weekend to let the Schindlers take their case to federal court.
Later Thursday, Pinellas County Circuit Judge George Greer denied Bush’s request to let the state take Schiavo into protective custody and, presumably, restore her feeding tube. Bush appealed that decision to the 2nd District Court of Appeal. In documents filed in Greer’s court, Bush cited new allegations that Schiavo was neglected and abused, and challenged her diagnosis as being in a persistent vegetative state.
“The requested intervention … appears to be brought for the purpose of circumventing the courts’ final judgment and order setting the removal date in violation of the separation of powers doctrine,” Greer wrote.
The Florida Supreme Court later declined to take up a separate appeal on another Greer order that blocked the state’s social services agency from taking temporary custody of Schiavo while challenges are argued. State law allows the Department of Children & Families to act in emergency situations of adult abuse.
Late Thursday afternoon, DCF filed another petition before Greer seeking to provide emergency protective services for Terri Schiavo. Greer had not scheduled a hearing by Thursday night but, according to Bush’s office, he indicated one could occur Monday.
6News video: Schiavo case highlights need for living will (03-23-05)
On the Street: Do you think Terri Schiavo should be allowed to die? (03-24-05)Even before the state high court’s ruling, the governor acknowledged Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press that his hands were increasingly tied.
“It is frustrating for people to think that I have power that I don’t, and not be able to act,” Bush said. “I don’t have embedded special powers. I wish I did in this particular case.”
In his decision, Greer said an affidavit from a neurologist who believes that Schiavo is “minimally conscious” was not enough to set aside his decision to allow the withdrawal of food and water.
“By clear and convincing evidence, it was determined she did not want to live under such burdensome conditions and that she would refuse such medical treatment-assistance,” Greer wrote.