We've noticed that while the media is reporting on the imminent Constitutional Showdown over Terri's Law, they never mention the Memorandum of amicus curiae submitted to the courts on October 7th, by Jeb Bush's legal department, (in his name) on behalf of Terri.
Here's an e-mail just sent to Diana Lynne, author of this WND article, in hopes they will bring to light all the facts mentioned in the piece posted here at sweetliberty.org. If enough of the media who are rallying for Terri will expose this, possibly the constitutional showdown would fizzle out. Let's see what response we get from WND to this:
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----- Original Message -----
From: Jackie Patru
To: dlynne@worldnetdaily.com
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2003 11:49 PM
Subject: Re: Constitutional Showdown article.
To:
Hello Diana. While your article does report on the upcoming storm, it doesn't address the points made in the Amicus curiae Memorandum Jeb Bush's legal department filed (in his name) on behalf of Terri and her parents. It's all in this piece. Since WND has taken up the banner, what do you think about coming out very strongly on the fact that Jeb Bush does have the authority to intervene, and encourage him to rise to this challenge. Do the right thing. I'll be interested in your comments. - Thank you. -- Jackie Patru
http://www.sweetliberty.org/bulletins/terri/jeb.htm
According to the Amicus curiae Memorandum Gov. Jeb Bush filed on Terri's behalf, he KNOWS Terri is being murdered, he KNOWS Judge Greer broke the law by his order to forbid oral feeding, and Jeb Bush KNOWS that he has the AUTHORITY and DUTY to step forth NOW!
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This 'constitutional showdown' could finally free Terri from the grip of the killing courts and her murdering husband, or. . . it could be the final death-dealing decision of the courts.
Better gear up for phone calls, e-mails and faxes on Monday. Terri needs us now more than ever. The danger is that Terri's Bill provides for a "one-time-only stay", which could be interpreted to mean that if the courts reverse this present action and once again order Terri's murder, there might be no further remedy.
If you haven't read the piece mentioned above, please do so. It's titled: Jeb Bush Knows He Can Intervene For Terri.
-- Jackie --
Sunday night/Monday morning 1:05 AM
October 26/27th, 2003
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WORLD NET DAILY
Friday, October 24, 2003
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MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
Constitutional showdown brewing over Terri's Law
Husband's attorney expects Florida Supremes to rule on intervention by legislators, Jeb Bush
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Posted: October 24, 2003
3:40 p.m. Eastern
By Diana Lynne
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© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
The Florida Supreme Court will be asked next week to consider the constitutionality of Terri's Law, the emergency measure passed by Florida lawmakers to empower Gov. Jeb Bush to order the feeding tube reinserted into Terri Schindler-Schiavo.
No strangers to national controversy, the justices are at once credited and condemned for rulings that ultimately determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election between Democrat candidate Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush.
Gov. Jeb Bush
Now it's the governing power of Bush's brother, Jeb, that could face scrutiny by the state's high court, as attorney George Felos, who represents Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, announces intentions to bring their case before the court. Justices have already rejected three motions related to the case.
Felos, who calls Terri's Law "absurdly unconstitutional," believes he can get a challenge before the court in three weeks. He has already mounted a challenge to the law in circuit court in Clearwater, Fla.
"Individuals have a right to control their own body and the right to choose what medical treatment they want and what medical treatment they don't want," Felos previously told WorldNetDaily. "If you've made the decision that medical treatment is no longer a benefit for you and you don't want it, then you do have the legal and constitutional right to refuse it. And I'm an advocate of allowing people to enforce that right."
The right-to-die advocate held a press conference yesterday to counter the rising tide of public outcry against his client's efforts to end Terri's life. The governor's office said it has received more than 165,000 e-mails and thousands of calls in support of Terri and Bush's intervention on her behalf.
"There's a lot of angry people out there over what happened to Terri, and what was done to Terri: being literally, under threat of arrest, yanked from her deathbed and her death process," Felos told reporters at the press conference , according to WFTS. "Just in the last two days, I have received scores of e-mails and calls of outrage over this act. Many people have contacted us offering support, both material and in other ways."
Defending Michael Schiavo against speculation over his motives for wanting his wife dead, Felos insisted he was acting out of love and respect for his wife's desire to "die with dignity."
"Who in God's name would subject themselves to what he has gone through for any other reason?" he said. "He always deeply loved her."
Felos said there was no life insurance policy on Terri and Michael Schiavo would not otherwise benefit financially from his wife's death.
WorldNetDaily has reported Michael Schiavo won more than $1.2 million in 1992 that was to be earmarked for Terri's care and therapy but was never spent for that purpose.
