Newswire

Gov. Bush: Schiavo Options Exhausted

Supporters appeal to Bushes

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Terri Schiavo was hanging onto life Monday after being given last rites and protesters who rallied outside her Florida hospice vowed to march on the White House in their quest to have her feeding tube reinserted.

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday he had to respect decisions made by federal courts last week not to have the tube reinserted.

"I have not seen any means by which the executive branch can get involved. My legal counsel has talked to the Schindler family and their lawyer over the weekend," Bush said. "My heart is broken about this."

At least two more state-filed appeals are pending, but those challenges are before the state's 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has rebuffed Gov. Bush's previous efforts in the case. Bush's office and the court clerk said Monday it was unclear when the appeals judges would rule.

Doctors have said Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two once the feeding tube — which kept her alive for 15 years — was disconnected. Monday was her 10th day without food or water. She relied on the tube since suffering catastrophic brain damage when her heart stopped beating and oxygen was cut off to her brain.

However, Bob and Mary Schindler, the parents of Terri Schiavo, continued to ask Gov. Bush and President Bush to intervene on their daughter's behalf. But President Bush's aides have said they ran out of legal options to help the woman.

Despite the fresh appeals, a Schindler family spokesman said the parents know their daughter is dying and are "dealing with reality."

"They are dealing with reality," Paul O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk and a spokesman for her parents, said of the Schindlers in an interview on NBC's "Today." "They know their daughter is dying. They know what is about to happen."

No new details of Terri Schiavo's condition have been released, but a priest who visited her room said, "death is imminent."

On Sunday, Schiavo was given a drop of wine as Easter communion Sunday and was anointed with holy oil, blessed and absolved of her sin by a priest after her husband, Michael Schiavo, allowed her to receive the sacrament.

As her brother, sister and brother-in-law watched, the Rev. Thaddeus Malanowski held Terri's right hand as he and the hospice priest, the Rev. Joseph Braun, placed the droplet on her tongue. Malanowski also anointed her with holy oil, offered a blessing and absolved her of sin.

"She received the blood of Christ," said Malanowski, adding he could not give her a fleck of communion bread because her tongue was too dry.

O'Donnell said Schiavo smiled, raised her hands and made guttural sounds late Sunday while being visited by her father and a friend, who was talking about how she liked to go out dancing.

Supporters Vow to Continue Fight

Protesters in support of Terri Schiavo weren't ready to give up their fight Monday. Supporters vowed to head to Washington to pressure Bush and lawmakers to fight to have the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube reinserted.

"Everyone is willing to write this woman's obituary except one person. And that's Terri Schiavo herself," said O'Donnell. A group of their supporters were heading to protest outside the White House gates Monday.

Schiavo's parents dispute that their daughter is in a persistent vegetative state as court-ordered doctors have determined. Michael Schiavo contends his wife told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially.

Fewer than 10 protesters stayed overnight in rain and wind. One man was arrested before dawn trying to take a jug of water to Schiavo.

Schiavo's mother did not visit her daughter on Easter, emotions keeping her from the hospice for the first time since Terri's feeding tube was removed 10 days ago, O'Donnell said.

"If she goes in there again, we might have to take her to the hospital," O'Donnell said.

Tensions were noticeably heightened both among the protesters and, apparently, among the closest confidants to the woman's parents. David Gibbs III, their lead lawyer, told CBS' "Face the Nation" that Schiavo has "passed where physically she would be able to recover."

"In the family's opinion, that is absolutely not true," spokesman Randall Terry said outside the hospice.

The Schindler family, also bothered by repeated arrests and heightened anger outside the hospice, pleaded with supporters to spend Easter with their families. They had little success; five people were arrested and chants of "Give Terri water!" echoed for much of the day.

Extra police officers blocked the road in front of Schiavo's hospice and Pinellas County school officials said an elementary school next to the hospice would be closed Monday.

At Michael Schiavo's Clearwater home, protesters dropped roses and Easter lilies on his lawn — a peaceful protest interrupted when sprinklers came on.

His fiancee's brother picked up the flowers and handed them to a bystander to take away. John Centonze declined to answer questions, only saying that Michael Schiavo was "very upset."

During Easter services at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Clearwater, the Rev. Ted Costello avoided mentioning the Schiavo case. Yet at Faith Lutheran Church in Dunedin, the Rev. Peter Kolb thought Schiavo's story was appropriate for his sermon. "One day, we're all going to go through the valley," Kolb told churchgoers.

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Posted by Editor at March 28, 2005 12:14 PM