Watch these streaming Real video clips of Terri Schiavo and her parents and ask yourself, "Was it ok to starve this severely handicapped woman to death by depriving her of food and water?"

Streaming video of Terri Schiavo appearing to enjoy her father's reminiscences about her childhood.

Streaming video of  Terri Schiavo with her mother.

Streaming video of Terri Schiavo appearing to respond to music.

Streaming video of Terri Schiavo apparently glad to see her mom.

Streaming video of Terri Schiavo opening her eyes, apparently to show that she understands what someone is saying to her.

source: http://www.sacramentolifechain.org/schiavo.html

June 2005, Volume 88

Published monthly by the Minnesota Medical Association

PULSE

News Digest

Expertly Stated

Minnesota’s most famous expert witness speaks out.

Ronald Cranford, M.D., surveys the crowded waiting room shared by the departments of obstetrics and neurology on the fifth floor of Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in downtown Minneapolis. In this spare moment before his next appointment, the neurologist jokes with a nurse who has come for his signature that she needs to “pretend” to show him more respect. After all, he’s an expert.

This lull in Cranford’s day is a change from the past several months, during which he has fielded media calls nearly nonstop. As one of a half-dozen physicians who in 2002 examined brain-damaged Theresa M. Schiavo and then testified about her condition in an evidentiary hearing in a Florida court, he’s been in demand around the country. The day before this interview, he was talking to the New York Times. On March 21, the day Congress and President Bush gave jurisdiction over the Florida woman’s case to the federal courts, Cranford did nonstop interviews starting at 6:30 a.m.

Why the frenzy around Cranford? He’s the only expert in the Schiavo case who has been willing to talk to the press. And talk he will, to almost anyone, fast and furiously explaining, and re-explaining, why Terri Schiavo was clearly in a persistent vegetative state and why the videotapes released by Schiavo’s parents to the media were misleading and why the experts who suggested treatments such as vasodilation therapy or hyperbaric oxygen therapy were not only mistaken but, in his words, “charlatans” and “frauds.”

“I don’t mind,” he says of the press interviews. “It goes with the territory.”

That territory is one he has mapped out over the last 30 years, building a national reputation as an expert on end-of-life ethics issues.

All in a Day’s Work

Unlike many physicians who shun the courtroom, Cranford sees his work in the courts as part of his job. “It’s a natural for neurology,” he says. “It’s a natural for me to come in to clarify brain death, vegetative state, and minimally conscious state.”

Making such fine and tragic determinations and explaining them to the court is something he has done in 13 major right-to-die cases and countless lesser-known ones. For the former, he takes no pay. He considers it his vocation.

For the latter, most of which are malpractice cases involving a patient with a significant brain injury, he says he “charges quite nicely.” In such cases, Cranford is hired by the defense at the point in a trial at which juries are determining damages. He examines the patient and states whether he or she is in a vegetative or some other state and whether the patient is experiencing pain and suffering. And he makes a prediction about life expectancy. Attorneys might argue that a patient needs to be sustained for 50 years. Cranford counters with medical evidence that shows their likely lifespan to be five to 10. “So life expectancy at five to 10 years means I can be worth $5 to $20 million in these cases.”

Cranford has no qualms about the value of his work. “First and foremost, I’m doing what any credible neurologist would do,” he says. “I’m explaining neurology. Second, I’m representing the medical profession by articulating the medical-legal standards. … Third, I’m representing families. … Fourth, I’m representing evolving social standards. I think I’m doing what’s generally good for society.”

For three decades, Cranford has been at the forefront of those evolving standards, literally helping to write definitions for such conditions as brain death and persistent vegetative state and formulate guidelines for medical decision making.

Like many people, he first became interested in the ethical issues around the end of life in the mid 1970s, when the Karen Quinlan case captured national attention. Quinlan was an unconscious woman whose father petitioned the court for guardianship of his daughter so that he could terminate her artificial respirator. Cranford began to realize that Quinlan and other similar cases hinged on the patients’ neurologic condition and that he had a role to play in the evolving ethical discussions. He joined HCMC’s then-fledgling ethics committee as well as Minnesota Medical Association committees on death and dying. He was first asked to serve as an expert witness in 1977 in the brain death case of a 4 ½-year-old child named Stacey Ellison.

Over the years, Cranford has served on national committees such as the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research and the ethics committee of the American Academy of Neurology, which he chaired. Clearly, he is no lightweight when it comes to clinical ethics and end-of-life treatment issues.

The Need to Speak Out

Yet, what sets Cranford apart in a field of experts is his willingness to speak out, not only in court but to the public. “I have a responsibility to stand out front,” he says, adding that he believes he’s representing the values of 80 percent to 90 percent of Americans.

So in 2001, when the call came from James Barnhill, M.D., a Tampa, Florida, neurologist, asking if he might be interested in examining a young woman for a court hearing, Cranford said yes. He knew the issue at stake—who should make the final decision for the patient—was important, but he had no idea at the time that the case of young Terri Schiavo was poised to move from the courtroom to the newsroom to Congress.

Cranford just thought he was doing what he had done in other major cases around the country—clarifying the patient’s medical condition.

There was to be an evidentiary hearing in 2002 involving five experts, two hired by Schiavo’s husband, Michael; two hired by her parents, the Schindlers; and one appointed by the court.

Each of the experts literally had their day in court. Three, including Cranford, confirmed Barnhill’s diagnosis of persistent vegetative state. Two other witnesses, both hired by the Schindler family, testified that Schiavo could benefit from treatment. “They advocated for vasodilator therapy, which is bogus treatment, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which is bogus therapy. They said after being in a vegetative state for 12 years she had a chance of recovering, of walking, which is totally ludicrous,” Cranford says.

