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CNN Live Saturday

Terri Schiavo Case Raises Ethical Issues; Profile of Life, Death of Karen Ann Quinlan

Aired March 26, 2005 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


TONY HARRIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: It is Noon in the East and 9:00 on the West coast. Hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: I'm Gerri Willis. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY. All eyes are on a Florida judge in the Terri Schiavo case. Any moment now, we are expecting his ruling on the latest legal motion to try to get her feeding tube reinserted. We'll have a live report.

HARRIS: Terri's parents say they have given up to returning to federal court. So, are there any more legal options left?

WILLIS: Plus the woman in the middle of the controversy. We'll show you the Terri Schiavo most people don't know, but first a look at what's happening now in the news.

HARRIS: We're going to take you now to Pinellas Park, Florida, where we're expecting, in just a couple of moments, to hear from Terri Schiavo's dad, Bob Schindler. As you know, these are the final moments before we get a decision from the circuit court judge, there in Florida, George Greer.

You see Father O'Donnell there, one of the friars that's serving as the advisor to the Schindler family. These, as we mentioned, are the final moments before we're expecting a decision from Judge Greer of the circuit court and Judge Greer, as you know, is the presiding judge in this case. He has been working on this case since 1998. Let's take you now to Bob Franken, who is standing by in Pinellas Park -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what we're waiting for is the latest from Bob Schindler. Bob Schindler is, of course, the father of Terri Schiavo and he has been on this vigil the whole time we have been here. He just went into the hospice to visit with his daughter and is going to be holding a news conference before long. There is a view now from the family that somebody has to do something, they're not quite sure what.

We're awaiting the latest decision on the latest court effort in the courtroom of a judge who originally ordered the feeding tube disconnected. That is due about this time. Judge George Greer was asked to consider testimony that a couple of people heard Terri Schiavo give a verbally limited response when she was asked if she wanted to live. That would be evidence, they claim, that her state of brain deterioration is not as serious as the court has ruled, leading to his decision to terminate the life of Terri Schiavo. Of course, we're getting to a point where all the court actions, if they're not successful, are going to be futile, because most medical experts believe that Terri Schiavo now, with the tube removed for over a week is in the very last, last stages of her life. We're waiting for a decision, as I said, from the judge and we're waiting for comments from Bob Schindler -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Bob Franken in Pinellas Park for us. And Bob, Thank you.

WILLIS: We now go to Randi Kaye, who has more -- Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gerri, we are here at the offices, in Florida, here, for attorney George Felos, he's attorney of Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo. And just a moment ago, a couple of moments ago, he appeared here at his office, just about the Noon hour.

We have some video of him arriving here. Asked him if he had any news for us this morning or at this hour and he said he did not want to comment on that.

Asked him how Terri was doing. He did not want to comment on that either, but he did say, confirmed for us, here at CNN, that there will be a 3:00 press conference here at his office. He wouldn't give any details as to what may or may not be announced at that press conference. So, that's coming up today at 3:00. And we will, of course, bring that to you.

In the meantime, we are waiting, as you heard, Bob Franken, just talk about, there, the decision on the ruling from Judge George Greer in the 6th Judicial District Court, here in Clearwater, Florida. He held an emergency hearing yesterday because it was Good Friday, the courts were closed.

In that hearing, he was present there, so were the attorneys for both sides. And David Gibbs, the attorney for the Schindlers, Terri Schiavo's parents, suggested that he wants more time for Terri Schiavo to be evaluated. He also requested that a -- some type of temporary intravenous tube be inserted in her this weekend, not necessarily a feeding tube, just an IV for fluids to keep her going while they work out all of these legal matters and hopefully have her reevaluated. The judge is expected to rule on that at any moment.

In the meantime, George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, called that suggestion -- called it an "outrageous motion," he said that it should be denied. He called it an "abuse of the legal system" and he said there is no indication of any intent that Terri Schiavo has changed her will to live.

That is in response to this attorney, Barbara Weller, who had spent some time with Terri Schiavo at her hospice room on March 18, and she had reached out to her and said this can all be over if you express to me that you want to live, if you tell me you want to live.

Apparently, according to Barbara Weller, and also Terri Schiavo's sister, who was present in the room at the time that Terri said "ahhh waaa," which would have been, they -- that was taken as the beginning of trying to say "I want to live," but according to George Felos, that's in the eye of the beholder and he says there is no intent and certainly no evidence that she's changed her mind on her will to live.

