02.21.05

Schiavo Judge Bars Withdrawal Of Feeding Tube Until Hearing

Michael Schiavo and his attorney, euthanasia advocate George
Felos, have been barred from withdrawing the feeding tube from
Schiavo's brain damaged wife until a hearing can be held Wednesday.

Terri Schiavo, 41, is a patient at Woodside Hospice in Pinellas
Park, Florida, the center of a tug of war between her parents who
are trying to keep her alive and her estranged husband who seeks
court permission to cause her death.

Sixth Circuit Court Judge George Greer ruled late Monday
afternoon that Felos and Schiavo cannot implement their stated plan
to withdraw the gastric feeding tube of Terri Schindler-Schiavo
until a hearing is held to determine if the stay in effect from
Greer's 2000 death order should remain in place while her parents,
Mary and Robert Schindler Sr., continue with their legal options in
trying to keep her alive.

Felos had announced his intent to withdraw the feeding tube which
provides food and water to Terri as soon as the 2nd District Court
of Appeals had issued its final order in a decision handed down Feb.
4 which denied the Schindler's motion to void the death order on
religious grounds.

The beginning of Terri's death by starvation could have begun as
early as 1 p.m. Tuesday but Greer's intervention prohibits Felos and
Schiavo from taking any action to end his wife's death until after
the Wednesday hearing.

Earlier Monday, Felos had denied the request of the Schindlers'
attorney to assure the parents that the tube would not be withdrawn
in the interim period between 1 p.m. Tuesday and another hearing in
the matter which is also scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, a period
of approximately 24 hours.

The Schindlers had feared that Felos and Michael Schiavo would
remove Terri from the hospice and take her to an undisclosed
location to begin death by starvation process which is expected to
take 7 to 10 days. .

Felos had refused and had opposed Schindlers' motion for an
emergency temporary stay, saying that Greer does not have
jurisdiction to extend the stay of his own order.

There is still a three-year-old motion pending before Greer for
the removal of the estranged husband as Terri's guardian. David
Gibbs III, Schindlers' attorney, said the motion to remove Michael
as guardian had been pending since 2002.

Greer has allowed the motion to linger unanswered for three
years.

"All motions should be resolved before ending Terri's life",
Gibbs said. "This is very much like a death penalty case. There
are a number of important issues that need to be resolved before any
action is taken concerning Terri".

Gibbs said that death by starvation would not be allowed in a
criminal case and is "barbaric" in this situation.

He said there are a number of grounds to remove the husband as
guardian. "Simply put, he is acting in an interest contrary to
Terri".

He said there were numerous conflicts of interest, that he is
living with another woman with whom he has two children and that he
has failed to properly provide Terri with medical treatment or
rehabilitation services.

"It is far more appropriate for a blood relative to be guardian
than someone who married into the family and has basically gone on
with his life", Gibbs said.

Pro-life activist Randall Terry who has been engaged to
coordinate a campaign of protests and lobbying in an effort to save
Terri's life, said that "if Michael Schiavo has Terri's feeding tube
removed, we will respond with an avalanche of activism to save Terri
from death by starvation.

"Why is Michael determined to starve this woman?" Terry
asked. "Why won't he just give Terri back to her parents".

http://theempirejournal.com/02210523_schiavo_judge_bars_with.htm