Cranford believes that offering a therapy such as hyperbaric oxygen treatment, in which patients are immersed in 100 percent oxygen, preys on desperate families’ desire to do anything to help their loved one.

Cranford speculates that because vasodilator and hyperbaric oxygen treatment centers are more common in Florida than in other states, the courts were more willing to consider the testimony of experts advocating these treatments. “You wouldn’t get away with that in Minnesota,” he says. “It isn’t close to the standard of care.”

Cranford credits Judge George Greer for “bending over backwards for due process. He let the Schindlers bring in their experts. He just discredited their credentials and testimony later.” Although the judge dismissed the testimony of the two Schindler witnesses, it was clearly taken quite seriously by many in the public and in Congress, which still irritates Cranford. “Anybody who’s a board-certified neurologist or board-certified something can go to court. Dr. Maxfield [one of the Schindlers’ witnesses] was board-certified in radiology. He didn’t know squat about neurology. He knew as much about neurology as Bill Frist did, and yet he was allowed to testify.”

Cranford doesn’t limit his criticism to the experts in the case. “In the face of the longest and most litigated case in the history of right-to-die cases, and the longest evidentiary hearing on the facts of the case, which were unequivocal, Congress comes along and says the case wasn’t litigated properly,” he says. “They made complete fools of themselves, just complete fools.”

Such scathing commentary has earned Cranford more than his share of detractors—he estimates having millions of enemies. He’s been called an advocate of euthanasia. He receives hate e-mails—he says they never come by U.S. mail anymore—and he is a favorite target of Internet bloggers. But Cranford shrugs this off, seeing each barb, each false characterization on the Internet, each accusation as a reminder that he’s making a difference in the world. “I’ve argued these positions for 25 years,” he says. “It’s gradually sinking in that parents and families have a right to make decisions.” It’s not likely Cranford will pipe down any time soon.

“The worse these people are,” he says, “the more I realize I’m doing something worthwhile.”—Carmen Peota

http://web.archive.org/web/20070426002002/http://www.mmaonline.net/publications/MNMed2005/June/Pulse3.html

Is The Flipped Brain Scan Terri Schiavo's

A shunt is a tube inserted into the brain to reduce pressure caused by build-up of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain. These next two scans are to give the reader some idea of what a shunt looks like in a scan of the brain.

 

http://www.ispub.com/xml/journals/ijs/vol9n2/vp-fig1.jpg

 

 

http://www.jkns.or.kr/fulltext/Fig/0042001263f5.jpg

 

 

The thing that must be clarified from the beginning is Theresa Schiavo had an implant but it wasn't a shunt.

According to Michael Schiavo's November 19, 1993 deposition, case No. 90-2908-GD:
Q Okay. Tell me about Doctor Hosobuchi and his treatment of Terry?

A Well, the basic thing was we took her to California. He had some experimental stimulators that- he was placing in peoples' heads. There were some people that woke up. It's a whole protocol on it. I don't have it with me. But it would be very experimental. He put it in. He did some testing. There was no evidence of it working with Terry. The only thing it would do, when he turned it up passed a certain point Terry would just sit up, which was just motor response. She would just get real bright eyed because things were being stimulated. He wasn't thrilled about it because he didn't see any positive signs.

Q Was -- did he implant anything into her? Did he put anything in her head that remained?

A Yes.

Q Are they still?

A Yes.

Q What are they?

Page 26:

A Electrodes. They're platinum electrodes.
 

 

http://www6.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/2%20CTs.png

CT scans showing, left, a normal brain and, right, Ms. Schiavo's brain, giving evidence of extensive cortical regions filled with spinal fluid. The image on the right was made in 2002. The bright spot near the center is an intrathalmic stimulator placed in her brain in December 1990 in San Francisco, when her husband was seeking aggressive medical treatment.

According to Ken Goodman site http://www6.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/Schiavo_links.htm  , the above  brain scan with the shiny object belongs to Theresa "Terri" Schiavo.

I have to wonder at this point, why was the area around the scan blacked out? And WHY would one do that without first flipping the scan, to show that the shiny object is in fact on the left side?

This CT image is "flipped" (i.e. the CT scan is mirror-image backwards which is just an inconsequential error made when scanning the image into the computer), so the right side is LEFT and vice versa.

Thanks to reader "primer" I've been directed to the University of Miami Ethics program website where they posted this image from a CT scan of Terri Schiavo's brain in 1996. The sentence attached to the link for this scan on the site says:

CT scan of Ms. Schiavo's brain, showing extensive cortical regions filled with spinal fluid.
http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co.html

 

DR. RONALD CRANFORD, UNIV. OF MN NEUROLOGIST: I'm extremely confident. I think at the time of the trial in 2002 there had been eight neurologists who examined her. And of those eight neurologists total, seven of them said beyond any doubt whatsoever Terri is in a vegetative state. Her CT scan shows severe atrophy or shrinkage of the brain. Her EEG is flat and there's absolutely no doubt that she's been in a permanent vegetative state ever since 1990. There's no doubt whatsoever, Dan. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7328639/

 

I was cleaning my office the other night and came across a DVD my friend had sent to me awhile back. It was A&E's  documentary on the Terri Schiavo case. It was more than a little scratched up but I decided I would put it in  computer's DVD player and see what happen. It played perfect! As a result of listening, and an occasional glance toward the screen, I saw the above scan dated May 9, 1996. Being my daughter had been buried on May 9, 1993, that date sort of stuck out from my computer screen. Looking closer, I realized that the 'shiny' object ,that shows in the brain scans that Ken Goodman, and Ronald Cranford released to the public as being that of Terri Schiavo, could not be seen in this scan. And though the brain scan showed brain damage it did not appear to show the same degree of damage. Seeing this I decided to stop cleaning and watch the rest of the DVD.

