Schiavo moved back to hospice, husband reverses ban on family's visits

Oct 23, 2003
JONI B. HANNIGAN
Managing Editor

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated at 7:30 a.m. Oct. 23.

PINELLAS PARK (FBW)-Terri Schiavo was moved back to Woodside Hospice late Oct. 22 where her parents were allowed to visit for the first time since a flurry of legal proceedings Oct. 20-21 had her moved from hospice to hospital and back.

At Morton Plant hospital, doctors first rehydrated the 39-year-old brain-damaged woman late Oct. 21, hours after Gov. Bush ordered her feeding tube reinserted. Her feeding tube was reinserted Oct. 22, and within hours Schiavo was whisked back to the hospice where her feeding tube had been removed by workers Oct. 15.

Outside the hospice, Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, spoke with reporters at about 10 p.m. Oct. 22, according to a CNN news report.

"She's really a tired girl," said Schindler. "She looked to me like someone who had the flu."

CNN reported Schindler said he is optimistic his daughter will recover, but is annoyed at how the family was treated Oct. 22.

Michael Schiavo, who is still Terri's guardian, barred the family from visitation while she was at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater. Attorneys said Michael dropped his objections to the family's visits sometime Oct. 22--while her family scrambled to keep up with where she was being treated.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed an executive order into law Oct. 21, providing for the immediate rehydration and nourishment of Schiavo. The move capped a busy political day in which both chambers of the state legislature passed bills giving Bush the right to intervene.

The House and Senate passed the bill and Bush signed it all in a three-hour span -- reflecting a sense of urgency to keep Schiavo alive. The bill gives Bush the authority to issue a one-time stay to prevent the withholding of nutrition and hydration from Schiavo.

The Senate passed the bill 23-15; the House 73-24. They were already in Tallahassee for a special session to discuss the state budget.

Since the bill's passage, experts have debated the "constitutionality " of the bill -- and whether Schiavo has any chance of recovery.

Schiavo's parents have been in a legal battle with her husband Michael for several years. She suffered brain damage in 1990 following a collapse, and in 1998 he petitioned the courts to have her feeding tube removed, saying that it is what she had wanted. If Terri Schiavo had expressed such a wish, however, she did not put it in writing. Her parents have been fighting to keep her alive, arguing she is not in a persistent vegetative state and is still alert.

Schiavo supporters assert that her husband should not be the guardian because he currently is living with his girlfriend. He and his girlfriend have one child and are expecting another. The bill signed by Bush requires the court to appoint a "guardian ad litem" to represent Schiavo's best interests.

The new guardian would represent Schiavo in legal proceedings, but Michael Schiavo would still remain as decision maker, according to CNN.

Bill Bunkley, legislative consultant for the Florida Baptist Convention said the legal process is moving along, but it could take up to a week for a guardian ad litem to be appointed by a judge.

Meanwhile, Bunkley said, the governor's order appears to have been followed.

"That's about all I know right now," Bunkley told Florida Baptist Witness.

Both the hospital and the hospice have refused to speak out on Schiavo's condition, and the Schindlers are not privy to any information regarding her treatment.

Joni Eareckson Tada, an evangelical who is also a quadriplegic, told James Dobson on his radio program Oct. 22 that she views the case as "Roe v. Wade for people with disabilities."

"We see people at our Joni and Friends family retreat who are far more disabled than Terri," Tada said. "They come to these retreats with feeding tubes, with ventilators. They have no cognitive skills. They cannot seem to recognize their loved ones, and yet they have a right to live. They have a right to human treatment. They have a right to be fed. They have a right to rehabilitative therapy. And these are the things that up until this point have been denied Terri."

Two judges refused an emergency request by Michael Schiavo Oct. 21 to halt the re-insertion of the feeding tube, although his lawyer said the legal battle may continue. [For information about earlier judicial involvement see Witness editorials "Starving a woman to death in Clearwater," Sept. 4, and "Date Set: Starving..," Sept. 25. ]

Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when she collapsed and her heart stopped from what doctors believed was a potassium imbalance. Michael Schiavo cared for her and won a $1 million medical malpractice suit in 1992 when a jury ruled that doctors had failed to diagnose her condition.

During the malpractice case he testified that he believed in the wedding vows he took and that he would take care of her "through sickness, in health, for richer or poorer."

"I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her," he said. "I'm going to do that."

He and his in-laws subsequently had a falling out, according to the Associated Press.

A website set up by Terri Schiavo's supporters -- www.terrisfight.org -- has video showing her moving her head from side to side, opening her eyes, smiling and laughing. In 2002 a court appointed five doctors to examine Schiavo -- two were her husband's, two were the parents' and one was the court's. By a 3-2 vote the doctors said she was in a persistent vegetative state. Both doctors appointed by the parents said Schiavo could improve.

Her parents have since come forward with other doctors who assert that Schiavo can improve. They note that she has not received rehabilitation treatment in some 10 years.
[With additional reporting by Michael Foust at Baptist Press. Some information also from the St. Petersburg Times.]

--James Dobson's conversation with Joni Eareckson Tada is available on the web at: http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/Focus_on_the_Family/.

Email this Article Print this page