Felos told reporters yesterday the sum in Terri's trust fund had been whittled down to $55,000. While he and Michael Schiavo's other attorney, Deborah Bushnell, say they haven't been paid in over a year, Felos was previously paid $358,434 out of the fund. Bushnell told the St. Petersburg Times she had been paid approximately $80,000 from the fund.
In a move that horrified Terri's family last year, Bushnell also filed a petition with probate Judge George Greer seeking authorization of pre-payment for Terri's cremation and burial expenses out of the fund.
Pat Anderson, the attorney representing Terri's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, has filed multiple petitions seeking the removal of Michael Schiavo as Terri's guardian and chief decision maker. Among her arguments, she claims Michael Schiavo misspent the medical funds.
"While exhausting Terri's money for the purpose of killing her, not one red cent could be found by Schiavo to enhance the quality of her life after receipt of the malpractice award. ... [A]nd the expenditure of nothing for therapy that would reduce the pain of contractures, enhance Terri’s ability to swallow, or facilitate recovery of basic abilities is the grossest form of asset mismanagement," Anderson stated in a petition filed and rejected by Greer last November.
Terri responding to her mother in video clip available on terrisfight.org
WorldNetDaily has reported Terri sustained brain damage when she mysteriously collapsed in 1990 at the age of 26 and oxygen was cut to her brain for several minutes. The Schindlers have been fighting with their son-in-law for 10 years over the fate of their daughter. He contends his wife is in a persistent vegetative state and told him once she would not want to be kept alive artificially. The Schindlers argue Terri is alert, responsive and vocalizes and maintain she wants to live. She has no written directive on the matter.
Constitutional showdown
In an historic move earlier this week, Florida lawmakers crafted a narrowly worded measure that authorized Bush to issue "a one-time stay to prevent the withholding of nutrition and hydration from a patient" who meets criteria, which apply to Terri.
Some legal scholars agree with Felos and believe the legislators and the governor overstepped their bounds in defying the judicial system. They predict the intervention will spark a constitutional showdown.
"Courts get to decide particular cases, not legislatures," Steven Gey, a law professor at Florida State University, told the New York Times.
In 1995, the Supreme Court ruled Congress was prohibited from reopening final court decisions under the separation-of-powers doctrine.
Gey said Florida's separation-of-powers law is "more rigid" than federal law.
Other scholars wonder whether the law encroaches on Michael Schiavo's constitutional right to privacy.
Still others ask about Terri's rights as a brain-disabled woman who can't speak for herself.
WorldNetDaily reported constitutional expert Herb Titus maintains Bush had a legal obligation to use his executive powers to halt Terri's death.
"Not only does the governor have such power, but the governor has the constitutional duty to prevent any action taken pursuant to such a court order, because such action would violate Ms. Schindler-Schiavo's constitutionally guaranteed 'inalienable right to enjoy and defend life' regardless of her 'physical disability' as secured by Article 1 Section 2 of the Florida State Constitution," Titus, of Chesapeake, Va., wrote in a memorandum faxed to the governor's legal office last week.
Titus represents suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore in his battle over the 10 Commandments monument in Montgomery, Ala.
Attorney Richard Thompson, who heads the Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm in Ann Arbor, Mich., noted in an emergency letter sent to Bush the night Terri's feeding tube was pulled that Terri is "a victim of abuse and neglect," and under Florida law, "it is a crime to abuse or neglect a disabled adult" and to encourage another person to do so.
Thompson called on Bush to launch a full-scale criminal investigation into the circumstances of the case "and to take measures to prevent future harm to Ms. Schiavo pending the outcome of the investigation."
In August, the Schindlers filed a federal lawsuit alleging Michael Schiavo and Felos "combined and conspired to deprive Terri of her constitutional and civil rights."
The 24-page complaint alleged Michael Schiavo had forbidden medical professionals to provide his wife with any therapy or rehabilitation and had even attempted to hasten her death while she was a patient at the Pinellas Park, Fla., hospice he placed her in three years ago.
In a sworn affidavit, Carla Sauer Iyer, a registered nurse who cared for Terri from April 1995 until August of 1996 when she was fired after notifying the police about the case, stated Terri used to talk to her as much as she could and frequently used what sounded like the word "pain." She also interpreted Terri's vocalizing at times as crying "help me."
While acknowledging she had no proof, Iyer said she suspects Michael Schiavo injected Terri, who normally has "very stable" blood sugar levels, with regular insulin to drive her into hypoglycemic shock during his visits.
"Terri would be trembling, crying hysterically and would be very pale and have cold sweats," Iyer wrote. "So I'd check her blood sugar. The glucometer reading would be so low that it was below the range where it would register an actual number reading."
Schiavo has repeatedly and strenuously denied allegations of abuse. Felos described the accusations as "a bunch of garbage." He called caregivers' claims Terri spoke to them "a fabrication."
[END ARTICLE]