So, the question now really is now, as we await this ruling on the emergency hearing and the motion filed, is it even too late for Terri Schiavo, now entering her ninth day here without the feeding tube. What kind of damage, even more damage may have already been done to her brain, to her kidneys? How much has her body slowed down? So, we also are hearing today that the parents have decided that there will not be another appeal. They have lost their appeals consecutively. They have yet to make any headway with the courts, and today they are waiting to hear, of course, what this judge says. So, back to you for that now.

WILLIS: Randi Kaye, thank you for that.

HARRIS: And once again, we're waiting for statements from Bob Schindler, in just a few minutes, from Pinellas Park, Florida, of course, when he steps to the microphone, so, we'll take you there live.

A North Carolina man is behind bars charged with offering allegedly offering a quarter of a million dollars for the murder of Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. Police say Richard Meywes offered the money over the internet. Authorities say he offered another $50,000 for the killing of the Florida circuit court judge who ordered the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

WILLIS: We want to introduce you to someone you may not have met, a young woman, full of life. We want you to meet Terri Schiavo, the woman, not the controversy. Here is CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you talk to anyone in Terri Schiavo's life, regardless of where they stand on her fate, it won't be long before the conversation turns to her smile, as prominent in everyday moments as it was on her wedding day.

MICHAEL SCHIAVO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S HUSBAND: She was gorgeous. And alls (SIC) I saw was her big smile. Just laughing at everybody and, you know, with that shy little laugh and -- but, just outgoing.

MATTINGLY: Raised outside Philadelphia, the oldest of three children, relatives recall Terri growing up in Catholic school, a shy girl, who in her teen years began coming out of her shell. She emerged, apparently, with an urge to care for every lost little animal that crossed her path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And let's take you back, now, to Pinellas Park, Florida, just outside of Terri Schiavo's hospice, there. And we understand that Bob Schindler, Terri's father, is making his way to the microphone. The man that just stepped out of the picture is Brother Paul O'Donnell, of a Franciscan order out St. Paul, Minnesota, that has been serving as a spiritual advisor to the Schindler family. There he is again. And there is Bob Schindler. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BOB SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S FATHER: Once again, I want to thank you, the media, for, you know, being here. I know it's pretty tough on you guys and for being so patient with us. We were just in to see Terri and she's doing remarkably well under the circumstances. Matter of fact, I was surprised. So, she's putting up a tremendous battle to live. And it's quite obvious she's not throwing the towel in. She doesn't want to die. And she is starting -- she's showing signs of, over a week now of starvation and lack of hydration. But I can tell you and assure you, she is fighting like hell to stay alive. And I want the powers that be to know that. It's not too late to save her. So, anyone that has the authority to come in and to save Terri, they can do it. It's not too late. So, she's fighting. We're asking you to fight with her and help her. And I thank you very much.

HARRIS: There, you have brief comments from Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, saying she is doing remarkably well, putting up a tremendous battle to live. He is just out from visiting with his daughter, says she is "fighting like hell," his words. "Fighting like hell" and that it's not too late for someone to do something to save her. Once again, let's go back to Bob Franken, on the ground there, at Pinellas Park -- Bob.

FRANKEN: And Tony, as he was talking, the moment he was talking, the judge, Judge Greer came out with his ruling. He has ruled no. He has denied the case. There will not be any order from him to reconnect the tube or even to reconnect the hydration. He was considering testimony from people that -- reconsidering that he was -- people would be reconnecting the tube because of testimony that she had expressed some verbal reaction to the question, did she want to live.

The attorneys for the Schindler family say they are going to appeal this. This is a matter that would be going through the state court system. At the moment, they've exhausted all federal appeals, but the attorneys are saying they're not ready to give up, and as you just heard a moment ago, Tony, the family members, being represented by Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, say they are not going to give up and they say she is not giving up.

HARRIS: OK, Bob, another denial of that emergency appeal for that temporary restraing order that would restore the feeding tube. All right. Bob Franken in Pinellas Park.

Bob, as always, thank you.

It has been nine days since Terri Schiavo's feeding tube has been removed and the legal options appears to be all but exhausted. Legal expert Avery Friedman joins us next to talk about what's left.