The scan above was one of many scans on the DVD. All were labeled  as belonging to Theresa Schiavo 1996.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/02/deep-brain-electrical-stimulation-brings-man-out-of-vegetative-s/

 

While deep brain stimulation raises some issues in common with older bioethics, such as access to care, informed consent, and insurance coverage, this technology affects an entire brain circuit, bringing the risk of unforeseen consequences. Such effects could be either neurological or behavioral; neuroscience has not yet learned the full workings of even one complete circuit in the brain.
The Dana Foundation-Neuroethics http://www.dana.org/news/publications/detail.aspx?id=4222
 

READ MORE ON THE SUBJECT:

http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co.html 

http://suebobsdiary.com/category/terri-schiavo/

 

 

thalamus (thăl'əməs) , mass of nerve cells centrally located in the brain just below the cerebrum and resembling a large egg in size and shape. The thalamus is a routing station for all incoming sensory impulses except those of smell, transmitting them to higher (cerebral) nerve centers. In addition, it connects various brain centers with others. Thus the thalamus is a major integrative complex, enabling sensory stimuli to evoke appropriate physical reactions as well as to affect emotions. With the hypothalamus, the thalamus establishes levels of sleep and wakefulness. It is also vital to the neural feedback system controlling brain wave rhythms.
http://www.answers.com/topic/thalamus?cat=health

 

right parietal bone

http://www.hawaii.edu/medicine/pediatrics/pemxray/v5c09.html
 

The subgaleal shunt has been and is currently used for the temporary bypass of the normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pathways. We retrospectively reviewed all subgaleal shunts placed at the Children's Hospital, Birmingham, Ala., USA, from 1993 to the present and examined the life expectancy of revisions of this temporary method of CSF diversion. The average length of survival of primary, secondary and tertiary subgaleal shunts in this population was 37.4, 32.4 and 19.6 days, respectively. This current review demonstrates that the majority of patients in whom a subgaleal shunt is utilized may continue to obtain therapeutic diversion of their CSF for greater than 2.5 months with intermittent subgaleal shunt revisions. In the majority of cases, this length of time is sufficient to manage and resolve issues that would make ventriculoperitoneal shunting undesirable.

Copyright © 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel

 

http://www6.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/pdf_files/061505-autopsy.pdf

A 9 centimeter long implanted neurological thalamic stimulator wire extended outward from the right parietal bone and it was surrounded by a 1 centimeter bony nodule on the inner  table. This wire was traced and its tip terminated in the right thalamus. [Stephen J. Nelson, M.D.]

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/parietal_bone.html 

The "Implanted electrical stimulator" was found during the autopsy. [page 2]

In the left chest wall an implanted medical device with a wire extending through subcutaneous tissues of the left neck and into the left scalp. A flat, four-prong electrical device is in the subgaleal area of the left scalp. A wire then further extends into the cranial cavity. [Jon R. Thogmartin, M.D. PAGE 3]

 

 

Schiavo Implant Potentially Dangerous

by Janice Sanford

When a reporter did an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Feb 17,1991. pg.3, about Terri's surgery in which Yoshio Hosobuchi of the University of California at San Francisco in December(1990) implanted a neurological thalamic stimulator in her brain, they reported:

"The brain stimulator implant was a success, said her husband, Mike. Mrs. Schiavo is slowly emerging from the coma at the Mediplex Medical Center, a neurological care center in Bradenton, he said. She will undergo at least a year of speech, occupational and physical therapy."

Schiavo: She spent three months there. Then, while she was there, we heard of this doctor in California here that was doing experimental surgery, implanting stimulators in people's brains in hopes to stimulate any activity.

Now, we were told with this, too (Ph) when this doctor looked at the CAT scans, that it was probably not going to work Because there's just no brain left. But I did it anyway, because I loved Terri. And I wanted to bring my wife back. I wanted to have my wife back in me.

So I flew her out to California by myself, with a nurse. And I spent a month there. They inserted the stimulator.

KING: Didn't work?

SCHIAVO: No, it eventually didn't work, no. The protocol for the stimulator was three months. I kept it on her for a year. http://transcripts.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/27/lkl.00.html   

From Medical Examiner Jon R. Thogmartin autopsy report on Theresa Schiavo:

...In the left chest wall is an implanted medical device with a wire extending through subcutaneous tissues of the left neck and into the left scalp. A flat, four-prong electrical device is in the subgaleal area of the left scalp. A wire then further extends into the cranial cavity... http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/61305autopsyrpt.pdf

Note: subgaleal area, is the area above the skull or within the scalp layer of the head; ...

Stephen J. Nelson,M.D. (Page 1, last paragraph) Neuropathology Gross Description:

...A 9 centimeter long implanted neurological thalamic stimulator wire extended outward from the right parietal bone and it was surrounded by a 1 centimeter bony nodule on the inner table. This wire was traced and its tip terminated in the right thalamus... http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/61305autopsyrpt.pdf 

9 centimeters = 3.54 inches
OR
____________________
9 centimeters = the length of the (above) line

Question:

Forget about comparing brains for a minute. Where's all the wire and stuff that Dr. Nelson and Medical Examiner Jon R. Thogmartin are describing in their report? ) Chronic deep brain stimulation in its present US FDA - approved manifestation is a patient - controlled treatment for tremor that consists of a multi-electrode lead implanted into the ventro intermediate nucleus of the thalamus.

The lead is connected to a pulse generator that is surgically implanted under the skin in the upper chest.

And an extension wire from the electrode lead is threaded from the scalp area under the skin to the chest where it is connected to the pulse generator. Most users turn the unit off at night. The stimulus parameters can be adjusted to provide the best response and minimize adverse reactions.

