TERRI SCHIAVO: ADVOCATES, PLEASE HELP!

October 23, 2003 Thursday

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Petition formatted for printing Click here

----- Original Message -----

From: "Ron Panzer" <caring@hospicepatients.org

To: <caring@hospicepatients.org

Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2003 2:56 PM

Subject: petition + update + USA Today article + stats about lack of effective enforcement of standards of care in NY +

 
 
 This is a Hospice Patients Alliance Newsletter October 23, vol. III
 sent out periodically to inform the public about news affecting hospice
 and end-of-life care. 
 
 
 In this issue:
 
 1  -  Repeat request for petitions to AG Ashcroft (with address):
        Please copy this Petition to Attorney General John Ashcroft
        and send it in by US Mail with your signature
        to help save Terri Schindler Schiavo!
 
 2  -  update (afternoon) on Terri's condition
 
 3  -  USA Today article
 
 4  -  From New York:  Government Fails to Substantiate 92.1% of complaints!
       (only 7.9% substantiated!)  what is happening in New York?
 
 
 ************************************************
 
 1.    ADVOCATES, PLEASE HELP!
 
 Please copy and print out the following petition to the U.S. Attorney General John
 Ashcroft seeking his assistance in saving Terri Schindler Schiavo.  To help her, after
 signing it with your name and full address, please mail it in by US Mail today!
 
 
 We are requesting that you send it to both Attorney General John Ashcroft and the
 Disability Rights Section of the Justice Department.  Here are both addresses:
 
 U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft
 U.S. Department of Justice
 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
 Washington, DC 20530-0001
 
 and also please call by phone at:
 Office of the Attorney General - 202-353-1555
 
 There ARE email addresses to send emails to these departments, but we are asking for
 actual hard copy petitions to be sent by US Mail to the Justice Department/Attorney
 General.
 
 If you can also send them to the Disability Rights Section, that would be helpful:
 
 U.S. Department of Justice
 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
 Civil Rights Division
 Disability Rights Section - NYAV
 Washington, D.C. 20530
 
 
 You can also phone Chief of the Disability Rights Section, John L. Wodatch, at:
 (202) 307-2227
 Fax:  (202) 307-1198
 
 Keep the pressure on to save Terri! 
 
 
 
 The petition:
 ----------------------------
 
 
 To: Attorney General John Aschcroft
 Subject: On Behalf of Theresa Maria Schiavo - Violation of Civil Rights Against the
 Handicapped
 
 We the undersigned family, friends and medical caregivers of Theresa (Terri) Maria
 Schiavo request an immediate investigation and emergency intervention to stop her
 starvation dehydration death due to the following violations of her civil rights under
 the US Constitution:
 
 Denial of Civil Rights by Michael Schiavo, husband:
 
 By court order in a malpractice suit filed by Michael Schiavo in 1993, $700,000.00 of the
 settlement was to be used exclusively for Theresa's rehabilitation.  To date, no
 rehabilitation, medical or physical therapy has ever been provided to Terri.
 
 Upon receipt of the award in 1993 medical records were ordered sealed by Michael Schiavo.
  Ten years later these records were unsealed and would reveal massive injury and a
 history of possible domestic violence and abuse.
 
 While under nursing home and hospice care, Michael Schiavo ordered no physical therapy,
 oral feeding or treatment for Terri. He further directed that Terri only be sustained in
 a nursing home which is contrary to the intent of the award money.  Michael Schiavo has
 on two occasions unsuccessfully attempted to end Terri's life by instructing her
 caretakers not to medicate Terri for potentially fatal infections, the first of which
 occurred less than nine months after receiving the malpractice award money.
 
 As Terri's legal guardian, her husband has used her medical fund money to offset the
 legal costs when his guardianship of Terri was initially challenged and to pay the
 current legal costs to have Terri's life ended.
 
 May 1, 2000 A Court hearing was cancelled after Michael Schiavo verbally committed to
 sign an agreement that Terri will get the necessary medical treatment at Hospice.
 
