Attorney Calls Efforts to Save Terri Schiavo 'Thuggery'
By Jeff Johnson
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
March 18, 2005
(1st Add: Includes reaction and additional background.)
(CNSNews.com) - The attorney leading Michael Schiavo's effort to end his wife's life called efforts by Congress Friday to save Terri Schindler Schiavo "thuggery." He said lawmakers who supported the action "should be ashamed of themselves."
"What we experienced today in the subpoena issued by the United States House of Representatives is nothing short of thuggery," Felos said. "It was odious, it was shocking it was disgusting and I think all Americans should be alarmed about that."
The House Government Reform Committee issued subpoenas earlier Friday to Terri, her husband, the hospice where she is being held and her parents to testify at a March 28 hearing. The subpoenas forbid any action that would harm Terri as a congressional witness, including the removal of her hydration and nutrition tube or gastrostomy.
Terri's feeding tube was removed almost immediately after Pinellas County, Fla., Circuit Judge George Greer ordered the hospice staff to disregard the congressional subpoenas. His previous order had been temporarily stayed by Pinellas Circuit Court Chief Judge David Demers because Greer was not immediately available when the subpoenas were served.
Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, called the removal of Terri's feeding tube "truly a tragedy.
"Despite what Judge George Greer, the lawyers and the news media want the public to think, Terri Schiavo is not a 'vegetable,' nor is she 'terminally ill,'" Brown said. "Terri functions as a living, breathing, human person who is sustained by normal hydration and nutrition, the same as every other living human person."
Felos, a noted "right-to-die" activist and author, urged both Congress and the Florida legislature to take no further action in the case and to "let Terri go in peace." But as Cybercast News Service previously reported, Dr. David Stevens, a medical doctor who also has a master's degree in bioethics, has said that Terri's death by dehydration and starvation will be anything but peaceful.
"She's likely to become dizzy and begin to have cramping in her arms and legs. That's because her electrolytes, her sodium, potassium and other electrolytes in her blood start getting out of whack because of lack of fluids," Stevens said.
Stevens, who serves as executive director of the Christian Medical Association, said Terri's body will experience other effects due to the forced dehydration that many might not have considered.
"She'll see decreased secretions. If she tries to cry, she won't be able to make tears very well, if at all," Stevens said. "Her mouth will become dry and saliva thick. You can have cracking of the [mucous membranes] of the mouth and lips as they dry out."
Those external symptoms of dehydration will be accompanied by internal effects, Stevens said.
"People often get headaches, then [become] lethargic and finally go into coma," Stevens continued. "It actually can cause seizures.
"As it progressively gets worse, what happens [are] the physical signs. Her blood pressure will drop, her heart rate will pick up. She'll actually, ultimately go into shock," Stevens explained. "You just don't have enough fluid to keep your blood pressure up, and it drops so low, and that sometimes can be a terminal event, or an arrhythmia of her heart.
"Her blood will get thicker," Stevens continued. "Sometimes, people who are severely dehydrated will actually have strokes just because the blood gets so thick that it clots. It's not a pretty picture."
Felos disputed that the members of Congress who acted to prevent Terri's life from being taken by dehydration and starvation could have been acting out of compassion for her.
"She (Terri) has become a pawn in a political football game between different elements in this country and at this point she, unfortunately, is nothing, I believe, nothing more than a cause for certain elements to prove their political prowess and political power," Felos charged. "They should be ashamed of themselves."
Felos said Michael Schiavo was not present when Terri's feeding tube was removed but had returned to her room afterwards. He also said that Terri's parents and siblings could visit Terri as often and for as long as they wish now that the feeding tube has been removed.
In the past, Schiavo had blocked family visits when the Schindlers pursued legal efforts to protect Terri.
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, said in a written statement that "This is a sad day for our country that we as a nation are allowing an innocent woman to be sentenced to a painful death of dehydration and starvation.
Perkins also called Greer's order to the hospice staff to disobey the congressional subpoenas “the height of judicial arrogance."
"It is astonishing the Florida Judge George Greer would defy Congress by carrying out his order to begin Terri's starvation," Perkins said. "We need our leaders in Congress to intercept Judge Greer and demand that he honor the issued subpoena.
"I urge Congress to assert their rightful authority and not run from the courts," Perkins concluded.
As Cybercast News Service reported earlier Friday, House Majority Leader Tom Delay promised that congressional intervention in the matter was far from over.
"We haven't stopped working on it. We will fight for Terri's life and spend all the time necessary to do that," DeLay (R-Texas) said. "So, to friends, family and millions of people praying around the world this Palm Sunday weekend don't be afraid. Terri Schiavo will not be forsaken.'"
The Senate has adjourned for the Easter recess and would have to be called back to Washington to vote on any legislative remedy before their scheduled April 4 return.
To view the archive of the Cybercast News Service's coverage on Terri Schindler Schiavo, click
here.
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