posted on March 27, 2005 03:14:34 PM
Protests Add to Other Families' Grief
Friday, March 25, 2005
TAMPA, Fla. — Jennifer Johnson, barefoot and in her pajamas, ran to her grandfather's bedside once a hospice worker said his death was moments away.
She got there — one minute too late.
Johnson said the chaos surrounding the hospice where Terri Schiavo (search) lies dying kept her from saying goodbye. When Johnson arrived, a police officer demanded identification; she had none. And after a hospice employee cleared her, another officer halted her for a metal-detecting search.
The delays lasted three to four minutes — the last minutes of her grandfather's life.
"It's a terrible, extra obstacle to put in front of a family. ... Everything is about Schiavo," Johnson said. "It's all about her and in my family's case, it cost us dearly."
Woodside Hospice (search) has 70 patients, in addition to Schiavo, whose parents are desperately trying to have her feeding tube reconnected. Dozens of protesters have arrived from around the nation since the tube was removed March 18; at least 22 have been arrested, prompting a police barricade around the facility and unprecedented security measures.
Family members visiting patients must pass through a police checkpoint to park, then show identification outside the door before another security screening inside. They also must walk by scores of signs decrying Schiavo's "crucifixion," "torture," and "starvation," plus navigate around hordes of media who have been camped outside the facility.
"To have to maneuver through all of this and have a hostile environment outside when all they want is peace and quiet and to enjoy those few days they have left with a loved one is a horror," said Dr. Morton Getz, executive director of Douglas Gardens Hospice in Miami.
Getz said many people with a family member in a hospice have to make the same excruciating decision that courts have made for Schiavo.
"It's causing a lot of grief and questions in their own mind on whether they did the right thing," he said. "It's unconscionable to have a family member to be near the end stages of life and to get there, you have to walk through signs that say, 'Murderer."'
Most protesters direct their signs and their chants against the courts and Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband who insists she would not want to be kept alive artificially. But walking through a hostile environment can only add stress to what's already an emotionally draining situation.
"It probably has the same psychological effect on the residents' families as it does on someone who is walking into an abortion clinic and facing signs and aggressive behavior," said Elizabeth Foley (search), a Florida International University law professor who specializes in bioethics. "And unfortunately, that is the price you have to pay in a free society."
Over the past few days, as Schiavo's parents' attempts to have their daughter's feeding tube reinserted repeatedly fail, signs outside the hospice have grown more desperate. Messages compare Michael Schiavo to the likes of Scott Peterson, convicted of killing his wife and unborn child in California, and John Evander Couey, who allegedly murdered a 9-year-old girl in Homosassa.
The mood has become somber and tense. One woman in a wheelchair regularly moves up and down sidewalks in front of the hospice yelling in a megaphone, "We're disabled, not disposable!" and "Terri is a person, not a vegetable!"
"They're defenders of life — but some of these protesters have no respect for the last few days these patients have," said Tim Harmon, 44, one of the few who held a sign supporting Michael Schiavo.
Relatives of hospice residents say the clamor — intended to rattle Michael Schiavo — rattles their patience.
"It's a real pain in the neck," said Bill Douglass, whose mother-in-law is a resident. He said the only consolation is that she is "oblivious" to the outside scene.
Police and hospice officials say they are trying to minimize the intrusion on hospice residents and their families, and that the security measures are meant to protect the privacy and safety of all residents, not just Schiavo.
But Johnson says her grandfather, Thomas Bone, 73, was restricted from moving freely around the hospice grounds during his final days. He died just hours after Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was removed and protests intensified.
"They've taken away hospice's greatest quality, that it is peaceful and serene and quiet and calming — and it's not fair," Johnson said.
Pinellas Park police Capt. Michael Haworth said he sympathized with the Johnson family. "Whatever time was spent on security for this family, whether it was 30 seconds or one minute, would have been too much," Haworth said.
Johnson, 24, said Schiavo should have been moved before the protests began to protect the sanctity of the hospice.
Her grandfather was brought there three months ago after being diagnosed with terminal brain cancer — and repeatedly told his only grandchild he did not want to die alone.
"Everybody who's in there is dying or has somebody who's dying, and we're being denied our rights," she said. "It's almost like Terri Schiavo's rights are more important than ours."
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
[ edited by fenix03 on Mar 27, 2005 06:47 PM ]
posted on March 27, 2005 04:38:50 PM
I totally agree. The needs of the other residents should have been taken into consideration. Even I knew this was going to be a three ring circus.
What a sad story, but thank you for sharing it. People forget that there are other's whose problems are equal to or worse than their own. They become selfishly wrapped up in their own causes. Isn't the hospice grounds private property? Couldn't the hospice owners/directors have kept the protestors off the premises? Try pulling this stunt at a city hospital where you have to be quiet on the grounds. There are signs everywhere.
