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Violations Against
Terri Schindler-Schiavo
under Florida Law


744.3215 Rights of persons determined incapacitated.

(1) A person who has been determined to be incapacitated retains the
right:

(a) To have an annual review of the guardianship report and plan.

(VIOLATED – Her husband/guardian has failed to file such plans
for a number of years. During the years in which he DID submit the
required plan, he entered such things as "NONE" for his plan of
action.)


(b) To have continuing review of the need for restriction of his or
her rights.

(VIOLATED – The guardian courts have not required her
husband/guardian to file such reports mentioned above and no
consistent continuing review has taken place because of that.)



(c) To be restored to capacity at the earliest possible time.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo has not received therapy since prior to
the 1992 medical malpractice settlement in her favor which was
intended to facilitate such therapy.)



(d) To be treated humanely, with dignity and respect, and to be
protected against abuse, neglect, and exploitation.

(VIOLATED – deliberate acts of omission [including humane care
and food and water] are considered felony abuse under the law. Terri
has been denied food and water on two occasions and simple treatment
for infections which could prove fatal without proper treatment.)



(e) To have a qualified guardian.

(VIOLATED – her husband/guardian is no longer qualified for his
failure to comply with Florida law requiring annual review of
guardianship, failure to properly maintain the property of the ward,
failure to comply with the ward's retained rights to necessary
services and living in open adultery which is a misdemeanor under
Florida law.)



(f) To remain as independent as possible, including having his or
her preference as to place and standard of living honored, either as
he or she expressed or demonstrated his or her preference prior to
the determination of his or her incapacity or as he or she currently
expresses his or her preference, insofar as such request is
reasonable.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo is wrongfully confined to a Hospice
facility and further confined to a single room without social
interaction, stimulation and human company. She is not permitted in
common areas of the facility, nor is she permitted outside of the
facility under the orders of her husband/guardian)



(g) To be properly educated.

(VIOLATED – Terri has not received speech therapy which could
enable her to communicate more effective and to manage table food. It
is also believed that she has not received help in learning any other
protocol (such as blinking) to assist her in communicating more
effectively.)



(h) To receive prudent financial management for his or her property
and to be informed how his or her property is being managed, if he or
she has lost the right to manage property.

(VIOLATED – Terri's medical management fund has been all but
depleted on legal fees in the pursuit of her death. More than half a
million dollars has been paid to one attorney in particular. There is
no evidence that Terri would have managed her funds in this way nor
given any consent to such.)



(i) To receive necessary services and rehabilitation.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo has not received proper physical,
occupational, speech or range of motion therapy. She has been denied
treatment for simple infections and she has been denied
hospitalization necessitated by serious illness.)



(l) To counsel.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo was never represented during the
duration of the guardianship proceedings and did not have a Florida
required Guardian ad Litem assigned to represent her during the
majority of the proceedings.)




(m) To receive visitors and communicate with others.

(VIOLATED – Terri's visitor list is strictly managed by her
husband/guardian who has, a number of times, barred her family, her
friends and her spiritual counsel from visiting her, without the
court's prior approval and on personal whim.)



(n) To notice of all proceedings related to determination of
capacity and guardianship, unless the court finds the incapacitated
person lacks the ability to comprehend the notice.

(VIOLATED – Terri has not been legally represented in any of the
guardianship proceedings and has received no counsel.)



(4) Without first obtaining specific authority from the court, as
described in s. 744.3725, a guardian may not:

(a) Commit the ward to a facility, institution, or licensed service
provider without formal placement proceeding, pursuant to chapter
393, chapter 394, or chapter 397.

(VIOLATED – Terri was admitted to a Hospice facility in 2000
without prior court approval and in violation of Federal laws
pertaining to Hospice confinement qualifications.)



(b) Consent on behalf of the ward to the performance on the ward of
any experimental biomedical or behavioral procedure or to the
participation by the ward in any biomedical or behavioral experiment.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo was subjected to experimental implant
surgery in 1993 without prior court approval and without
recommendation of her attending physician. Additionally, she was
transported across state lines for said surgery. Follow up care was
never provided and no further maintenance services have ever been
provided for the implanted electrodes.)



744.2025 Change of ward's residence.

(1) PRIOR COURT APPROVAL REQUIRED.--A guardian who has power
pursuant to this chapter to determine the residence of the ward may
not, without court approval, change the residence of the ward from
this state to another, or from one county of this state to another
county of this state, unless such county is adjacent to the county of
the ward's current residence. Any guardian who wishes to remove the
ward from the ward's current county of residence to another county
which is not adjacent to the ward's current county of residence must
obtain court approval prior to removal of the ward.