 June 18, 2000 - After reneging on his previously agreed terms of the agreement, Michael
 Schiavo later signed an amended agreement stating he will not withdraw or terminate
 Terri's medical care or treatment for potential fatal infections, without prior notice to
 the court.
 
 Denial of Civil Rights by Judge Greer:
 
 February 2000 - Judge Greer condemns Terri to death by dehydration/starvation without any
 clear and convincing evidence as required by statute.  There is no written living
 directive.
 
 March 2000 - Sworn affidavits provided to the court by three physicians that Terri is
 able to eat.  Judge Greer denies a petition to the court to perform swallowing tests on
 Terri, part of her court-ordered therapy. 
 
 Judge Greer further authorized personal security personnel costs for Michael Schiavo to
 be taken from Terri's medical fund.
 May 7, 2001 - Dr. Hammesfahr (neurology), filed a six page affidavit with the court
 stating Terri was not in a Persistent Vegetative State, accompanied by a formal letter
 requesting Schiavo's permission to allow Terri to begin rehabilitation treatment; request
 denied.
 
 September 26, 2001 - A three-member panel consisting of Judges Jerry Parker, Chris
 Altenbernd and John Blue presided at the Appellate Court "oral argument hearing." The
 core of the appeal is that Judge Greer did not follow the Appellate Court's July 11, 2001
 instructions. Judge Greer admitted he ignored the doctors' sworn opinions and summarily
 rejected additional evidence that unmistakably proved Michael Schiavo lied to the court
 at the original trial.
 
 NOTE: NO CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION HAS EVER BEEN CONDUCTED IN THIS CASE AND
 ATTEMPTS TO DEMAND SUCH INVESTIGATION HAVE BEEN SUMMARILY DENIED AND BLOCKED
 UNDER COURT ORDER OF JUDGE GREER. IMMEDIATE CREMATION OF THE BODY WILL OCCUR
 UPON HER DEATH, THUS DESTROYING ALL CRIMINAL EVIDENCE.
 
 Denial of Civil Rights by Michael Schiavo's appointed physicians:
 
 There is no court order to deny Terri Schiavo oral feeding.  This was put in place by
 Michael Schiavo's appointed doctors, in direct violation of the previous court orders to
 provide therapy and rehabilitation for Terri.
 
 Denial of Civil Rights by Pinellas Park Police, Michael Schiavo and his attorneys:
 On October 15th at 2:00PM Terri's feeding tube was removed.  Although the court does not
 deny the right to provide oral hydration or feeding, the doctor's orders to hospice are
 to prohibit any type of oral feeding.
 
 On October 18th, 19th and 20th Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski was refused the right to
 administer Holy Communion to Terri as part of her Catholic Last Rites.  This order was
 expressed directly by Michael Schiavo, his attorneys and the local police guarding
 Terri's room who told the priest they would "stop him if he attempted to give her Holy
 Communion."
 
 It is a criminal violation to abuse, neglect or exploit a disabled person, all of which
 have been perpetrated on Terri Schaivo and we petition your immediate intervention and
 investigation.
 
 _______________________________        Dated: ____________________________
 Name
 
 
 _______________________________
 Street Address
 
 
 _______________________________
 
 
 
 _______________________________
 City, State  Zip Code
 
 
 [end of petition]
 
 
 ************************************************
 
 2.   UPDATES ON TERRI SCHIAVO
 
 [latest update Thursday afternoon]
 
 This is from our HPA observer in Florida, commenting on attorney George Felos' press
 conference:
 
 Local TV station "BayNews9 showed a lot of it but not all -  here are some points -
 
 Felos was asked twice regarding Michael's "affluent life style and expensive car" (I've
 been told it's an $80,000 Mercedes) yet Terri's is on Medicare and Medicaid.  He dodged
 those and said he wasn't too sure of the Medicaid rules but that the house was exempt
 from Medicaid eligibility.
 
 Felos told us, of course, what a loving, devoted husband Michael was.
 
 Felos was asked why the family wasn't given any medical information - he said their
 lawyer never requested the information.  But they didn't ask why the parents have never
 been given information for years.  And I hope they asked why she was denied visits by her
 priest and denied Holy Communion.  Perhaps they did and it was in the part they didn't
 run.
 
