|
Howdy Pilgrim
Welcome to VetZine's Blog
Concatenation
The linking together
of a series of events or ideas
''The Domino Theory''
we have been warned about.
They say
we are at war
Who is the
Enemy ?
Eastasia ?
Westasia ?
Phantasia ?
Daily Dispatches
from the Trenches
email me
|
Sunday, September 26, 2004
Take Action For Terri
The link in the message below will take you to a Right to Life web site that,
after you put in your zip code, will allow you to send a letter to your own
state senator.
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/myrepresentative.aspx
Now, the action issue, from Florida Right to Life:
Today’s Florida Supreme Court decision striking down “Terriâ's Law under
which Governor Jeb Bush had ordered that she not be starved and dehydrated to
death is not necessarily the last word. Although the court struck the
protective law down because it overruled the judiciary in one particular case, the
way is still open to pass a law that would be generally applicable to people
with disabilities, including Terri Schindler-Schiavo.
Currently, the state requires that someone present Florida courts with “
clear and convincing evidence†showing that the patient wanted to be denied food
and fluids. In the Schiavo case, Terri went six days without food and fluids
because the judge ruled that a casual, thoughtless comment fulfilled the
clear and convincing evidence standard. A bill introduced earlier this year,
the Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act, would
mandate that a decision to put someone to death by starvation or dehydration
could only occur if the patient had made the statement under express and
informed consent. It is carefully written to be “constitutional†under prior d
ecisions of the Florida Supreme Court.
Concerned Florida citizens are urged to click on
http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/officials/state/?state=FL&lvl=L
to contact Florida senators to urge them to
commit to support, in a special session if necessary, enactment of the Florida
Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Prevention Act,
similar to last year's S.B. 692, to save Terri Schindler-Schiavo and others like
her.
This statement may be attributed to Burke J. Balch, J.D., Director of
National Right to Life Committee's Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics.
The letter generated on that linked site above, which you should consider
rewriting in your own words if possible, is:
Please publicly indicate your support for the Florida Starvation and
Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act Senator Wise introduced last session,
without delay. After the recent Florida Supreme Court ruling against Terri's
Law, this bill provides a constitutional way to be sure that casual comments,
missing the most basic requirements of informed consent, do not cause the death
by starvation of vulnerable people like Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Only if the
Florida legislature acts now can her life, and the lives of others like her, be
saved. Please let me know whether you will support this life-saving bill,
which fully complies with standards set in the rulings of the Florida Supreme
Court.
Jim Styer
jimstyer@comcast.net
Cheryl Ford
fight4terri@aol.com
posted by Vetzine
|
|