The pulse generator must be replaced to change batteries, which should last five years.

Risks of DBS ( Deep Brain Stimulation) surgery are intracranial bleeding, infection, and loss of function. http://www/pallidotomy.com/deep_brain_stimulation.html 

Dr. Nelson seemed to think it was necessary to put in Terri's autopsy report a reason why she "had not undergone an MRI scan of her brain, rather than only a brain scan while alive":

"The FDA has received several reports of serious injury, including coma and permanent neurological impairment, in patients with implanted neurological stimulators who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures. The mechanism for these adverse events is likely to involve heating of the electrodes at the end of the leadwires, resulting in injury to the surrounding tissue. Although these reports involved deep brain stimulators and vagus nerve stimulators, similar injuries could be caused by any type of implanted neurological stimulator, such as spinal cord stimulators, peripheral nerve stimulators, and neuromuscular stimulators". http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/safety/neurostim.html 

One would assume from the autopsy, that an MRI is never done on a patient with an implanted neurological stimulator.

The following is taking from the same report Dr. Nelson quoted from: If an MRI procedure is to be performed on a patient with an implanted neurological stimulator, be sure to review the labeling for the specific model that is implanted in the patient, with particular attention to warnings and precautions. The radiologist may need to consult with the implanting or monitoring physician for this information. Also note and follow any instructions exactly for MRI imaging that may be in the labeling for the implant, including information on types and/or strengths of MRI equipment that may have been tested for interaction with the particular implanted device. The radiologist may need to consult with the device implant manufacturer for this information. http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/safety/neurostim.html 

According to Michael Schiavo's November 19, 1993 deposition, case No. 90-2908-GD, page 24:

Q And what was the purpose of taking her to California?

A There was some experimental surgery that I heard about.

Q Do you remember the doctor you went to see out there?

A Doctor Yoshio Hosobuchi.

Page 25:

Q Okay. Tell me about Doctor Hosobuchi and his treatment of Terry?

A Well, the basic thing was we took her to California. He had some experimental stimulators that- he was placing in peoples' heads. There were some people that woke up. It's a whole protocol on it. I don't have it with me. But it would be very experimental. He put it in. He did some testing. There was no evidence of it working with Terry. The only thing it would do, when he turned it up passed a certain point Terry would just sit up, which was just motor response. She would just get real bright eyed because things were being stimulated. He wasn't thrilled about it because he didn't see any positive signs.

Q Was -- did he implant anything into her? Did he put anything in her head that remained?

A Yes.

Q Are they still?

A Yes.

Q What are they?

Page 26:

A Electrodes. They're platinum electrodes.

Q Did he suggest any future treatment that was experimental --

A Treatment for what?

Q -- in California. Diagnostic testing, anything of that nature?

A No. When Doctor Yingling was here, he came out and, basically, if it didn't work within --

Page 27:

Q My question was: Was there a suggestion of further diagnostic testing or procedures after the treatment by Doctor Hosobuchi in California?

A As far as I can remember -

Page 28:

Q Did Doctor Hosobuchi, after he saw Terry, recommend any further diagnostic procedures?

A He recommended that Doctor Yingling would be doing it.

Q So did she see Doctor Yingling?

A She -- Doctor Yingling came out here, I believe, a year later.

Q And that was at the suggestion of Doctor Hosobuchi?

A That, I have no idea.

Q Okay. What did Doctor Yingling say or do, to your knowledge?

A He came out -- Terry was at Mediplex -- he came out and did some testing, and he needed a CP-900 machine or something from Shands, and it wasn't available, and he said it wasn't no big deal. He told me he had -- he didn't see any evident sign that the stimulator was working, did some tests with Terry(i). Nothing was new with her from the time he had last

Page 29:

seen her. And that was basically it. We took him out to dinner and he had loads of wine and that was it. He spilled it all over our couch.

Q Other than the Doctor Hosobuchi and Doctor Yingling -- was Doctor Yingling also from California?

A Yes.

Q And he was somebody that Doctor Hosobuchi suggested see Terry?

A He was Hosobuchi's assistant.

Q Has she seen any other experts since that time?

A What type of experts?

Q Since Doctor Yingling saw her, what physicians have seen her?

Page 30:

Q Okay. When was the last time Terry had seen a neurologist?

Page 31:

A I'd have to look up some records. I don't remember.

Q. Has it been years?

A No, I don't think it's been years.

Q Has a neurologist seen her since Doctor Yingling saw her?

A I don't recall.

Q Have any diagnostic tests been performed since Doctor Yingling saw Terry?

Q Okay. of the neurology strain.

A I don't recall. There could have been. I don't recall.

According to Schiavo, "The protocol for the stimulator was three months" but he kept it on her for a year" even though he knew that leaving the stimulator on longer than three months could harm or even kill Terri.

Michael Schiavo should still be made to answer for abusing his wife after her brain injury.

Whether or not the implanted neurological stimulator worked, Michael Schiavo should have made sure that Terri had a neurologist following her case.

The implant had the potential to cause intracranial bleeding, infection, and loss of function.

 

This[above] CT image is "flipped" (i.e. the CT scan is mirror-image backwards which is just an inconsequential error made when scanning the image into the computer), so the right side is LEFT and vice versa. http://codeblueblog.blogs.com/codeblueblog/2005/03/csi_medblogs_co.html

 

This scan is from the DVD.

A 9 centimeter long implanted neurological thalamic stimulator wire extended outward from the right parietal bone and it was surrounded by a 1 centimeter bony nodule on the inner  table. This wire was traced and its tip terminated in the right thalamus. [Stephen J. Nelson, M.D.]