(VIOLATED – Terri Schiavo was moved to a Hospice facility in 2000
by her husband without prior court approval. The Hospice House in
question was served by his attorney, George Felos, in the capacity of
Chairman up until that same time.)



744.3145 Guardian education requirements

(4) Each person appointed by the court to be a guardian must
complete the required number of hours of instruction and education
within 1 year after his or her appointment as guardian.

(VIOLATED – See Above.)



798.01 Living in open adultery

Whoever lives in an open state of adultery shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor of the second degree, punishable as provided in s.
775.082 or s. 775.083. Where either of the parties living in an open
state of adultery is married, both parties so living shall be deemed
to be guilty of the offense provided for in this section.

(VIOLATED – Michael Schiavo has cohabitated and fathered children
with another woman while still married to Terri Schiavo.)



825.102 – Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of Elderly Persons and
Disabled Adults.



(1) "Abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult" means:

(a) Intentional infliction of physical or psychological injury upon
an elderly person or disabled adult;

(VIOLATED – Physical injury by denial of simple procedures to
alleviate painful contractures of the hands and possible
disfigurement because of said contractures. Psychological abuse in
denial of company, stimulation, acts of caging.)



(b) An intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result
in physical or psychological injury to an elderly person or disabled
adult; or

(VIOLATED – Intentional denial of treatment for simple infection
with the knowledge that doing so would hasten death – 1993.)



(c) Active encouragement of any person to commit an act that results
or could reasonably be expected to result in physical or
psychological injury to an elderly person or disabled adult.

(VIOLATED – By instructing caregivers not to provide relief of
contractures; by instructing doctors not to treat for simple
infection.)



A person who knowingly or willfully abuses an elderly person or
disabled adult without causing great bodily harm, permanent
disability, or permanent disfigurement to the elderly person or
disabled adult commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as
provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

(2) "Aggravated abuse of an elderly person or disabled adult" occurs
when a person:

(a) Commits aggravated battery on an elderly person or disabled
adult;

(b) Willfully tortures, maliciously punishes, or willfully and
unlawfully cages, an elderly person or disabled adult;

(VIOLATED – Denial of human comfort and spiritual comfort at
personal whim. Terri Schiavo is also wrongfully caged, kept confined
to a single room and without stimulation or ability to be taken
outside.)



(c) Knowingly or willfully abuses an elderly person or disabled
adult and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability,
or permanent disfigurement to the elderly person or disabled adult.

(VIOLATED – Terri suffers from severe contractures in her hands
because of lack of care.)



1. A caregiver's failure or omission to provide an elderly person or
disabled adult with the care, supervision, and services necessary to
maintain the elderly person's or disabled adult's physical and mental
health, including, but not limited to, food, nutrition, clothing,
shelter, supervision, medicine, and medical services that a prudent
person would consider essential for the well-being of the elderly
person or disabled adult; or

(VIOLATED – Denial of treatment of simple infection which would,
on Schiavo's own admission, hasten death, removal of food and water,
denial of medicine.)



2. A caregiver's failure to make a reasonable effort to protect an
elderly person or disabled adult from abuse, neglect, or exploitation
by another person.

(VIOLATED – The results of a 1991 bone scan, indicating multiple
and serious trauma to Terri's body were never reported or
investigated by her husband/guardian.)



825.103 Exploitation of an elderly person or disabled adult;
penalties.



(2)(a) If the funds, assets, or property involved in the
exploitation of the elderly person or disabled adult is valued at
$100,000 or more, the offender commits a felony of the first degree,
punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

(VIOLATED – Funds that were awarded to Terri Schiavo have been
spent down by Michael Schiavo to pay his legal fees. These funds were
awarded to Terri Schiavo as a medical management/rehabilitation
settlement and remain her property. Her guardian has all but wasted
her entire estate on his own legal pursuits.)



Heard enough?



Contact the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission
http://www.flcourts.org/pubinfo/jqc/index.html

And tell them to remove Judge George Greer from the bench for failure
to discharge his duties as a guardianship jurist.

850-488-1581



Contact the Agency for Health Care Administration
http://www.fdhc.state.fl.us/index.shtml

888-419-3456

And tell them to investigate allegations of Abuse and Neglect against
Terri Schiavo



Contact the Department of Children and Families
http://www.state.fl.us/cf_web/

800-96-ABUSE

And tell them to provide protective custody for a disabled and
vulnerable citizen of Florida.



Prepared and distributed by Volunteers.

Please visit http://www.terrisfight.org for more information.

This came from http://www.zimp.org