Also ahead, a Florida community gathers today to remember the life of an 8-year-old girl. We'll take you there live.

Then later, they were America's secret weapons at the battle of Iwo Jima. We'll meet Navajo code talkers and hear about the crucial role they played.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And just moments ago, another denial by Judge George Greer to another appeal by the Schindler family to have the feeding tube, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reconnected. Let's get the latest on the decision. Randi Kaye is standing by with more -- Randi.

KAYE: As you mentioned, Tony, this is not good news for the Schindler family, the parents of Terri Schiavo. This was their last effort, they say, to try to have that feeding tube reinsert for their daughter. Yesterday, the scene at the 6th Judicial District Court was very interesting one. There was about 30 members of the media gathered around a speakerphone for this teleconference, an emergency hearing called by Judge George Greer on that motion by the parents. And as you just mentioned, that was denied. But, there was quite a bit of passion and frustration voiced at that hearing on both sides, even on speakerphone. The Schindler's attorney saying that he is pleading with the judge with every fiber he has. So, unfortunately for that family today, their call has been denied.

Do want to mention George Felos, that's the office we're at right now, that's the attorney for Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. He has just left the office. We were here with him earlier and we were able to confirm with him he does plan a 3:00 press conference, here at his office. No indication what he will be announcing there. But, we will, of course, bring that to you on CNN.

That's the very latest from here -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Randi, just a quick question. Remind everyone at what Judge Greer was being asked to respond to, the new claim that there was a suggestion that Terri Schiavo was actually trying to speak. Is that correct?

KAYE: That is correct. That suggestion came, actually, from attorney Barbara Weller. Who had visited -- she represents the family, as well. She had visited with Terri Schiavo in her hospice room on March 18 along with Terri's sister, also present in that room. And she had asked Terri, she said to her -- apparently, this is according to Barbara Weller herself, that she had asked her if -- we can end this all now if you tell me you want to live. They're trying to show an indication that Terri Schiavo does, indeed, want to live and does not want to die. And apparently she, according to Barbara Weller, said "ahhh" and "waaa," which she took as an indication that she was, indeed, trying to say "I want to live," but George Felos, the attorney for Terri's husband, has said that -- that's whatever you heard or saw is in the eye of the beholder and he said it was a simple reaction of Terri being -- in response to Barbara Weller touching her. So, that is what he was being asked to rule on, and an IV tube, which he did deny, as well.

HARRIS: Randi Kaye in Dunedin, Florida for us.

Randi, thank you.

WILLIS: The court rulings in the Terri Schiavo case have come fast and furious, and it can be a bit hard to follow. Here to give us some legal insight is Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor. He's joining us from Cleveland, Ohio.

Welcome.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hiya, Gerri. Nice to see you.

WILLIS: Well first off, I have to get your reaction to this decision by Judge Greer. What do you think? Are you surprised? Is this what you expected to happen?

FRIEDMAN: Well, a lot of legalese let me break it down in short sleeve English. The judge had to consider this new evidence by a paid lawyer of the Schindlers, Miss Weller. The burden of proof, placed on Schindlers, was something called "clear and convincing evidence." And what that means, Gerri, is that the judge had to be certain that what Miss Weller was saying -- that is, that Terri Schiavo in some fashion, by clear and convincing evidence, expressed the feeling "I want to live." If that burden was met, then the Schindlers would have won. But the truth was that other than those two syllables, that's all the Schindlers could present and therefore, Sheri (SIC), it would be impossible for them to meet the burden of clear and convincing evidence.

WILLIS: Is that, in your view, though, Avery, a high hurdle? Is that a difficult hurdle to meet?

FRIEDMAN: It's a very high hurdle, Gerri. The heightened standard of evidence exists because when a judge rules, one way or the other, that evidence is much higher than a normal civil proceeding. A normal civil proceeding is like preponderance of the evidence, in other words, 51 percent believable, but clear and convincing evidence is the much higher standard and it's a standard that the Schindlers couldn't meet.