 Felos was asked why the CT scan which he claims shows that Terri's cerebral cortex
 supposedly is missing and there is just fluid there so she just has "involuntary
 reflexes", isn't made public.  He said it was part of the court record, but the reporter
 said it has been sealed - Felos said he didn't know why!
 
 Felos said the people supporting Terri were a vocal, organized (I wish we were!!!)
 minority and cited an AOL poll to show most don't agree!!! 
 
 He said Terri's Law would probably be declared unconstitutional and Terri could "resume
 the death process."
 
 One thing he said made me happy - he said Terri looked well but gaunt and she was
 urinating - a big concern of ours was kidney damage."
 [end of update from Florida]
 
 
 
 For other information and updates about Terri online, check out the Terri Schindler
 Schiavo Foundation at:
 http://www.terrisfight.org
 
 For more information or to donate to the fund to help Terri, send your donations to:
 
 The Terri Schindler-Schiavo Foundation
 4615 gulf blvd # 104-103
 St. Petersburg Beach, FL 33707
 or go online and donate through PayPal at:
 http://www.terrisfight.org
 
 Don't be fooled!  The legal battle is still on.
 Your donations to Terri's fund are crucial!
 
 ************************************************
 
 3.    USA TODAY ARTICLE:
 
 "Fla. case raises hard end-of-life questions"
 
 10/22/2003  By Richard Willing, Anita Manning and Deborah Sharp, USA TODAY
 Go online to:
 http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-10-22-comatose-woman_x.htm
 to read this article.
 
 [comments by Nancy Valko, RN:  Comment: The US Supreme Court's ruling in Nancy Cruzan
 left the door open for her parents to make another court try to get her feedings stopped.
 The so-called "clear and convincing" evidence in the last, local hearing on Nancy's case
 by the same judge who initially ruled for withdrawal of feedings were statements by 3
 people who knew Nancy 10 years before and the statements basically consisted of alleged
 comments by Nancy about not wanting to live like a disabled little girl fed with an
 infafeeder, a kind of baby bottle used for pureed foods to be fed by mouth. Mo. Atty.
 Gen. William Webster presented no challenge in that hearing on behalf of the state so the
 last court hearing was basically a kangaroo
 court with the result foreordained.
      This so-called "clear and convincing" evidence based on vague, alledged previous
 statements from years before the person's accident or illness thus became the
 standard-and the modus operandi-for futurext "right to die" cases.  Terri's husband's
 statements "suddenly" remembered only after the large court judgment for Terri's care and
 his 2 relative's also "suddenly" remembered statements about Terri's supposed wishes are
 obviously ridiculous but allowable at the judge's discretion because of the Cruzan
 precedent. The media needs to acknowledge this outrageous abuse instead of stating that
 the courts found "clear and convincing" evidence of Terri's prior wishes to die in a
 "vegetative" state. Letters to the editor of USA Today can be sent to:
 editor@usatoday.com.  End of comments by Nancy V.]
 
 
 ************************************************
 
 4.  From the Nursing Home Community Coalition Of New York State:
 
 
 Nursing Home Complaints  -  "NHCC has long been concerned that the State's complaint
 process of investigating poor care claims made by residents, families and facility staff
 has been generally ineffective, particularly in the New York City, Westchester and Long
 Island regions of the state. The rate of sustaining complaints against nursing homes is
 much too low. The latest information published by the New York State Department of Health
 indicates that, over the last few years, the substantiation rate has dropped from 30
 percent to 7.9 percent, with one area of the state only sustaining about 1 percent of the
 complaints it receives. Early research studies (see The Nursing Home Complaint System:
 Does It Work? In Publications) conducted by NHCC indicate that these problems have long
 been an inherent part of the system. This is a major problem for nursing home consumers."
 