Personally, I'd prefer in-home hospice care. It's what we had for my brother. I know that for some, this probably isn't the best thing, and that is probably the case with Shiavo.
posted on March 28, 2005 11:34:11 AM
From my understanding Cheryl, they are being kept at the edge of the property. The reason those that are attempting to bring water are being arrested is that they are crossing on to hospice property and so they are being arrested for tresspassing. Unfortunately their property line is pretty close to the facility so the protestors are very close and the father is still requesting that they continue their protests, comnpletely oblivious to other patients and family members.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on March 28, 2005 11:57:35 AMIn response to fenix saying the father is still requesting that they continue their protests, comnpletely oblivious to other patients and family members
Schiavo's Parents 'Dealing With Reality'
2 hours, 41 minutes ago Top Stories - AP
By MARK LONG, Associated Press Writer
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. - Extra police blocked the road in front of the hospice where the severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo lay dying Monday, and a spokesman for her parents said they are "dealing with reality" about their daughter's fate.
At least a dozen officers were assigned to the site a day after five supporters of her parents were arrested as protesters heckled police and boisterously chanted "Give Terri water." A next-door elementary school was closed for the week so students could avoid the throng.
On Schiavo's 10th day without food or water, supporters of her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, continued to plead for President Bush (news - web sites) and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, to intervene to have her feeding tube reinserted.
"Everyone is willing to write this woman's obituary except one person. And that's Terri Schiavo herself," said Paul O'Donnell, a Roman Catholic Franciscan monk and a spokesman for her parents.
Some of the protestors, led by family spokesmen Patrick Mahoney, flew to Washington Monday to confront lawmakers and demonstrate in front of the White House gates, imploring leaders to step in and order Schiavo's feeding tube reconnected.
President Bush's aides have said they ran out of legal options to help the woman. Gov. Bush said Monday that while it "made sense" to have federal courts review the case, he had to respect their decisions last week not to order 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."
Neither Schiavo's parents nor her husband offered new, specific details on her condition, but one of the two priests who visited her hospital room Easter Sunday said the brain-damaged woman's "death is imminent."
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.
"They are dealing with reality," O'Donnell said of the Schindlers in an interview on NBC's "Today." "They know their daughter is dying. They know what is about to happen."
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.
Michael Schiavo's attorneys did not return calls seeking comment Monday.
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. More than 30 protestors were outside the hospice later Monday, most carrying signs and milling about quietly.
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.
But the woman's parents claimed one Easter victory: Schiavo's husband, Michael, allowed her to receive communion wine.
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.
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 least two more state-filed appeals are pending, but those challenges are before the state 2nd District Court of Appeal, which has rebuffed Gov. Jeb 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. She relied on the tube since suffering catastrophic brain damage when her heart stopped beating and oxygen was cut off to her brain.
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.
___
_________________
[ edited by Libra63 on Mar 28, 2005 11:59 AM ]
It is all very sad. The protestors, however, are doing more harm than good. A jug of water? Do they realize that by giving her that now it could kill her faster? By now, her ability to swallow is more limited than ever. When my grandmother was dying, water was given to her on a cloth which she had to suck on.
To me, it is the protestors now that will make her passing less peaceful than it should be as well as the passing of other's in that hospice. It's rude. They are not doing anything to further their agenda. In fact, it's probably having the opposite effect.
I'm glad she got to receive communion. I couldn't understand her husband not allowing it in the first place because I can't see what harm it would do.
I don't see this as being a battle for Terri anymore. I see it as a battle between a husband and his in-laws. Neither party is blameless in this. I just hope my family loves me more and never allows anything like this circus to happen should I ever be in her place.
posted on March 28, 2005 01:01:13 PM
::I couldn't understand her husband not allowing it in the first place because I can't see what harm it would do.::
Because, whether it was true or not, her family would have used acceptance of the host as proof that she could swallow and reason for still another apeal.
Libra - they may have changed their tune later but as of yesterday morninng he asked for them to stay. The only reason the numbers are dwindling is because the bulk of the protestors are now being bussed up to Washington.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on March 28, 2005 02:25:29 PM
fenix on the late news last night the father asked them to leave.
Most of the people are the abortion rights people and of course they are for the right to life. To them life is better than death no matter what the circumstances are but in this case I am for her life and her family and I have been against the husband as 5 years after her "stroke" he found another women and had children with her. Wedding vows are wedding vows and I feel he didn't heed them. That is why I am against this. I understand that the family would like her buried in the family plot but he is having her cremated. That was in our morning paper. There was another sentence under that but I am not going to repeat it.
_________________