Other sites that have the brain scan from Goodman's site posted:

http://www.warriorsfortruth.com/terri-schiavo-brain-scan.html

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/archives/2005/03/18/terri-schiavo-news/

http://dererumnatura.us/archives/2005/03/schiavo-brain-s.html

http://www.courtroomblog.com/images/brain_damage__03_24_2005_Terry_Schiavo_004.jpg

KING: And you've made available for us a brain scan of her, right?

FELOS: Yes.

It appears that Michael Schiavo and his attorney George Felos released the scan on national television: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0310/27/lkl.00.html  As did Dr. Ronald Cranford.

Why did Felos, Goodman, and Cranford pass an altered brain scan off as Theresa "Terri" Schiavo's???????

The fact is when the scan is turned the right way the shiny object is on the left. According to the autopsy "This wire was traced and its tip terminated in the right thalamus." [Stephen J. Nelson, M.D.]

 

Not all  of Terri's Fighthers' signs said "HONK For Terri"

Judge Baird Should Have Stepped Down From Schiavo Case

July 3, 1990 - Judge W. Douglas Baird signs " Letters of Plenary Guardian" which declares " Michael Richard Schiavo duly qualified under the laws of the State of Florida to act as the plenary guardian (s) of Theresa M. Schiavo Incapacitated Person, and to act on behalf of the Incapacitated Person with full power to have care, custody, and control of the ward, to exercise all delegable rights of the law, and to take possession of and hold, for the benefit of said Incapacitated Person all the property of said Incapacitated Person, and of rents, income, issues, and profits from it..."

click on thumbnails for full image

 August 18, 2003 - Judge W. D. Baird dismisses Class Action Complaint and Class Allegations against Hospice Systems, INC. d/b/a Suncoast Solutions, a Florida-for-profit corporation,The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Inc., a not-for-profit Florida corporation, and The Hospice Foundation of the Florida Suncoast, Inc., a Florida not-for-profit corporation, that was brought against them by Fluffy Cazalas, individually, and on behalf of all Other Similarly Situated.

   

November 14, 2003 - Judge Baird vacates the stay.

November 14, 2003 - In a victory for Terri and Gov. Bush, a Florida state appeals court late Friday issued a temporary stay in the lawsuit filed by Michael against Terri's Law . The stay allows Bush's legal team to move forward with its appeal of a judge's decision to disallow their request to dismiss Michael's lawsuit against Terri's Law.
Bush asked Judge Baird last week to dismiss Michael's lawsuit. Baird declined and Bush appealed the decision, triggering an automatic stay in Michael's suit. Michael's attorneys sought to overturn the stay. Baird lifted the stay early Friday, but the appeals court overruled and upheld it later in the day.
George Felos, the assisted suicide advocate who is representing Michael, must now explain to the courts why he wants the lawsuit on the fast track. Baird claimed any delays in adjudicating Michael's lawsuit were a violation of Terri's right to privacy.
Also on Friday, Terri's family filed a notice of appeal of an earlier decision by Judge Baird that denied the Schindler family status as parties in Michael's lawsuit.
 

November 19, 2003 -  Governor Bush's attorneys filed four legal documents in response to Michael’s lawsuit. Bush attorneys said there should be a jury trial to decide whether or not Terri wanted to be kept alive in her current condition. (Also,Governor Bush attorneys petitioned to remove Judge W. Douglas Baird on suggestion of bias.)

http://web.archive.org/web/20051018130506/http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/eog_new/eog/library/releases/2003/November/disqualification_judge.pdf 

[copy and paste link] 

 

 

Nov. 20, 2003 - Judge W. Douglas Baird refuses to step down as requested by Gov. Bush. In court filings Bush had asked Baird to disqualify himself.  

Mar. 12, 2004 - Judge W. Douglas Baird refuses for a second time to allow Schiavo's parents to intervene in the court battle over `Terri's Law`.

May 6, 2004 - Judge W. Douglas Baird declares `Terri's Law` unconstitutional.

Dehumanizing Death
compiled by Janice Sanford

1. On January 17, 1938, the New York Times reported the official formation of the Euthanasia Society of America.(22) Within a year, the organization was ready to offer a proposal that would legalize "the termination of human life by painless means for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary suffering." According to Charles Nixdorff, the society's treasurer, the measure was limited to voluntary euthanasia because public opinion was not yet ready to accept a broad scope encompassing infants and incompetents. However, the article noted that the society "hoped eventually to legalize the putting to death of non-volunteers beyond the help of medical science."(23) Dr. Foster Kennedy, the euthanasia society's president declared that euthanasia was "needed mainly for defectives." He urged the "legalizing of euthanasia primarily in cases of born defectives who are doomed to remain defective, rather than for normal persons who have become miserable through incurable illness." (24)

http://www.internationaltaskforce.org/noa.htm

2. The following year, Dr. Kennedy came up with a plan for child euthanasia. In an American Journal of Psychiatry article, he wrote: "I believe when the defective child shall have reached the age of five years — and on the application of his guardians — that the case should be considered under law by a competent medical board…" If careful board examination determined that the child was considered to have "no future or hope of one," he continued, "then I believe it is a merciful and kindly thing to relieve that defective — often tortured and convulsed, grotesque and absurd, useless and foolish, and entirely undesirable — of the agony of living."(26)

3. In 1999, Peter Singer, a former professor at Australia's Monash University, became the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at the Princeton University Center for Human Values. At Princeton, Singer is molding and shaping the views of future leaders in medicine, law, education and business.

