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Schiavo's life seems measured in delays

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published February 24, 2005

CLEARWATER - The logic of attorney David Gibbs III had a harsh truth to it: If Terri Schiavo is a vegetable, then what does she care if the judge takes more time?

"He says she has no brain," Gibbs argued, nodding to opposing attorney George Felos, as he tried to block the 5 p.m. removal of the feeding tube that sustains her. "What difference does it make?"

In the end, Circuit Judge George Greer agreed to keep the tube in place until at least 5 p.m. Friday, while he considers the latest round of arguments from her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.

Considering the pressure that Greer has been under in this case, he might as well have sentenced himself to being whacked over the head with a 2-by-4 for another 48 hours. Not for any money, any power or glory would I trade places.

Maybe 75 people filled the benches of Courtroom A on the fourth floor of the county courthouse. Most of them were there supporting the Schindlers. Some wore religious garb, a few wore T-shirts with right-to-life sentiments. Terri's husband, Michael Schiavo, was not present.

The courtroom was a depressing, cavernous, 1970s-looking relic with dark wood paneling and black marble. Greer's bench was high, distant; it was hard to hear him. The jury box was filled with national and local reporters and photographers, pointing and clicking at the Schindlers.

Gibbs had the left-hand table (from the point of view of the spectators). Young, black-haired and wearing rimless spectacles, he calmly argued that the Schindlers were entitled to a stay for five reasons:

Another appeal just filed with the 2nd District Court of Appeal on Terri's due process rights being violated.

The pending fight over removing Michael Schiavo as Terri's guardian.

The Schindlers' hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the religious issue. (The Schindlers say that later statements by the pope on these cases would certainly have influenced Terri's wishes.)

Two new motions related to the hope of new medical evidence, and new tests. Gibbs suggested Schiavo might be in a "minimally conscious state," and not the "persistent vegetative state" spelled out in state law. Gibbs quoted a statement by Michael Schiavo in 2000 when asked what he would do if a new treatment emerged: "I would be there in a heartbeat."

Felos, peering over his glasses, seemed older, weary of it, even resigned. He tried to counter Gibbs point by point, saying that only the appeals court, or the Supreme Court itself, had the authority to issue the kind of stay Gibbs wanted.

As for removing Michael Schiavo as guardian, the point is moot, Felos said: No matter who is guardian, the same duty exists to obey the court's rulings.

Felos was especially exasperated at the motion for new tests and experimental treatment, calling it "even more frivolous than the last one. ... There will always be another motion."

He quoted earlier previous medical evidence that Schiavo's higher brain has simply atrophied and disappeared - "a giant black hole." The study cited by Gibbs deals with comatose patients who still have a brain to respond, Felos argued.

The last time the tube was removed, Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Legislature jumped in with a last-minute law that everybody and his cousin knew was unconstitutional. Even the governor's own appointees to the Florida Supreme Court said so.

This time, at the last minute Wednesday afternoon, the governor's Department of Children and Families filed a motion to intervene. The Bush administration waited until minutes beforehand. The judge was clearly irritated and refused to hear it.

"Your honor," a lawyer for DCF stood up and asked, "may I be heard?"

"No ma'am," Greer said.

So the clock is reset, but keeps ticking. Gibbs is absolutely right: The delay does not matter to the Terri Schiavo of today. But that is not the test. Only two things matter: What she wanted before, which the court has already settled, and whether anything has changed since the court ruled she is in a persistent vegetative state.

Everything else is emotion, and grandstanding, and the personal demons and fears that all of us seem to have projected onto this tragic case.

[Last modified February 24, 2005, 00:53:06]