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Protestors Continue Demonstrating for Terri

Protests Continue

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Protestors rallied around Terri Schiavo's hospice as the severely brain-damaged woman entered her 12th day without food or water. Schiavo's condition remained unclear amid a blur of conflicting reports from her family and husband, Michael.

Schiavo's father, Bob Schindler, repeated his plea that she be kept alive by having her feeding tube reinserted. About 100 protesters used harsh rhetoric and some in the crowd mimicked Nazi soldiers by goose-stepping in front of police. Another eight protesters who tried to bring water into the hospice for Schiavo were arrested for trespassing, bringing the total of arrests to 46.

"She's still communicating, she's still responding. She's emaciated, but she's responsive," Schindler told reporters after a visit with his daughter, saying that she showed facial expressions when he hugged and kissed her.

George Felos, the attorney for husband and guardian told reporters later that he had visited Schiavo for more than an hour Monday and said she looked "very peaceful. She looked calm."

"I saw no evidence of any bodily discomfort whatsoever," Felos said, although he added her breathing seemed "a little on the rapid side" and her eyes were sunken.

Felos said the hospice room was decorated with flowers, had music playing and that Schiavo had a stuffed tabby cat under one arm.

Doctors said Terri Schiavo, 41, would probably die within a week or two when the tube was removed on March 18. She suffered catastrophic brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped for several minutes because of a chemical imbalance.

Felos said that the chief medical examiner for Pinellas County, Dr. John Thogmartin, had agreed to perform an autopsy. He said her husband wants definitive proof showing the extent of her brain damage. Michael Schiavo contends his wife told him years ago she would not want to be kept alive artificially under such circumstances.

An attorney for Schiavo's parents, David Gibbs III, said her family also wants an autopsy. "We would certainly support and encourage an autopsy to be done with all the unanswered questions," Gibbs said.

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 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.

"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 Schiavo's condition have been released, but a priest who visited her room said, "death is imminent."

Michael Schiavo permitted his wife to receive Easter communion on Sunday, when she also was anointed with holy oil, blessed and absolved of her sin by a priest.

Felos said Terri Schiavo “received the sacrament [of Communion] on Easter at approximately 4 p.m. ... A drop of wine was put on Ms. Schiavo’s lip.”

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.

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.

Posted by Editor at March 29, 2005 08:21 AM