WILLIS: Now of course, the family's saying that they are abandoning federal options at this point. That they might go back to the state courts. What's your observation, here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I think that, honestly, Gerri, is the only alternative, because one of the things that we learned yesterday, from the second highest court in America, the U.S. Court of appeals for the 11th Circuit, which sits in Atlanta, is that the court considered all the Schindlers' arguments, the constitutional arguments, whether or not they could show they're entitled to this emergency relief and for the last time, at least at the federal level, the court said no. So, the only hope that the Schindlers have left is in a state courts, the Florida courts, and frankly, I think it's very, very unlikely.

WILLIS: Avery Friedman, thank you for that. HARRIS: I just want to make you aware of this, at 3:00 hour this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from George Felos, he is the attorney for Michael Schiavo. And at that time, we're expecting to hear George Felos give us an update on Terri Schiavo's condition.

Once again, at 3:00 this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos. Much more on the Terri Schiavo case just ahead, including a look back at a 1970's case that also captured the country's attention.

And the memorial service for Jessica Lunsford starts in less than an hour. There is a live picture. And we will take you there next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Seems most of the news is coming out of Florida these days. Live pictures now at a public memorial service for Jessica Lunsford which gets under way at the top of the hour. The third grader was kidnapped and killed last month and a convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey is charged with his death. Ferdinand Zogbaum with our affiliate, Bay News Nine is with us now from Lecanto, Florida, where the memorial service is being held -- Ferdinand.

FERDINAND ZOGBAUM, BAY NEWS NINE: Hey yeah, that's exactly right. I'm actually inside of the lobby of the Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church, here in Lacando -- Lacanto, excuse me, in Citrus County where Jessica Lunsford lived.

Now, Jessica was discovered missing about a month ago, se was taken right out of her bed, in her home. And about a week ago, a week ago Saturday, around 4:00 a.m., they did discover her body behind a trailer where John Couey was living. Now, authorities here in Citrus County did track down Couey in Atlanta where he pretty much confessed to kidnapping Jessica and eventually killing her.

Now, a lot of things are on the docket today for this memorial, but they do want everyone to know that this is a time for celebration. They're going to try to make it somewhat upbeat, they don't want it to be too somber. There's going to be, actually, a video of Jessica that's going to be shown, of her, when she was a kid, with her father and here mother, things like that. There's also going to be a number of her favorite songs that are going to be played during the memorial ceremony, and there's going to be words from Pastor LaVyrle Coates (PH), who is the pastor at her church, near her home in Homosassa. And as well, Ruth Lunsford, her grandmother, is actually going to read a poem. And, of course, the ceremony is going to start here around 1:00. Back to you.

HARRIS: All right. Ferdinand, another difficult day for the Lunsford family, that's for sure. Thank you.

WILLIS: Let's change gears a little here, and talk to Rob Marciano about the weather.

Rob, what's going on? I'm liking this Atlanta weather. I may stay.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah well, we'd be happy to have you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WILLIS: Rob, thank you for that.

MARCIANO: All right.

Ahead in the next half hour of CNN LIVE SATURDAY: Doctors are expected to keep people alive, but sometimes families and the law intervene. We'll talk about cases like Terri Schiavo's and the dilemmas they pose for physicians.

And later, a Navajo code talker remembers the battle of Iwo Jima.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG DETRINCO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF SKI MAGAZINE: You don't have to ski to visit a ski resort. More and more people are traveling to winter resorts these days and never hitting the slopes. There are a lot of activities now available at ski resorts. There's ice skating, sleigh rides, and snowshoe hikes. There's wildlife tours, hot balloon tours, wine tastings, spa treatments, or we can just grab a book and sit by a roaring fire.

Most major ski resorts also have discovered the arts. There are theaters, comedy clubs, and concert halls available in the mountains these days. But, one problem with the growth of non-skiing activities at winter resorts these days is that you can get back from a winter vacation and forget to unpack your skies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Stories in the news now. Iraq's defense minister says 130 suspected insurgents have been arrested in a series of raids they've rounded up in Karbula, south of Baghdad. A spokesman says a variety of weapons and tons of explosives were also confiscated.

Pope John Paul is expected to speak publicly tomorrow for the first time in weeks. He is expected to deliver his annual Easter blessing from his window, but not celebrate in a public mass. Today is a relatively quiet day for the church and the pope is reportedly resting.

President Bush is commenting for the first time on this week's shooting at a Minnesota school and praising a security guard who confronted the teenage gunman. The unarmed guard was shot and killed, but his action allowed a group of students to get away safely. Mr. Bush made the comments in his Saturday radio address.

