Terri Schiavo Gets One-Month Reprieve While Governor Bush Appeals Lawsuit 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 28, 2004
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) — The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with Governor Jeb Bush in allowing him to have one month to appeal its decision overturning Terri’s Law before Terri Schiavo’s estranged husband is granted permission to remove Terri’s feeding tube and take her life.
The Florida high court is giving Bush’s attorneys until November 29 to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will take up its appeal of its unanimous decision overturning Terri’s Law, the measure the state legislature passed to allow Bush to prevent Terri from being starved to death.
If the nation’s top court decides to hear the case, the Florida Supreme Court will reissue the stay, allowing Terri to live during the continuation of the legal battle.
The stay is extensive and broad in its reach, preventing other courts from allowing Terri’s feeding tube to be removed while the Bush appeal moves forward.
Also on Wednesday, Michael Schiavo asked Circuit Court Judge George Greer to reverse his decision to prevent him from removing the gastric tube until December 9 while Terri’s parents appeal his decision on a motion saying ending Terri’s life would violate her Catholic faith.
Bob and Mary Schindler have argued that removing the feeding tube is considered "euthanasia by omission" by the Catholic Church and they say Terri would have wanted lifesaving medical care and rehabilitation instead of being euthanized.
George Felos, the assisted suicide advocate who is Michael’s attorney, asked Greer Wednesday to move the time that Michael could be allowed to remove the feeding tube to November 9.
Judge Greer indicated he will decide on Friday, but told Felos that the timeframe for removing the tube would likely extend past that date. The Florida Supreme Court ruling will likely impact his decision.
David Gibbs, the new lead attorney for Terri’s parents, asked Greer to extend the deadline beyond the original date in December to allow the Schindlers more time to flesh out their latest legal effort to save Terri’s life.
Gibbs said the Schindler are appealing the Catholic faith decision to the 2nd District Court of Appeal.
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:
Florida Supreme Court order re feeding tube –
https://www.flcourts.org/pubinfo/summaries/briefs/04/04-925/Filed_10-27-2004_OrderRecallingMandate.pdf
Terri’s Family – https://www.terrisfight.org