Singer's appointment was met with shock and dismay by those who were aware of his views. He is an outspoken advocate of infanticide and euthanasia. In a 1983 article, Singer negatively compared the value of a handicapped newborn with that of a pig:

If we compare a severely defective human infant with a nonhuman animal, a dog or a pig, for example, we will often find the nonhuman to have superior capacities, both actual and potential, for rationality, self-consciousness, communication, and anything else that can plausibly be considered morally significant. Only the fact that the defective infant is a member of the species Homo sapiens leads it to be treated differently from the dog or pig. Species alone, however, is not morally relevant.(37)

NOTE:I think that's enough to give you an idea of the mindset of those pushing euthanasia and assisted suicide. And everyone who reads this board knows that George Felos is a member of Choice in Dying. Right?
NOTE:  Felos was already a member of choice in dying- when he handled the Estelle browning case in 1988..

NOTE: In 1991, the Euthanasia Society of America became known as Choice in Dying.

4. On November 19, 1985, a competent Estelle Browning executed a declaration that provides, in part:

If at any time I should have a terminal condition and if my attending physician has determined that there can be no recovery from such condition and that my death is imminent, I direct that life-prolonging procedures be withheld or withdrawn when the application of such procedures would serve only to prolong artificially the process of dying. At eighty-six years of age, Mrs. Browning suffered a stroke. She was admitted to the hospital on November 9, 1986, where her treating physician diagnosed a massive hemorrhage in the left parietal region of the brain, the portion that controls cognition. Because Mrs. Browning was unable to swallow, she underwent a gastrostomy on November 20 during which a feeding tube was inserted directly into her stomach.

In addition, Mrs. Browning stipulated that she desired not to have "nutrition and hydration (food and water) provided by gastric tube or intravenously." [FN2]

5. Nearly two years after Mrs. Browning suffered her stroke, the guardian filed a petition in circuit court to terminate the nasogastric feeding based upon Mrs. Browning's living will. At the evidentiary hearing, the guardian presented additional evidence of Mrs. Browning's wishes. The evidence reflected that a
predecessor living will, written in 1980, contained the same provisions for rejection of medical treatment at issue as the one presently before the Court.
Believing that the death of a witness to the 1980 will might have rendered the will invalid, she executed the 1985 document. Neighbors also testified that Mrs.Browning had expressed her wishes orally in this regard several times. Mrs. Rose Kings, a close personal friend of Mrs. Browning since 1965, witnessed Mrs. Browning execute the 1985 document. She testified that Mrs. Browning signed the declaration about two days after visiting patients in a nursing home and had said, " 'Oh Lord, I
hope this never happens to me ... thank God I've got this taken care of. I can go in peace when my time comes.' " Mrs. Kings' husband added that Mrs. Browning had a friend in the hospital on life- support and remarked that she " 'never want[ed] to be that way.' "

6. Dr. James Barnhill, a neurologist, described Mrs. Browning as noncommunicative and essentially existing only by virtue of fluid and nutrition supplied by the feeding tube. Dr. Barnhill opined that she was in a persistent vegetative state, which he defined as the absence of cognitive behavior and inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment.

7. The trial court found that Mrs. Browning could continue to live for an indeterminate time with artificial sustenance but that death would result within four to nine days without it. Construing Florida's "Life-Prolonging Procedure Act," sections 765.01-.15, Florida Statutes (1987), the trial court concluded that
death was not imminent, and it denied the petition.

NOTE: George's father,James G. Felos, was Mrs. Browning's guardian so I would think he handled this part of Browning.

Where was I? Oh, yes. I was talking about the connection between Felos and choice in dying. And Mary Labyak's hospice originally being named for Elisabeth Kubler-Ross [a proponent of humanizin death-whatever that means]. Has anyone got anything to add, before I continue.........? (smiling)

NOTE: Most of the same main player in the Browning case were involved in the terri schiavo case. Wasn't choice in dying involved in schiavo too

Dr. James Avery
Dr. James Barnhill
George J. Felos
Choice in dying

NOTE: Both, the browning and schiavo cases, just happened to take place in Pinellas county, Florida. just happened duh duh

8. This is an interesting letter written by George felos on March 29, 1991. Gives one a little insight into what happens on down the road a little: 
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/77086/77086comments-felos.pdf

9. State law allows patients to refuse food and water only if they are competent and are terminally ill. Doctors testified that Mrs. Browning was never terminally ill, although they said she could not speak and had difficulty moving. They said removing the feeding tubes would end her life.

10. In March Judge Thomas E. Penick Jr. denied Ms. Herbert's request to disconnect Mrs. Browning's life support. But in April the 2d District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that Ms. Herbert, as Mrs. Browning's legal guardian, had the right to order the removal of the feeding tubes. 
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/19/us/florida-woman-dies-attached-to-a-tube-legal-fight-goes-on.html

NOTE: Judge Thomas E. Penick Jr. -Another player in the Terri Schiavo case

NOTE: in the Estelle Browning case Choice in Dying was called Society for the Right to Die:
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/01/01-559/Filed_04-12-2001_MotionForStayAppendix2.pdf

NOTE: Something to remember as you search for the truth behind the cases.....

11. Deciding whether ambiguous signs of wakeful life indicate consciousness
is beyond the power of medicine, at least at this time,
and possibly in principle. Thus, in cases where wakefulness is evident
(as it is for PVS patients), there is good reason to be very
cautious about assuming that conscious life is extinguished.
http://www.bioethics.gov/reports/death/determination_of_death_report.pdf

Notes of interest:

A. "One will need to live with individuals' deciding with consenting others when to end their lives, not because such is good, but because one does not have the authority coercively to stop individuals from acting together in such ways. In a secular, pluralist society one will need to accept euthanasia by default."
"Fashioning an Ethic for Life and Death in a Post-Modern Society," the Hastings Center Report, 1989

B. Jack Kevorkian, MD, a retired pathologist also known as 'Dr. Death' who has aided over 130 people in ending their lives, stated the following in a 1990 interview with Cornerstone magazine:
"I believe there are people who are healthy and mentally competent enough to decide on suicide. People who are not depressed. Everyone has a right for suicide, because a person has a right to determine what will or will not be done to his body. There’s no place for people to turn today who really want to commit suicide. Teenagers, and the elderly especially, have nowhere to turn. But when they come to me, they will obey what I say because they know they’re talking to an honest doctor."