WILLIS: Now an update in the life and death battle over Terri Schiavo. The legal options are running out. A Florida circuit court judge has again rejected an emergency appeal by Terri Schiavo's parents to reinsert her feeding tube. Their lawyer says there will be no more Federal appeals in the case, this after the 11th U.S. circuit court of appeals in Atlanta rejected their appeal last night to intervene.

And Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who has politically fought to save Schiavo's life, now says he has done everything he can without violating the state's constitution.

Coming up at 3:00 Eastern, we're expecting a news conference from Michael Schiavo's attorney. He is expected to talk about the current condition of Terri Schiavo. We will bring it to you live when it happens.

Doctors are expected to heal people or at the very least do no harm. That's what makes the Terri Schiavo case and countless others painfully difficult. When does a doctor know the best thing for a patient is to let them die? For some answers to this dilemma, here is senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stopping life sustaining treatment, a grim prognosis an almost impossible chance at recovery. Every day, doctors take on these issues. They have heart breaking conversations with families who have taken on the life and death decisions of their loved ones.

DR. R. SEAN MORRISON, MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: There are some times when families turn to me and say well if this was your mother, what would you do? And I answer them honestly. I have absolutely no idea.

DR. TAMMY QUEST, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: I think this is the hardest part of the discussion because it's a very delicate dance and that there's no one style. Every family is different. Every patient scenario is different.

GUPTA: Many doctors try to push aside their own personal beliefs on what's right and wrong in order to focus on what's best for the patient. At a time when a family can be in an immeasurable haze of confusion and emotion, patients and families rely on the physician to guide them through.

MORRISON: It is a powerful thing. It's both the privilege of being a physician and, in many respects, the hardest part of being a physician. There are, at times and in everybody's life, a point where all the medical interventions in the world are not going to prolong life.

QUEST: I think people want 100 percent and we will never be able to have 100 percent. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. But I have to give a recommendation based on what I know and the most probable thing to happen.

GUPTA: In these rooms, doctors face anger, frustration, hurt and in some cases, a lasting hope for a miracle. QUEST: If a miracle is going to happen and this person is going to eat or breathe on their own or do whatever it is that would be necessary to maintain them, then I fully support that. And I tell them that, you know, a miracle doesn't need me to make it happen.

MORRISON: I never use the phrase there is no hope. I never use the phrase there is nothing more we can do. I never use the phrase there is nothing more to be done. And the reason for that is there is always hope.

GUPTA: Terri Schiavo's story suddenly forced many of us to confront the issues of living wills, hopes of recovering and beating the odds. But for doctors, the tough issues are part of daily life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The Schiavo case, no doubt, raises many related questions of medical ethics and moral dilemmas. That's where we bring in our ethics expert, Bruce Weinstein, with a look at your e-mails. He's also the author of the forthcoming book "Life Principles, Feeling Good by Doing Good." He joins us now from New York. Bruce, good to see you.

BRUCE WEINSTEIN, THE ETHICS GUY: You too Tony.

HARRIS: Are you ready to work through a couple of e-mails from our viewers.

WEINSTEIN: Let's do it.

HARRIS: OK. Let's start with this one. Given the media attention surrounding Terri Schiavo, I have decided to complete a medical power of attorney and appoint my sister as my health care proxy, but she tells me it would be very difficult for her to follow my wishes of having life sustaining treatment withdrawn if there is no reasonable hope for my recovery should I ever become incapacitated. What, oh, what, should I do? Bruce?

WEINSTEIN: The writer should get a new proxy decision maker. Now it's understandable that the writer's sister would have a hard time letting the sister go if that's the writer's wish, but the whole point of getting a health care proxy, Tony, is to have someone make the decisions for us when we're no longer able to do so, the decisions that we would have wanted to make, not that someone else would want for us. That's really at the heart of the Schiavo case. The question, what would Terri have wanted? And so here, if the sister is unable to execute the writer's wish, the writer might want to go outside of her family and get someone perhaps less close to her so that the emotional issues aren't quite so difficult to take on.

HARRIS: That makes sense. OK, another question for you. One of my friends has polycystic kidney disease and will need a kidney transplant soon. Do I have an ethical obligation to volunteer to give him one of my kidneys? What do you think, Bruce?

