LIFE AND
DEATH TUG OF WAR
Attorney: Terri cried at news
Claims brain-injured woman
said she wants to live
Friday, March 18,
2005; © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Terri Schiavo
responding to her mother in video clip available on terrisfight.org
An attorney for Terri
Schiavo said the severely brain-injured woman cried and yelled out that she
wants to live after being told today her life-sustaining feeding tube was about
to be removed by court order.
Barbara Weller was in
Terri Schiavo's room at the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., when the
encounter took place, according to activist Randall Terry, who spoke with
WorldNetDaily from outside the building as demonstrators continued a vigil.
If true, the report
apparently refutes the court's finding that Terri Schiavo is in a
"persistant vegetative state" and cannot currently express her
wishes. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, contends she had indicated she would not
want to live in such a condition, but parents Robert and Mary Schindler dispute
that and suspect he is responsible for the 1990 incident in which oxygen to her
brain was temporarily cut off, causing severe brain damage.
Weller essentially
told Terri Schiavo, "You had better say you want to live or they will kill
you. Just say you want to live."
Schiavo responded
with a drawn out, "IIIIII," then screamed out "waaaaaaaa"
so loudly that a police officer stationed outside the room came in.
The officer then
ordered Weller removed from the room, according to Terry.
The event was
witnessed by Terri Schiavo's sister Suzanne Vitadamo and Suzanne's husband
Michael.
"I talked to
Suzy and Michael, and they both said it was unbelievable," Terry said.
"It was very articulate, for Terri, but they also say this is normal [for
her to communicate]."
Terry explained the
family says Schiavo often is talkative, though similar to a 10-month-old.
"The words
usually are not discernable, but she's responsive to commands, uses slow
diction and her voice lilts to show emotion and context," he said.
Weller teared up
after hearing Schiavo respond today, Terry said, and indicated Schiavo was
crying.
Terry has established
a website, helpterri.com
with information about how to get involved, including phone numbers of
lawmakers and details of a rally and lobby-training sessions to be held next
week in the Florida capital, Tallahassee, beginning Monday.
"We need people
there Monday night, people who have never lobbied before, to come, and we're
going to be begging the [Florida] Senate to get its act together," Terry
said.
Doctors removed Terri
Schiavo's feeding tube today to carry out her estranged husband's requested
court order.
Barring an
intervention, she is expected to live another week to 10 days.
The tube removal came
after a Florida judge blocked an eleventh-hour end-run waged by members of
House and Senate panels, ruling the device can be removed immediately.
Early this morning,
the House Government Reform Committee decided to launch an investigation into
the case and issued subpoenas that order doctors and the administrator at the
hospice facility not to remove her feeding tube and keep her alive until the
investigation is complete.
At the same time, the
Senate Health Committee also requested Terri and Michael Schiavo appear at an
official committee hearing March 28.
As a result, minutes
before the 1 p.m. EST deadline for the tube removal passed Pinellas Circuit
Court Judge David Demers ordered the feeding tube remain in place while
presiding Judge George Greer addresses the matter of the congressional
subpoenas in a court hearing.
But an hour later,
Greer disregarded the subpoenas and again ordered the feeding tube pulled.
Court documents
and other information are posted on the Schindler family website.
Links to all
"Terri briefs" regarding the governor's defense of Terri's Law are on
the Florida Supreme Court website, public information.