NOTE: These notes are to give the reader an insight into the mindset of those seeking to force death on the disabled and the mentally depressed- at the time Terri Schiavo collapsed.

12. Terri Schiavo collapsed 24 or 25[both dates can be found on different Schiavo case documents] of February 1990.

NOTE: She lived in various nursing home, as a disabled woman who was not terminal. Whose only care needs were the same as other brain injured patients who are unable to care for themselves.

13. Ronald Cranford is a featured speaker at the 1992 national conference of the Hemlock Society. The group recently changed its name to End of Life Choices. Cranford is a member of the board of directors of the Choice in Dying Society, which promotes doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Here we see Ronald Cranford and George Felos had something in common. They both have/had ties to to Choice in Dying.

NOTE: I say "had" because Ronald Cranford, like Jim King died from cancer.

14. We have for review In re Guardianship of Browning, 543 So.2d 258 (Fla. 2d DCA
1989), in which the district court certified the following question as one of great
public importance:

Whether the guardian of a patient who is incompetent but not in a permanent
vegetative state and who suffers from an incurable, but not terminal condition, may
exercise the patient's right of self-determination to forego sustenance provided
artificially by a nasogastric tube?
http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/browning.txt

15. Mrs. Estelle Browning died naturally before Felos appealed the lower court's decision.....(am I right so far George?)...with her feeding tube still in place.

16. We have previously held that competent and incompetent persons have the right
to determine for themselves the course of their medical treatment. Today we hold
that, without prior judicial approval, a surrogate or proxy, as provided here, may
exercise the constitutional right of privacy for one who has become incompetent and
who, while competent, expressed his or her wishes orally or in writing. We also
determine that there is no legal distinction between gastrostomy or nasogastric
feeding and any other means of life support. This case resolves a question of an
individual's constitutional right of self- determination. We are hopeful that this
decision will encourage those who want their wishes to be followed to express their
wishes clearly and completely.
http://abstractappeal.com/schiavo/browning.txt

NOTE: It is apparent, at this point, who should get the credit for feeding tubes getting on the life-support list: George James Felos.

NOTE: It should also be apparent that felos needed a "test" case. He needed an incompetent person, not terminal, who depended on a feeding tube for food and water..... It took a few years......to find just the right test case but, around 1995.... he found just the case. right George?

17.
13 A I did not wait. I met you in the

14 beginning of 1996, I believe. I was talking to

15 another attorney.

16 Q Well, okay. I have to caution you not

17 to testify as to any communication you might have

18 with your attorney because of attorney/client

19 privilege. Let me ask it this way. Did you seek

20 to put into motion your decision to remove the

21 feeding tube before the petition was filed in May

22 of 1988 (sic)?

Direct testimony of mike by felos

[note: Nana posted this on my forum on Nov 30, 2006. Thanks Nana]
 http://judgegeorgegreer.comdocsM%20Schiavo%20Direct%20Test%20012400.TXT

NOTE: As you can see, Felos' adrenalin is really working over time-he is so excited he use browning case year, as year mike filed to have Terri's feeding tube remove.........

NOTE: Wasn't it Deborah Bushnell [that's not married name, I don't think] who introduced mike to George felos?

18.
23 THE COURT: You keep saying '88.

24 MR. FELOS:'98. Thank you.

25 Your Honor.
71
1 Q (By Mr. Felos) When did you make the

2 decision and start putting it in motion?

3 A In 1995. End of 1995.
http://judgegeorgegreer.comdocsM%20Schiavo%20Direct%20Test%20012400.TXT

19.  February 13, 1997 - Mary Labyak, The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, Inc., files Annual Report, replacing Rev. Barry R. Howe with George J. Felos.   http://justiceforterrischiavo.us/1997.h6.jpg

20. March 5, 1997 - Michael hires George Felos, a Florida right-to-die attorney. Michael signs giving Felos the authority "to represent him in connection with the withdrawal and/or refusal of medical treatments."One of the first things Felos did was have the finances sealed.[Mark Fuhrman, Silent Witness, page 135]

21. May 06, 1997 - Letter from Deborah A. Bushnell, attorney for Michael Schiavo, to Judge Shames, Re: Guardianship of Theresa Marie Schiavo http://justiceforterrischiavo.us/1997.h2.jpg

22. May 11, 1998 - Michael Schiavo filed a petition to discontinue Terri's feeding tube.

23. The petition proceeded under the constitutional guidelines enunciated in In re Guardianship of Browing, 568 So.2d 4 (Fla. 1990). App.1, Page 5.

The District Court of Appeals found that there was an apparent conflict of interest between Schiavo and Terri. Nevertheless, the Court did not believe that a guardian ad litem had to be appointed to represent her at trial. It felt that "in essence" the trial court acted as both the guardian ad litem and the surrogate of Terri. The Court further found that while a societal values expert offered little in the way of relevant testimony, the consideration of that testimony was not reversible error. After reviewing the medical evidence as to Terri's condition, it felt that the trial court considered the appropriate standard in reaching its conclusion.

Indeed, the District Court's decision expressly stated that the case was being decided "under the constitutional guidelines enunciated in In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So.2d 4 (Fla. 1990)."

The District Court's decision was fundamentally different that the position that the Florida Legislature takes when conflicts between wards and guardians are at issue.[744.391, 744.309, 744.446, 744.474, 744.3215, 744.3715 Fla. Stat.(2001)

By accepting the opinion of a societal values expert who never met Terri who testified that Terri wanted to die because of things she might or might not have said in her everyday living, before her collapse, the court encourages other courts to accept hearsay evidence in other cases where the patient has no written directive.