WEINSTEIN: There's no ethical obligation to take on such a great burden. But doing so would be above and beyond the call of duty. It would be noble. It would be praise worthy. We would want to take our hat off to such a person who went the extra mile, so to speak, but there's no ethical obligation to under go major surgery and to take on the risks that major surgery entails. So, in other words, it would not be ethically wrong, it would not be unethical for the writer to say, I'm sorry, I'm just not able to do it. But if he or she decided to do it, then we would want to say, well, you've done a very good thing by giving the gift of life to your friend and hats off to you for doing so.

HARRIS: Sounds good. OK, Bruce. Good talking to you.

WEINSTEIN: You too.

HARRIS: And we invite you to send your ethical questions to Bruce Weinstein. The e-mail address is ethics@cnn.com.

WILLIS: Terri Schiavo's case isn't the first of its kind. Ahead, we'll look back at the life and the death of Karen Ann Quinlan and hear what her mother thinks about the events of this week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And just another reminder that at 3:00 this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from George Felos. He is the attorney for Michael Schiavo, who will no doubt react to the latest ruling from George Greer of the circuit court in Florida, denying the Schindler's request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and we're also expecting at that time that George Felos will give us an update on Terri Schiavo's condition.

A generation before lawyers argued over Terri Schiavo's fate, the nation was focused on another woman kept alive by artificial means. Karen Ann Quinlan's respirator was ultimately removed after a court ruling, but her story did not end there. CNN's Beth Nissen spoke recently with Quinlan's mother who had advise for the Schiavo family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's unclear exactly what happened to 21-year-old Karen Quinlan on that April night in 1975. She put herself on a strict diet to fit into a new bathing suit, hadn't eaten all day, had a few drinks at a friend's party, felt woozy and went to lie down.

JULIA QUINLAN, MOTHER: They can assume that perhaps she may have choked on her vomit and then when someone went up to check her, she wasn't breathing.

NISSEN: At first, Karen's family held out hope that she would recover.

QUINLAN: We weren't really ever told that it was hopeless. The doctors just kept saying that the prognosis is not good.

NISSEN: Seeing pictures of Terri Schiavo now reminds Julia Quinlan of her daughter then. Although Karen, unlike Terri, was on a respirator that breathed for her and Karen had a nasal feeding line, not a feeding tube in her stomach. But both women had profound brain damage, both, doctors said were in a persistent vegetative state.

QUINLAN: Karen's hands were bent like that, but also her knees and her legs. Her knees were drawn up practically to her chest.

NISSEN: And like Terri Schiavo, Karen Quinlan looked awake.

QUINLAN: Her eyes were open all the time. There were times in the beginning when I felt that Karen recognized me, that I felt she looked at me. And it's all part of hope. You know, part of your love for your daughter. You don't want to let go. You just can't let go.

NISSEN: But the Quinlans finally decided they had to let go.

QUINLAN: Every time the respirator would breathe for her, you could see that she was in agony and finally realized that this is not the way that Karen would ever want to live. She had made the remark, not only to me, but to her sister, Mary Ellen, and also to other friends that she would never want to live that way.

NISSEN: Karen's doctors agreed to remove her from the respirator, but the hospital refused. Julia and her late husband, Joe Quinlan went to court and started the first fierce national debate about the right to die.

QUINLAN: Suddenly, Karen's picture was on the front page of every newspaper. We had reporters in our home, sitting on the lawn, hiding in bushes to snap pictures of us as we would leave the house, parked outside of the nursing home or the hospital. It was a terrible invasion of our privacy and it was a very difficult time for us.

NISSEN: In 1976, the New Jersey supreme court, in the matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, issued the first landmark ruling affirming a person's right to die.

QUINLAN: We do have the right to refuse treatment. We have the right to say that we no longer want our life extended with that treatment. We did not ask for death. Death may have been expected, but we never asked for death. My husband put it beautifully. He only wanted what we considered extraordinary means removed and she would be placed back in her natural state and she would die in God's time.

NISSEN: With her father appointed her legal guardian to make decisions for her, Karen was taken off the respirator.

QUINLAN: Once she was removed from the respirator, you could see the change in her. She was far more relaxed and the nasal feeding tube never seemed to make her uncomfortable. So, there was no reason for us to ask for the removal of it.

