There was a school shooting in Minnesota yesterday. A high school student killed his grandparents, went to school and killed seven more people before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. Fourteen or fifteen students were injured.
Terri Schiavo
The US public has been galvanized by what is going to happen to Terri Schiavo.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore did not immediately make a ruling after the two-hour hearing, and he gave no indication on when he might act on the request.
The hearing was held yesterday.
Guantanamo Bay
An Australian lawyer has told a conference of American Centre for Civil Liberties that video tape exists of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Kenny told the conference the American Centre for Civil Liberties was pressing for the tapes to be released after an American journalist reported that a secret military review of 20 hours of the tapes had identified 10 substantial cases of abuse.
But he said the Government was refusing to release the tapes because of “privacy concerns”.
A Religious Liberal blog has decided not to post on the drama unfolding again with the Schindler and Schiavo family in Florida.
It’s been my intention to not post on the Terri Shiavo case because it’d be nice to focus on issues which are not being drummed up by the right..something which is becoming increasingly rare in the mainstream media. But looking at evangelical sites this story is the central one. I even came across a “save Terri blogroll” that must include some 100 plus sites.
In other news a recent government report indicates that 26 prisoners held by the US with the war on terror have died and are “being investigated as criminal homicides, involving prisoner abuse.” Yet I’ve seen no press conferences or cable news coverage for the family of Abdul Wahid who died during interogation while being shakled and gagged. No blogrolls for the family of Dilar Dababa who was killed from a head injury during interogation.
I was on some of the Save Terri blogs the past few days. Discussion is angry and viseral. In the Agora has a list of blogs that have not understood the congressional ruling and are providing misinformation.
Published 3 years, 6 months ago
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Actually, the shooting was in Minnesota. Story is here: http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=86589§ion=news
Regarding the Shiavo case, it’s hard to keep from reacting viscerally when you’re facing an innocent woman being starved to death in the name of “mercy.” The terrorists at Gitmo are getting more “due process” than Terri Shiavo has. Was there brutality at Gitmo? Perhaps. It’s being investigated, isn’t it? I believe that if there was brutality, it will be punished to the full extent of the law (and in military cases, that goes pretty far). What similar protection is Terri Shiavo getting?
Thanks Roy. Fixed.
As for viseral reactions, there is nothing inherently wrong with them. Terri is easy to identify with, and if wide spread attention instigates necessary changes in laws that is an accomplishment.
And your question is a difficult one.
What protection is she getting?
We honestly don’t know. From whom or what? Medical people? Her family? Her husband? Legislation? Cost of care?
That is a question that has been before the courts 18 times and is in the court of public opinion.
As I respond to you, the federal judge has ruled.
The Schindlers lawyer is filing another appeal.
Roy, I’m sorry, but you’re deluded. Terri Schiavo’s parents have gotten all the due process they are entitled to under law—a trip through the entire Florida court system, several times. Now they’re being given inappropriate access to Federal courts, even though this isn’t a Federal issue.
The people held at Gitmo have not even been charged so that they can fight their internment.
The idea that the Gitmo detainees are better off is offensively incorrect.
Chris,
Regarding “due process” for Teri S., please read the following, (from NRO’s The Corner, http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/05_03_20_corner-archive.asp#058945):
“O. Carter Snead, who is general counsel for the Council on Bioethics and has previously written about the Schiavo case e-mails (Note: His comments are his own and don’t reflect the views of the council, which has varying views on varying things:
The state of Florida, through its judiciary, has ordered the termination of Terri Schiavo’s life. This is an interest clearly protected by the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. Thus, before Florida can order such action, it must accord Schiavo with the full measure of process that is due to her. Unfortunately, a review of the record shows that such process was never provided.