The District Court decision, by asking Judge George Greer to wear multiple hats in the court room, moved away from its own decision in Browning.

Browning envisioned two situations:

One where the guardian first brings the issue to the court and

another where a decision to withdraw life support is brought before a court by others.

In both instances, the Greer Court was to act as a traditional fact finder.

The District Court, in the Terri Schiavo case, changed that.
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/74174/74174amicus2.pdf

24. April 16, 1999 -(12) "Persistent vegetative state" means a permanent and irreversible condition of unconsciousness in which there is:
(a) The absence of voluntary action or cognitive behavior of any kind.
(b) An inability to communicate or interact purposefully with the environment....
(17) "TERMINAL CONDITION" means:
a condition caused by injury, disease, or illness from which there is no reasonable medical probability of recovery and which, without treatment, can be expected to cause death....

In order to ensure that the rights and intentions of a person may be respected even after he or she is no longer able to participate actively in decisions concerning himself or herself, and to encourage communication among such patient, his or her family, and his or her physician, the Legislature declares that the laws of this state recognize the right of a competent adult to make an advance directive instructing his or her physician to provide, withhold, or withdraw life-prolonging procedures, or to designate another to make the treatment decision for him or her in event that such person should become **incapacitated and unable to personally direct his or her medical care....
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/1999/House/bills/amendments/pdf/hb2131am981359.pdf

NOTE: June 18, 1990 - Judge Robert F. Michael signs an order determining that Theresa Schiavo is totally incapacitated, and appoints Michael Schiavo "plenary guardian."

The petition proceeded under the constitutional guidelines enunciated in In re Guardianship of Browning, 568 So.2d 4 (Fla. 1990). App.1, Page 5.

25. February 13, 2000 - Dr. James Avery "accompanied Robert and Mary Schindler. on a visit to Theresa Marie Schiavo, their daughter at the Palm Gardens Nursing Home in Largo, Florida. I observed Mrs. Schiavo interact with her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, for a period of approximately thirty (30) minutes. No physical examination was performed. Mrs. Schiavo seemed to respond to her mother's touch and verbal stimuli. The responses were basically of three(3) distinct types: a turning of the head toward the source, a change in facial expression, and guttural noises.... under the circumstances, a swallowing study or pudding food challenge is warranted...
http://www.hospicepatients.org/james-a-avery-md-02-21-2000-affidavit-re-terri-schiavo.pdf

NOTE:I had to put Dr. Avery's affidavit here...for the mire fact that he was one of the Dr. in the Estelle Browning case .

NOTE: this is felos arguement in browning-note he mis-spells Dr.Avery's last name.I know this is true because it's spelled correctly on other court documents in browing.
http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/74174/74174ini.pdf

See I mis-spelled Browning by accident, in last post. But got it right the first time. That's called a mistake. But George's document never corrects the mistake in the spelling of Avery.

26. January 24, 2000 - Terri's life is on trial in Circuit Court Judge George W. Greer's Courtroom.   http://www.geocities.com/purple_kangaroo_angela/1990-1991/Michael24jan2000guardianship-p1-89.txt

27. February 11, 2000 - Judge Greer ordered the removal of Theresa Marie Schiavo's feeding tube.

28. March 3, 2000 - Terri is admitted to Woodside Hospice but won't be moved there until later.

http://justiceforterrischiavo.us/2000.h12.jpg

29. April 10, 2000 - Michael Schiavo moved Terri from Palm Gardens Nursing Home to the Woodside Hospice Facility. In an emergency hearing, Judge Greer denied a request by Attorney Campbell to return Terri to Palm Gardens Nursing Home.

30. 2000- March 24 – Judge George W. Greer ordered and Adjudged as follows:

As to visitation with Theresa Schiavo, any person related by blood or marriage to the Ward are permitted to visit the Ward at Palm Garden of Largo Nursing Home at any time. Any persons on the stipulated visitor’s list are permitted to visit the Ward at Palm Garden of Largo Nursing Home if accompanied by a relative of the Ward. However, no visitation shall ever consist of more than six persons at any given time. These terms shall remain in effect until and unless modified in writing by the Court or by stipulation of the parties.

The Respondents, Robert Schindler,Jr., andSuzanne Carr, are prohibited from photographing, taking videos, or taking any other like pictorial representations of the Ward, or causing same to be taken by other persons, without prior approval of this Court. The Respondents, Robert Schindler, Jr., and Suzanne Carr are further prohibited from causing the Ward to be examined by any physician without prior approval of this Court. The parties have the right to seek Court modification of these terms in the future should they desire to do so.

The Petitioner is hereby granted the authority to hire a security guard for the protection of the Ward in a time and manner of his discretion, so long as the security guard in no way hinders or interferes with visitation between the persons set forth in Paragraph 1 above and Theresa Schiavo. The Petitioner is also granted the authority to hire a security guard for his own person, should he choose to do so. The costs associated with hiring security personnel as set forth herein shall be borne by the Guardianship of Theresa Schiavo.

Please, NOTE:

31. 2000- March 24 – Judge George W. Greer ordered and Adjudged as follows:
As to visitation with Theresa Schiavo, any person related by blood or marriage to the Ward are permitted to visit the Ward at Palm Garden of Largo Nursing Home at any time.

32. But- Terri Schiavo had already been admitted to Woodside Hospice When Judge Greer signed that order.

33. March 3, 2000 - Terri is admitted to Woodside Hospice but won't be moved there until later.

http://justiceforterrischiavo.us/2000.h12.jpg


http://www.bluedolphinpublishing.com/Felos.htm