Court Ordered Starvation of Terri Schiavo Begins

[Drbio]

Originally posted by: mercury_rev

Amendment IX - "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Amendment X - "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The legal scholars here are welcome to dispute me on this, but I'm sure one could make a case for a constitutional right to die even though that right is not explicitly listed in the Constitution.

You will need to reconcile your thoughts with State laws that make it a violation of the law to commit suicide and make it a violation of the law to assist someone in the suicide process.

[mercury_rev]

Originally posted by: Drbio

You will need to reconcile your thoughts with State laws that make it a violation of the law to commit suicide and make it a violation of the law to assist someone in the suicide process.

Yes Doc, thanks for pointing that out. But I wonder whether, in theory, one could use Amendment IX to argue that these anti-suicide state laws are unconstitutional. But then I've also read that hardly anyone pays attention to this amendment.

[reeds]

"I just read that Michael Shiavo does not want an autopsy and wants her creamated asap and her ashes placed in "his" family plot....

He is going to ignore her family's wishes for a burial mass and her internment in Florida near her parents......"

I am really starting to hate Michael. I take that back- I do hate him..I cannot imagine what the parents are going through right now...

[mavsman55]

Originally posted by: reeds
"I just read that Michael Shiavo does not want an autopsy and wants her creamated asap and her ashes placed in "his" family plot....

He is going to ignore her family's wishes for a burial mass and her internment in Florida near her parents......"

I am really starting to hate Michael. I take that back- I do hate him..I cannot imagine what the parents are going through right now...

Amen. Reeds, this is a first. I wholeheartedly and sincerely agree with you. He is sure screwing over Mr. and Mrs. Schindler pretty darn bad right now.

Maybe they should starve him to death. Hey, after all, they have a "right" to.

[Mavdog]

There is to be an autopsy.

Her ashes will be buried in the Schiavo family area, I'd presume he will eventually be there too.

[dude1394]

Along with his new "wife" and fun babies I imagine.

[Nash13]

I've never been so mad at anything in my entire life than this. I don't see how anybody could mistake the husband for someone looking out for her best interest. The man could've cared less whether she lived because he's probably looking to marry the mistress. And how can the gov't allow this to happen? And the sorry chump even had to nerve to kick her family out in her final minutes. This whole ordeal is disturbing on what people can get away with.

I sincerely hope me and him never cross paths.

Oh yeah Doc, i'm pretty sure states can decide to do assisted-suicide, because it was voted upon to be legal in Oregon(or just the city of Portland).

I'm sorry if i'm stating the obvious, but this world is going to hell.

[kg_veteran]

Yes Doc, thanks for pointing that out. But I wonder whether, in theory, one could use Amendment IX to argue that these anti-suicide state laws are unconstitutional. But then I've also read that hardly anyone pays attention to this amendment.

No. In fact, Amendment X makes clear that this is an issue for the states to deal with.

[mercury_rev]

Originally posted by: kg_veteran

No. In fact, Amendment X makes clear that this is an issue for the states to deal with.

Perhaps I could have been clearer:

What about that pesky Amendment IX? Apparently legal precedents don't involve this amendment much, but why is it ignored? Is it considered too vague?

I find it to be a pretty important part of the Bill of Rights since it suggests that individual persons may have implicit rights independently of whether those rights are explicitly named by ANY constitution - that rights are not a false dichotomy of permissions given by the federal government versus permissions given by state governments.

I'm conjecturing that - in theory if not in constitutional legal history - one could make a _philosophical_ case for there being a moral right to die that the legal powers expressed by state constitutions can't trump.

In other words, the Founders were wise to remind us that rights do not end at what is expressly stated in any constitution, be it federal or state.

[Caliente]

Terri has finally been laid to rest......

TAMPA, Fla. - The burial of Terri Schiavo's cremated remains didn't bring an end to the acrimony between her husband and her family.

Michael Schiavo angered his late wife's family Monday by not notifying them about the burial beforehand and by inscribing on her bronze grave marker the words "I kept my promise."

Michael Schiavo — who said he promised his wife he would not keep her alive artificially — also listed Feb. 25, 1990, as the date his wife "Departed this Earth."

On that date, Schiavo collapsed and fell into what most doctors said was an irreversible vegetative state.

Schiavo actually died March 31, 2004, nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order. The grave marker lists that date as when Schiavo was "at peace."

David Gibbs, an attorney for the woman's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, decried the inscriptions on the marker. "Obviously, that's a real shot and another unkind act toward a grieving mom and dad," Gibbs said.

Two days after Terri Schiavo's death, the 41-year-old was cremated and her husband was given possession of her remains.

Michael Schiavo had said her ashes would be buried at a family plot in Pennsylvania. But on Monday his attorney, George Felos, said in a statement that the service and burial had taken place at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park in Clearwater.

The statement did not explain why Schiavo, who lives near Clearwater, decided to keep his wife's remains in Florida. He did not return a phone call seeking additional information.

Schiavo's parents had opposed her cremation. Services for Schiavo already had been conducted in nearby Gulfport, where her parents live, and in Pennsylvania, where she grew up.

The Schindlers' attorney said the family was notified by fax only after Monday's service, when the family had already started getting calls from reporters.

A pond and fountain also mark the woman's grave, where the flat bronze marker was festooned with flowers Monday evening.

Terri Schiavo collapsed in 1990 after a chemical imbalance caused her heart to stop. She left no written instructions in the event she became disabled, and her husband said she never would have wanted to be kept alive in what court-appointed doctors called a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.

Her parents, however, doubted she had any such end-of-life wishes. They maintained she would benefit from rehabilitation, despite most doctors saying her condition was irreversible.

The seven-year battle engulfed the courts, Congress, the White House and divided the country.

The interment comes less than a week after an autopsy report was released revealing that Terri Schiavo was almost certainly in a persistent vegetative state and that her body showed no signs of abuse by her husband, which had been alleged by her family. The cause of the 1990 collapse that left her with severe brain damage was not determined.

The report prompted Gov. Jeb Bush to ask the Pinellas County chief prosecutor to investigate what happened the night Terri Schiavo collapsed. The governor cited an alleged gap in time between when her husband found her unconscious and called 911. The husband says there was no delay in making the call.



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