Judge Voids Law Keeping Fla. Woman Alive

[maddezmom]

Judge Voids Law Keeping Fla. Woman Alive

4 minutes ago Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!



TAMPA, Fla. - The law pushed by Gov. Jeb Bush to keep a severely brain damaged woman alive is unconstitutional, a Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday. The governor's office filed an immediate appeal.



The ruling by Pinellas Circuit Court Judge W. Douglas Baird voided the law passed in October, just days after Terri Schiavo was disconnected from the feeding and hydration tube which has kept her alive for more than a decade.


The law allowed Bush to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reconnected.


Her husband, Michael, had fought a long court battle to carry out what he said were his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially, but her parents have said there were no such wishes.

~snip~
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=716&e=3&u=/ap/20040506/ap_on_re_us/brain_damaged_woman

[Trillo]

1. disconnecting the feeding tube

and not giving water is likely cruel and unusual treatment.

It's much more humane to give a shot and end it quickly. That's what we do with dogs, cats, and other animals.

[BlueEyedSon]

3. Euthanasia is still illegal.

Letting her die is not.

[Trillo]

5. True, but how would you like to be starved to death?

Perhaps euthanasia shouldn't be illegal.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

4. She's brain dead!

she will feel nothing, therefore it is not cruel or unusual treatment.

[Warpy]

6. Active euthanasia is humane

...but illegal.

Passive euthanasia is all we have. Opium suppositories will keep her as comfortable as possible, should she be able to show signs of distress.

[maddezmom]

2. Pinellas judge rules law keeping Terri Schiavo alive is unconstitutional

TAMPA, Fla. - A Circuit Court judge ruled today that the law pushed by Gov. Jeb Bush to keep a severely brain damaged woman alive is unconstitutional. The governor's office filed an immediate appeal.

~snip~

Last fall, the Florida Legislature and Bush intervened to keep Terri Schiavo alive after a court had ordered the feeding tube removed, causing Michael Schiavo to sue.

more: http://www.floridatoday.com/topstories/050604braindead.htm

[Failure]

7. I was living in CLearwater Fl, when this all started to heat up...

And from looking at all the evidence from both sides, and considering that the circumstances by which Terri came to be in this state are questionable, I do not think that her feeding tube should be removed. I also disagree with the feeding tube being called "life support"...by that definition we are ALL on life support. She can't feed herself, but there are lots of people who cannot feed themselves. My grandma is one of them...so is she on life support?
Furthermore, it is her family, her parents-who brought her into the world who want to take care of her, and being that there is no evidence anywhere other than heresay which suggests that she would not want to be in this state, why won't he let them have her? He's got a new girlfriend, baby on the way, only thing he's got left to "deal with" is Terri.

Failure.

[maddezmom]

8. right to privacy

~snip~
Judge W. Douglas Baird wrote that the law is unconstitutional "because it is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the governor and because it unjustifiably authorizes the governor to summarily deprive Florida citizens of their constitutional right to privacy."

Baird also wrote that "by substituting the personal judgment of the governor for that of the patient, the act deprives every individual who is subject to its terms of his or her constitutionally guaranteed right to the privacy of his or her own medical decisions."
~snip~
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/05/06/schiavo.case/

[Gothmog]

9. Good decision

This law was clearly unconstitutional and needed to be struck down. Poor Jeb is using this lady for political gain and that is just wrong.

[SemperEadem]

10. not only that...

...but wouldn't the law interfer with the rights of the spouse, who, when married agrees to leave their parents and cleave only unto their spouse? It has been my understanding that no one can legally interfere in the decision making processes within a marriage, not parents and not the governor.

IMO, if that law stood, the spouse's right to make decision within the marriage would have been removed --and that does more to undermine marriage than giving gays/lesbians the right to marry.

Views?

[davhill]

11. A Spouse is not Property

To be disposed of when inconvenient. If Terri's parents are willing to pay for her upkeep they should be allowed to do so. Even the most severely disabled person should be given the chance to live. There is no such thing as a human vegetable either she is human or she is not. Loss of higher functions does not turn one into a diferent species. She is still one of us.

[demdave]

12. Not around here, political position first, human second.

If her death furthers some agenda for "whatever" or against "whoever" then the object of discussion only serves to further the cause. Sad but true, welcome to the DU.

[maddezmom]

15. oh you mean like Jeb pandering to the right to live crowd?

by interfering in this case...give me a break

[demdave]

17. You made my point, it is an issue about Jeb for some folks.

See my post below and view the videos if you are concerned about the woman and not just interested in this because of the Bush aspect.

[maddezmom]

18. glad to prove your point...demdave

:)

[troublemaker]

13. Is a corpse a person?

[demdave]

16. No, a corpse is brain dead, this woman is not brain dead.

She is severely brain damaged. She still opens her eyes and responds to visual stimuli. However, if you want to go down the slippery slope of "close enough", I would be interested in at what level of function we start starving the mentally handicapped to death.

You should see the videos of her at http://www.terrisfight.org..

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/Terri%20Mum.rm

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/Terri%20Swab.rm

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/Terri%20Music.rm

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/balloon.rm

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/Terri%20Big%20Eyes.rm

http://host85.ipowerweb.com/~friendso/how's%20that%20cold.rm

Then we can have an informed discussion.

[Unperson 309]

14. Get It In WRITING!

We just spent over $1,000 a week ago to have our Wills, Durable Powers of Attorney and Advance Directives drawn up and updated.

If anything happens of one, the other has the correctly drawn, signed, notarized and current paperwork IN PLACE in order that our wishes may be carried out.

It's not rocket science. Yes, expensive, but the cost now could save you thou$ands down the line. We had a topflight lawyer, but you can do it for far less. Do it today or tomorrow, day after may be too late.

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