 "As a public watchdog organization, NHCC fights to hold government accountable. Through
 its research, scrutiny and subcommittee work, NHCC evaluates the effectiveness of
 governmental agencies (particularly the New York State Department of Health, which
 monitors long term care), recommends improvement where necessary and makes public such
 analyses through media reports and educational material for consumers."  See:
 http://www.nhccnys.org/key/government.htm
 [end of info from NHCC]
 
 
 [Note from Ron P:  Note the amazing stats, that when complaints are filed, the government
 inspectors used to "substantiate" or confirm, 30 percent of the complaints, then it
 dropped down to 7.9 percent and in one area it's down to 1 percent of the complaints it
 receives.  In other words, in 92.1% of the cases, the government is not doing anything at
 all when complaints are filed.  We know too, that even if they "substantiate" the
 complaints, most states, including New York, do little more than levy a small fine, get a
 written "plan of correction" from the offending agency/nursing home, etc. and nothing
 much changes.  Even when fines are levied, most of the time, the nursing homes don't even
 pay them!  That is what happens in most states around the country.  The statistics from
 NHCC confirm the obvious corruption of the regulatory process within the state.  It is
 not credible that so many families and patients who complain are almost all "wrong" about
 what is happening in the nursing home environment!
 
 Want to understand why?  Go to:
 http://www.opensecrets.org
 and look up what nursing homes and owners are donating to YOUR elected officials.  The
 money from the health care industry pours into the funds of the elected officials who
 appoint the so-called "inspectors" who safeguard our health care system.  The system of
 regulation and inspection is woefully inadequate and corrupt as we have seen hundreds and
 thousands of times, all across the USA!]
 
 For more information about nursing home patient advocacy, see Ila Swan's website at:
 http://www.ilaswan.net
 
 Hospices also contribute to the elected officials and are supremely "connected" to
 government: the legislators, the judges AND the Governors and local mayors, etc.  Major
 media promote hospice.  Who in power is eager to expose the problems in hospice?  Almost
 none.  We are not aware of ANY Congressman who has publicly gone after and even mentioned
 problems in hospice and end-of-life care.
 
 ************************************************
 
 
 You can hear Hospice Patients Alliance leaders online
 every Tuesday night at 9 pm Eastern at:
 http://www.highway2health.net
 Get the facts that the major media does NOT want you to know!
 
 Until next time,
 
 Ron Panzer
 President, Hospice Patients Alliance
 http://www.hospicepatients.org
 
 "What I do you cannot do; but what you do, I cannot do.
 The needs are great, and none of us, including me, ever do great things.
 But we can all do small things, with great love,
 and together we can do something wonderful." - Mother Teresa
 
 Please tell others about the work of Hospice Patients Alliance to expand our outreach! 
 
 HPA works to preserve the ORIGINAL hospice mission of CARING for the dying and allowing a
 natural death in its own timing, NOT hastening death or imposing death!  We support the
 role of hospices to care and relieve suffering, just as Mother Teresa did for so many
 years!  We urge you to share this message with others who are interested.
 
 
 We must continue the efforts to have a permanent law passed to protect the disabled and
 elderly in Florida (as well as elsewhere).  YOUR EFFORTS, CALLS, EMAILS AND FAXES HAVE
 MADE A DIFFERENCE!  The public has spoken.  We must stop the culture of death"s
 encroachment on the rights of the disabled and vulnerable.
 
 
 The Terri Schiavo case is a historic moment in the field of patient and disability
 rights.  Those who have followed the case know how Terri has been victimized through the
 years.  We applaud the actions of the Legislature and Governor (better late than never),
 and are praying for Terri's very life and welfare.  The fight is not over.
 The court battle continues!  - Ron P.
 Please tell others about the work of Hospice Patients Alliance to expand our outreach!
 We urge you to share this message with others who are interested.
 