The courts in Florida were charged, first and foremost, with discerning what T. Schiavo would have chosen under the present circumstances (”substituted judgment”). Florida law provides a complex system of procedural safeguards for this determination, including a “clear and convincing” evidence standard (the highest in all of civil law), and a presumption that the now-incapacitated patient would choose to live, in exercising her constitutional right to accept or refuse life-sustaining treatment. Moreover, Florida law requires that a guardian be appointed in circumstances such as these to represent the interests of the patient…
…The procedural irregularities that tainted the handling of Ms. Schiavo’s case include…:
The court’s failure to appoint a guardian ad litem (following 1998);
The court’s usurpation of the guardian’s role (in direct violation of Florida law);
The court’s reliance upon insufficient evidence regarding T. Schiavo’s wishes (namely, the recollection of her husband that T. Schiavo’s had made ambiguous, casual remarks about “not wanting to be a burden” many years prior, in a wholly unrelated context);
The court’s refusal to consider probative evidence of T. Schiavo’s wishes (namely, witness testimony that Mr. Schiavo was lying and that he had never, in fact, discussed end-of-life care with T. Schiavo); and
On remand, the court’s shifting of the burden to the Schindlers to demonstrate that T. Schiavo would have wanted treatment under the present circumstances (inverting the logic of the Florida laws).”
The inmates at Gitmo are illegal combatants (by the terms of the Geneva convention, which they aren’t signatory to anyway). They are better off than Teri Shiavo in that none of them are being starved to death; on the contrary, most are putting on weight on their three halal meals a day.
Roy, I read the articles you mentioned.
I am failing to understand why 18 court appeals are inadequate for one party at the state level and now at the federal level.
Can you explain what we may not be privy to information the court would have (ie: medical not released) that would continue these rulings?
Are you saying this is a legal conspiracy to usurp legislative authority?
Roy: More questions.
When court proceedings initially began would both parties have been permitted to present medical evidence?
A three panel federal court ruled today that Terri’s feeding tube would not be re-inserted.
That is going to be appealed.
What are the flaws? A husband isn’t a guardian?
You say there were/are procedural irregularities on the state level. If so, why would they be repeated on the federal level?
Is this case asking the judiciary to make medical decisions?
Since courts address law, what law needs to be changed?
Medical procedures (ie: diagnostic) have progressed and are progressing. Is the court permitted to consider that?
Why is Terri’s case a federal issue? Will rulings affect all patient’s families that are unhappy with diagnosis/treatment or another family member - even though Congress says this case is exceptional?
In Texas a 6 month old was taken off a breathing tube against the mothers wishes 8 days ago. He’s dead.
A 68 year old man in Texas has a family that went to court to have him kept on life support. A temporary injunction has been granted yesterday.
Bene, The law of the land in the US dictates, according to my understanding, that a feeding tube, or any other means of artificial life support can be removed, or never administrated, if the patient has a written Living Will. Without written evidence, it is ambiguous at best to state what the patients wishes were, so usually, money becomes the deciding factor. If the care can be paid for, then it is administered. There are other factors that can help determine the use of such things as feeding tubes, such as age, and probability of recovery. However, in Terri’s case, no written record of her desire to die is in existence. Quite simply, it is one man’s word that has brought us to this point. If we were to follow the law the way we are supposed to, Michael Sciavo’s case would have been thrown out, because he didn’t have the necessary evidence to procure a just judgment. In short, he has nothing in writing, and because he doesn’t, by law, he cannot, does not, and should not, have the right to decide for Terri whether she lives or dies, based solely on what he says she said. The whole reason this case is national is because of circumstances surrounding it, such as the fact that there is nothing in writing, and the fact that Terri’s parents have offered to pay for the treatment she was receiving.
I guess I am frustrated because this case could cause someone to have the right to kill me by the same method, regardless of what my actual wishes were. “hearsay” is generally not admissible in our courts. Why is it that a man can base an entire case on hearsay in this instance? That’s why I am upset.
But I would also remind people that while we fight for one now very well known woman, are we also fighting for those who are not known? Or is this case just a convenient bandwagon for us to jump on?
t, you’re misinformed as well. First, it was not only on the basis of Michael Schiavo’s testimony that the determination was made Terri didn’t want to be kept alive in this state. Read the cases.
Second, Michael is Terri’s legal guardian. He does not have zero standing in deciding what happens to her, but her parents certainly do have zero standing.
Third, Terri has zero quality of life. She has no cerebral cortex, so she cannot think or feel. She is not being killed—everything but her biological processes, the work of her flesh, stopped years ago.
Liberty,
The problem is just this: it was the Florida legislature that crafted the laws that placed this in the courts in the first place and specified how the matter was to be handled by these very courts. The courts followed the procedures the legislature set up.
If the Florida legislature now realizes that they enacted a faulty law, let them change it. But don’t blame the courts for following what the legislature asked them to do in the first place.