Right-To-Die Cases Change View of Death
By ROBERT TANNER, AP National Writer
It all seems so pat and obvious, yes? Karen and Nancy were allowed to die. Why not Terri?
In 1975, Karen Ann Quinlan fell into a coma after mixing alcohol with Valium at a party. The parents of the 21-year-old New Jersey woman went to court to win the right to remove the respirator that kept her alive. Life support was removed in 1976; she lived until 1985 but never came out of her coma.
In 1990, the parents of Nancy Cruzan went to the Supreme Court in the climax of their fight to let their daughter die. She was 25 when she was thrown from her car in an accident in Missouri and suffered brain damage. The high court's decision provided a path for Cruzan's parents to prove her desire not to live in a "vegetative state." A state court agreed with their argument; she died a few weeks after life support was removed.
In the above cases, the decisions to allow the women to die were made by the parents. Neither women were married at the time.
Schiavo is remarkably different - a bitter battle and complex entanglement between the family who have known Terri all her life, and a husband married to her for 5.5 years, and now living with a mistress and two children by the same.
I cannot help but feel that the first order of business should have been the courts re-addressing is the wisdom of the husband as a guardian, instead of focusing on Terri's vegetative or not status.
For a very thorough link to all the events, here is a condensed time line to Terri's life and trials, plus links to the legal documents. It is updated, even as of today.
KEY EVENTS IN THE
CASE OF THERESA MARIE SCHIAVO
Things here that catch my eye...
December 20, 1998
The second guardian ad litem, Richard Pearse, Esq., issues his report in which he concluding that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state with no chance of improvement and that Michael Schiavo’s decision-making may be influenced by the potential to inherit the remainder of Terri Schiavo’s estate.(snip)
March 2, 2000
The Schindlers file a petition with Judge Greer to allow “swallowing” tests to be performed on Terri Schiavo to determine if she can consume—or learn to consume—nutrients on her own.
March 7, 2000
Judge Greer denies the Schindlers’ petition to perform “swallowing” tests on Terri Schiavo.
(snip)
April 26, 2001
The Schindlers file an emergency motion with Judge Greer for relief from judgment based upon new evidence, which includes a claim that a former girlfriend of Michael Schiavo will testify that he lied about Terri Schiavo’s wishes; Judge Greer dismisses the motion as untimely. Also on this date, the Schindlers file a new civil suit that claims that Michael Schiavo perjured himself when he testified that Terri Schiavo had stated an aversion to remaining on life support. Pending this new civil trial, Circuit Court Judge Frank Quesada orders Terri Schiavo’s PEG tube to be reinserted.
April 30, 2001
Michael Schiavo files an emergency motion with the 2nd DCA to allow the removal of Terri Schiavo’s PEG tube.
(snip)
July 11, 2001
The 2nd DCA remands the case back to Judge Greer. (1) The 2nd DCA informs the Schindlers that they must address both their desire to have new evidence heard and their perjury claim against Michael Schiavo within the original guardianship proceeding; further, the Schindlers are instructed to file a new motion for relief from judgment in the guardianship proceeding. (2) The 2nd DCA instructs Judge Greer to weigh the Schinders’ new evidence in making a new determination of what Terri Schiavo would have wanted. (3) The 2nd DCA denies Michael Schiavo’s request to discontinue the PEG tube.
In re Schiavo, 792 So. 2d 551 (2nd DCA 2001).
7-11-01 DCA Order
August 7, 2001
After the 2nd DCA remands the case back to Judge Greer, he again finds that Michael Schiavo may remove Terri Schiavo’s PEG tube on August 28.
August 10, 2001
Judge Greer denies the Schindlers' motion (1) to have their own doctors examine Terri Schiavo, (2) to remove Michael Schiavo as her guardian, and (3) to disqualify himself from the proceedings.
September 17, 2003
Judge Greer orders the removal of the PEG tube to take place on October 15, 2003. He also rejects the Schindlers’ request that Terri Schiavo be given therapy to learn how to eat without the tube.
9-17-03 Court Order
(snip)
Notice how quickly Michael acted - 4 days - when the family requested relief from judgement based on new evidence that Michael had lied about "Terri's wishes". The DCA (Dist Court of Appeals) throws it right back at Greer, who then denies the requests.
There is so much going on here that no federal judges could review all of this data in such a short time. Motions denied, even obvious attempts at therapy denied. New evidence INRE guardianship not even addressed, but denied by Greer.
Bottom line ... if there was some procedural insufficiency in Judge Greer's performance in the past - his multiple refusals to remove himself, denying motions for treatment that would grant Terri therapy to learn to eat without a feeding tubec, etc - one would think this would be more than just cause for re-examination by the federal courts.
Yet with the obvious speed that each federal court has issued their findings, there is no question the feds have flat out refused to do an "de novo" review of all the various cases, motions and evidence.
There's a dead end in front of Terri, and all of us. If Judge Greer's judicial performance is flawed, we will never know. And despite Congress's attempts to force the federal courts to examine the full facts, the judicial system has availed itself of it's right to refuse, and uphold the lower courts decisions with nary a peek into the details.
Our judicial system has shown up that the "good ol'boy's club" mentality is alive and well. That if a judge has not faced a mandamus by legal representatives of a party, that the chances a higher court may correct the injustice for procedural deficiences are absolutely none. And that leaves us all in one rock and a hard place. There is no where else to go.
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