Federal appeals court rules against Schiavo's parents

The Orlando Sentinel (Mar 23): Each stepped up to waiting officers, then knelt down and acknowledged that they still wanted to proceed into the hospice. Police then notified them that they were being arrested, helped them to their feet, and handcuffed each of them, including Chris Key, 43, of Texas, and three of his children. The adults were taken to the Pinellas County Jail. The children went to a juvenile center. "My 10-year-old said that Jesus said, `If you offer a cup of water in my name, you did it for me.' And he told me that's what he wanted to do," said Key's wife, Gaylen.

Posted on Wed, Mar. 23, 2005

Federal appeals court rules against Schiavo's parents

BY JOHN KENNEDY, WES SMITH AND SEAN MUSSENDEN

The Orlando Sentinel

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - (KRT) - The Terri Schiavo case seesawed Wednesday between a federal appeals court, the Legislature, the governor and the state judge who originally ordered her feeding tube removed, as the brain-damaged woman at the center of an epic right-to-die battle went without food or water for the sixth straight day.

The day of dramatic developments began early, at 2:32 a.m., when the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta turned down a request from Schiavo's parents to intervene to save her life by overturning a decision handed down Tuesday by a Tampa federal judge.

Bob and Mary Schindler appealed, seeking a full hearing of the appellate court. That, too, was rejected.

In Tallahassee , the state Senate defeated a measure that might have restored the feeding tube, and the governor tried to intervene but was blocked by a state judge.

And President Bush, who was awakened at 1:11 a.m. Monday to immediately sign an extraordinary bill Congress passed to try to keep Schiavo alive, said on Wednesday there was nothing more he could do.

"I believe that in a case such as this, the legislative branch, the executive branch, ought to err on the side of life, which we have," the president said. "Now we'll watch the courts make their decisions."

The Schindlers vowed to take their fight to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to get involved previously. One of their attorneys, Rex Sparklin, said he would work into the night to file an appeal with the high court as quickly as possible.

As each attempt to intervene failed, tensions mounted outside the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri Schiavo lives. Ten protesters were arrested, including three children, for trying to deliver water to Schiavo, 41, who doctors say has been in a persistent vegetative state since her heart stopped more than 15 years ago.

"When I close my eyes at night, all I can see is Terri's face dying, starving to death," Mary Schindler said outside the hospice. "Please, someone out there stop this cruelty. Stop the insanity. Please let my daughter live."

With options narrowing, Gov. Jeb Bush took the extraordinary step of ordering the state's social services agency to file a legal motion alleging "30 detailed allegations of abuse, neglect or exploitation," which the state says occurred during Schiavo's stay at Woodside Hospice.

He also submitted an affidavit from a Jacksonville neurologist, who concluded from examining videotape of Schiavo and observing her for less than an hour at the hospice.

"I'm doing everything within my power to make sure that Terri is afforded at least the same rights that criminals convicted of heinous crimes take for granted," Gov. Bush said.

But Pinellas Circuit Judge George W. Greer denied the motion and went so far as to issue a temporary order blocking the state's Department of Children & Families from taking any action to reconnect Schiavo's feeding tube.

The order was necessary to prevent chaos as Schiavo nears death, said Greer, who has handled the case for years.

"I don't want this thing turning into a donnybrook," he said. "It's been real orderly for seven years, and this court is not real enthusiastic about it turning into a less than orderly process in the 11th hour."

George Felos, an attorney for Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, said that he was told by Pinellas Park police guarding the hospice that before the judge's order came down, "two doctors along with an FDLE agent had left and were on their way to the hospice with the purpose of immediately putting needles into Mrs. Schiavo to hydrate her."

Pinellas Park police would not comment.

DCF said it was seeking the order to intervene because they are conducting an investigation into whether Terri Schiavo was abused.

In Tallahassee, Bush announced that neurologist William Polk Cheshire, Jr., as part of a DCF review team, had concluded that Schiavo might not be in a persistent vegetative state.

