Terri's Parents Appeal to 11th Circuit for Reinsertion of Feeding Tube
by Fred Jackson, Bill Fancher, and Jody Brown
March 22, 2005
(AgapePress) - Shock and unbelief. That's how the loved ones of Terri Schiavo are reacting to a judge's decision early on Tuesday to deny food and water to Terri.In Tampa, U.S. District Judge James Whittemore has refused a request by Terri Schiavo's parents that the feeding tube that has kept their brain-damaged daughter alive be re-inserted. She has been without food or water since a state court ordered the tube removed last Friday afternoon. Doctors have said Schiavo might only live a week or two without it.
The lawyer for Terri Schiavo's parents has told a federal judge that forcing the woman to die by starvation and dehydration would be "a mortal sin" under her Roman Catholic beliefs. Attorney David Gibbs told Whittemore, "It is a complete violation to her rights and to her religious liberty to force her in a position of refusing nutrition." But Whittemore told Gibbs that he did not see "a substantial likelihood" of the parents' lawsuit succeeding.
A woman outside Terri Schiavo's Florida hospice calls Whittemore's decision "terrible." In her words, "They're going to talk and talk and she's going to die."
Terri Schiavo's brother, Bobby Schindler, tells NBC the ruling leaves him "at a loss for words." Schindler says it is "barbaric" that his sister is being "slowly starved to death for no reason." He says what is happening is "not Terri's will" and that she should be given an attorney.
Bob and Mary Schindler have appealed Whittemore's ruling to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, asking that the court issue an immediate injunction allowing their daughter's feeding tube to be reinserted before she dies.
Ignoring Rights of Disabled
An advocate for the disabled says there is a lot of misinformation being spread around in the midst of all the reporting on the Terri Schiavo case. Marcia Roth is a spokesperson for the National Spinal Cord Injury Association. She says the misrepresentation of the struggle to keep the Florida woman alive is shameful.
"They have portrayed the debate as right-wing, religious conservatives versus the political left," she says. "They have ignored the 17 national disability rights organizations that have filed three amicus briefs about the denials of due process that may lead to a disabled woman's death. We stand firmly in support of the legal rights of all people with disabilities."
Roth says the disabled community in the U.S. is fearful that court-ordered starvation deaths could occur more frequently if a "quality of life" standard is established for all people.
Gary Bauer of the Campaign for Working Families echoes those concerns. Judges like Whittemore, he says, have a "very dubious attitude" toward the sanctity of life. Bauer notes that even when Congress passed legislation banning partial-birth abortion, un-elected judges -- who he says were "more interested in protecting their precious precedents, like Roe v. Wade, than actually doing what was right" -- overruled those measures. "And now, like Europe, we seem to be on the verge of legalized euthanasia," Bauer laments.
Religious Leaders Divided
Religious leaders are divided over Terri Schiavo's treatment. The Vatican is condemning the removal of her feeding tube, saying she should not be treated like a broken "household appliance." The Vatican newspaper asks, "Who can judge the dignity and sacredness of the life of a human being, made in the image and likeness of God?"
Rev. Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council says he find's Judge Whittemore's callousness "appalling." He says that just like the judge himself, Terri Schiavo's body craves food and water. "Judge Whittemore had the opportunity to do the right thing and go down in history as a hero, but instead he will most certainly be remembered for placing cold legislation above human compassion," Schenck says.
And Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, says by refusing to order that Terri's Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted, the Florida judge has demonstrated "profound disrespect" for the constitutional rights and liberties of disabled persons across America. In addition, he notes the judge's delay of more than 24 hours to issue his decision. "If [Whittemore] had any integrity," Mahoney says, "he would have released his decision [on Monday morning] to allow the Schiavo legal team adequate time for the appeal process."
But according to an Associated Press report, an Orthodox Jewish scholar says the woman's feeding tube never should have been inserted in the first place, and that keeping Schiavo alive amounts to tampering with the process of death. Islamic scholars, meanwhile, are divided on how the case should be handled.
Meanwhile, the Terri Schiavo Foundation says Christian celebrities are calling for re-insertion of the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube. The foundation quotes actor-director Mel Gibson as saying, "Terri's husband should sign the care of his wife over to her parents so she can be properly cared for." Similar statements from actress Patricia Heaton and singers Randy Travis and Pat Boone are quoted. Travis's appeal says, "May God lead the powers that be to reverse this decision and give Terri her life back."
Associated Press contributed to this article.
