Terri Schiavo’s Husband Wants to Overturn Order Delaying Her Starvation 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 27, 2004
Clearwater, FL (LifeNews.com) — In the latest twist of the Terri Schiavo legal controversy, her estranged husband filed two court orders on Tuesday seeking to stop a delay in removing Terri’s feeding tube. Should the tube be removed, Terri will suffer a painful starvation death lasting as long as two weeks.
Currently, two legal battles have the disabled woman as the center of attention.
Florida Governor Jeb Bush is hoping the Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a Florida Supreme Court decision overturning Terri’s Law. That’s the measure passed by the Florida state legislature that allowed Bush to ask doctors to not euthanize Terri by removing the feeding tube.
Meanwhile, Terri’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, wants a local court judge to prevent Terri’s death because starving her would violate her Catholic faith. The Schindlers have cited Vatican documents and recent statements by Pope John Paul II showing that the removal of Terri’s feeding tube constitutes "euthanasia by omission."
In both cases, Terri’s supporters have lost initial arguments and Bush and the Schindlers are asking for courts to prevent Michael Schiavo from removing Terri’s gastric tube until they can be resolved.
But, on Tuesday, Michael filed papers in both cases asking to be able to remove the feeding tube immediately.
George Felos, the assisted suicide advocate who is Michael’s attorney, asked Circuit Court Judge George Greer to lift his seven-week delay of removing the feeding tube in the Schindler case. He also asked the Florida high court to refuse to grant a stay Bush’s attorneys have requested.
A hearing on Bush’s request is set for today.
Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990 supposedly as a result of a potassium imbalance. However, Terri’s family has long suspected that the real cause may have been physical abuse at the hand of her estranged husband Michael.
A bone scan conducted on Terri in March 1991 showed she had several fractures and was the victim of "abnormal activity" that caused "previous traumas," indicating she may have been beaten or abused.
Michael adamantly denies having abused or mistreated his wife.
The Schindlers have tried to remove Michael as Terri’s legal guardian and replace him with Terri’s brother Bobby.
They say Michael has conflicts of interest because he is living with another woman while still legally married to Terri. He and his girlfriend Jodi Centonze have two children.
They also say Michael has violated a promise to a jury that $700,000 of a $1.5 million medical malpractice judgment awarded to him would be used to pay for rehabilitative and medical care for Terri.
After Michael received the award, he placed a "do not recesitate" order on Terri.
Related web sites:
Terri’s Family – https://www.terrisfight.org