Instead, "it is likely she is in a state of minimal consciousness," Bush said. "This new information raises serious concerns and warrants immediate action."

DCF Secretary Luci Hadi said that under state law the agency is authorized to intervene and have Schiavo's sustenance restored even without a court order.

But Wednesday night, Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said the administration had no plans to defy Greer's order.

In Greer's courtroom, Felos argued the new medical review of Terri Schiavo was flawed.

"This is just subterfuge of the worst kind," Felos said, calling it a "last-minute ploy" designed to restore her feeding tube.

Jennifer Lima-Smith, an agency attorney, disagreed. "Why has the department come in at the 11th hour? Your honor, our investigations take time," she said.

Greer said he expected to have a final ruling on the case by noon Thursday.

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. Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

Her parents argue that she could get better and that she would never have wanted to be cut off from food and water. Her husband has argued that his wife told him and others she would not want to be kept alive artificially, and Greer and other state courts have repeatedly ruled in his favor.

At the hospice, word of Gov. Bush's fresh intervention came to protesters across a megaphone held up to a small boom box. People prayed, pumped their fists and cried out with thanks.

"God is our best hope to keep Terri Schiavo alive," said David Gibbs, another attorney for the Schindlers. "Her eyes are getting dark. Her energy is diminishing. Her skin is beginning to peel; it looks like chapped skin."

The judge's order came shortly after the state Senate voted 21-18 to reject legislation aimed at allowing a court to intervene when a conflict occurs such as that which has pitted Schiavo's parents against her husband.

"I'm here today pleading for mercy, have mercy on Theresa Marie Schiavo," said Republican Sen. Daniel Webster, sponsor of the measure.

Webster repeatedly urged senators to "err on the side of life."

But senators opposed to the measure said lawmakers were wrong to try to intercede again in the case. Legislators in 2003 hastily approved legislation that resulted in Schiavo's feeding tube being reinserted at the time, but the measure was eventually declared unconstitutional.

"When one gets to the stage of no recovery, in the sense of a persistent vegetative state, the soul has passed and it's time for the body to rest," said Democratic Sen. Ron Klein.

In the Senate gallery, Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler was watching the debate, occasionally covering his eyes and lowering his head during the four-hour exchange.

Earlier at the hospice, veteran pro-life activists skilled in civil disobedience at abortion clinics joined demonstrators to orchestrate the peaceful arrest of 10 people, including three children, ages 10 to 14.

Those arrested were charged with trespassing after their staged attempt to carry Styrofoam cups of water into the hospice.

"It's an act of Biblical obedience, not civil disobedience," said Chet Gallagher, 55, a former Las Vegas motorcycle policeman turned anti-abortion activist with Operation Rescue.

Gallagher, fired from his job in 1989 after he joined anti-abortion demonstrators whom he was supposed to arrest, has been jailed "at least 100 times" for his activism, he said.

Each stepped up to waiting officers, then knelt down and acknowledged that they still wanted to proceed into the hospice.

Police then notified them that they were being arrested, helped them to their feet, and handcuffed each of them, including Chris Key, 43, of Texas , and three of his children. The adults were taken to the Pinellas County Jail. The children went to a juvenile center.

"My 10-year-old said that Jesus said, `If you offer a cup of water in my name, you did it for me.' And he told me that's what he wanted to do," said Key's wife, Gaylen.

Another strategist for the demonstration was former Kissimmee bar owner the Rev. Phillip "Flip" Benham, a director of the Dallas-based anti-abortion group, Operation Save America.

Now pastor of the Truth Temple in Kannapolis , N.C. , the Florida State University graduate ran his family's bar, The Mad Hatter, in Kissimmee before turning his life around and becoming a minister and activist, he said.

Benham called the orchestrated arrests a "living parable" and promised more in the days to come if Schiavo is not reconnected to her feeding tube.

"It is imperative that if Terri Schiavo dies, she does not die alone - you do this because you love somebody," Benham said.

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