 
 FOR YOUR OWN COMPUTER SAFETY, WE RECOMMEND YOU LOOK INTO THE FOLLOWING
 PROGRAMS FOR SECURITY OF YOUR COMPUTER.  I have heard from so many people whose computers
 crashed, were made unusable or hacked into.  To those people and anyone listening, you
 can prevent most of those problems if you follow the following suggestions.  Take the
 following steps to simplify your life and reduce the time wasted on SPAM and loss of
 computer files due to virus infections and trojans:
 
 
 MAILWASHER PRO (to delete and filter out SPAM and other junk mail)
 MailWasher Pro is your answer to getting rid of spam, viruses and unwanted e-mail. It"s
 so effective and easy to use, you"ll find it becomes one of the most useful programs on
 your computer. Receive only the e-mail you want. Delete SPAM before you even download it
 to your computer where it wastes your time or possible carries a virus, etc.  You can
 download filters from the distributor online and immediately see a massive reduction in
 spam.  Make sure to get the "Base 64 encoded filter" which will eliminate much of the
 SPAM that is sent out by spammers.  This program allows you to customize your filters and
 maintain your own control of what gets filtered and what gets through.  PC WORLD's Steve
 Bass (computer expert and consultant) says it's his "Favourite Spam Fighter." See:
 http://entier.ecosm.com/link/?wrbriqe
 
 BENIGN (to strip out scripts and malicious code in email).  This is not an antivirus
 program with definitions.  This is in addition to any antivirus you may have.  Benign
 makes it safe to download your e-mail again. This powerful program allows you to strip
 out all harmful attachments, e-mail worms, html, scripts, web bugs and other e-mail
 threats.  Benign neutralizes or strips out the code that makes viruses, worms, scripts
 and other potentially unsafe functions run.  This program works automatically once you
 set it up.  See:
 http://entier.ecosm.com/link/?wubriqy
 
 ANTIVIRUS PROGRAMS such as Symantec/Norton Antivirus or McAfee. Make sure to have them
 configured for automatic updates and that they scan incoming and outgoing email.
 
 ANTI-TROJAN PROGRAMS such as TDS-3 or The Cleaner (see www.wilders.org).  Antivirus
 programs do NOT prevent all trojans from entering and harming your computer.
 
 CHANGING YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER CAN FILTER OUT A LOT OF JUNK EMAIL AND
 SITES even before you use other defenses.  If you"re tired of junk sites and junk email,
 and concerned for children or yourself online, get clean internet access with junk email
 and junk sites filtered out at Integrity Online.  See:
 http://www.integrity.com/index.php?siteid=48830
 
 
 Hospice Patients Alliance provides free assistance to thousands of patients, families and
 caregivers seeking to obtain quality hospice care, and for those who seek help in
 resolving problems encountered in hospice care. We support the values of mainstream
 hospice which seek to relieve the suffering of the dying and allow a death in its own
 time. We oppose the hijacking of hospice for dark purposes, whether for opportunism and
 profit, or for harm to the defenseless and frail. 
 
 
 Want to help patients and families get the best end-of-life care? Your donation of even
 small amounts of $5 and up are welcome! The Hospice Patients Alliance is a 501(c)(3)
 charitable organization -- see http://www.hospicepatients.org/donationpol.html
 -- working to preserve the original hospice mission and promote the very best in
 end-of-life care. When you donate to Hospice Patients Alliance, your donations are
 tax-deductible to the full extent permitted by law.
 
 100% of your donation goes to services to the public since Hospice Patients Alliance is
 an all-volunteer charitable organization! The information provided by Hospice Patients
 Alliance is provided in the spirit of consumer advocacy in the belief that informed
 consumers of health care are best able to access quality care. If you would like to
 support our mission, please tell others about us and if possible, place a link from your
 site to ours.
 
 For more information, visit Hospice Patients Alliance online or call [616] 866-9127.
 
 
 Please feel free to share the HPA newsletter with anyone you feel is interested. There
 are two email lists maintained by HPA. One is for the "hospice-issues" discussion group
 and the other is for the HPA newsletter.
 
 To unsubscribe from the HPA newsletter, please reply to this email with the subject
 entitled, "UNSUBSCRIBE" To subscribe to the newsletter, simple send us an email with the
 subject line "subscribe."
 

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NOT IN AMERICA????

Death by Starvation of Terri Schiavo

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/terri.htm

There are NO statute of Limitations on MURDER!

RUBY RIDGE
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/rubyridge.HTM

REMEMBER WACO!
http://www.apfn.org/old/wacopg.htm

Just click "search" for more information on Terri Schiavo:

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