NISSEN: Karen was moved to a nursing home, where she remained in a vegetative state for nine more years before she finally died in 1985 of pneumonia.

QUINLAN: It's heart breaking to watch your daughter die and I watched my daughter die for 10 years, just a slow death for 10 years.

NISSEN: Watching another family go through the slow death of a loved one in the glare and shout of the media, the courts, the Congress has been hard for Julia Quinlan.

QUINLAN: I can empathize with the parents, but I can also empathize with the husband and I really, really pray and wish that they could meet and have an agreement between the family. The decision must be theirs. I do pray that whatever is best for Terri will be done.

NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, Newton (ph), New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: When CNN LIVE SATURDAY continues, we'll return to the island of Iwo Jima with some of the veterans who put their lives on the line there 60 years ago.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN weather center. Time for the cold and flu report. Out of the CDC, less red on the map, nine states in total reporting widespread activity. That's the red. And darker blue, regional activity in the east, colors becoming a little bit more -- well, mundane, as we go through time. Getting closer now to summer. Hope you're feeling well today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Our check of some other stories making headlines around the world begins in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Tensions are still high there two days after protesters and opposition forces ousted the country's president. Opposition leaders are now trying to form an interim government and they're planning to hold a presidential election in late June. Kyrgyzstan's recent parliamentary elections triggered the unrest. Opposition forces claim those elections were rigged.

In the streets of Taiwan's capital, tens of thousands of people are on the march. They're protesting China's new anti-succession law. That measure, approved by China's parliament, sanctions the use of force against Taiwan if it moves toward formal independence. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and across southeast Asia, tsunami victims are still picking up the shattered pieces of their lives three months now after the disaster struck. In addition to tens of thousands of deaths, the giant waves left more than 1.5 million people homeless.

WILLIS: Sixty years ago, a critical battle of World War II ended at Iwo Jima. Recently, some military heroes gathered for an emotional remembrance. CNN's Mike Chinoy was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the beaches of Iwo Jima, Teddy Draper sings the Navajo war song he composed 60 years ago when he was part of a moment captured in a single frame on Mount Sirabachi (ph).

TEDDY DRAPER, CODE TALKER: We came here from there and we come this way.

CHINOY: Now, for the first time, Teddy Draper is back on Iwo Jima, back at the summit he climbed in 1945 with the men who raised the flag. Draper was a code talker, a native American whose Navajo language was used by the U.S. military as a top secret code that the Japanese were unable to break. So valuable were the code talkers, they had orders to avoid capture at all costs.

DRAPER: If you had been captured, you had to do something. You have suicide, kill yourself is what they told us.

CHINOY: And when those Marines secured Sirabachi, it was Teddy Draper who sent out the coded message of success.

DRAPER: (speaking Navajo) That means that the flag is raised.

CHINOY: Few of those that were there will ever forget the moment.

MARVIN PERRET, IWO JIMA VETERAN: Tears rolled down the cheeks of every one of us and it was a moment of triumph.

DANNY THOMAS, IWO JIMA VETERAN: There's a radio man standing on the edge of this crater, had his helmet off. He was waving it in the air, just dancing the jig, saying, look on the mountain. Look. Look on the mountain. The flag is up. Look on the mountain. There the flag is -- about the time he said is, he got shot through the head.

CHINOY: When the flag went up here, a lot of the American soldiers down on the beaches thought the battle would soon be over. They were wrong. The struggle for Iwo Jima began with an amphibious assault, thousands of Marines storming the beach to secure an island just 600 miles from Tokyo. The 22,000 Japanese troops were waiting for them. Marvin Perret was at the helm of a Higgins boat, transporting Marines to shore.

PERRET: They were grim faced. They weren't speaking to each other. They weren't speaking to me. How in the hell did we get up this sand the first time?

CHINOY: On the thick volcanic sand where he landed, sand made even the simplest movement an ordeal, Danny Thomas confronts his demons. Danny was a medic. As he hit the beach, he saw his best friend Chick, apparently buried waist deep in the sand.

PERRET: So I ran on past and I looked back and that's when I saw the rest of Chick, a couple of legs and it looked like yards and yards of intestines. The body part were scattered out over the sand. I felt to my knees and vomited, God, I don't know how long.

CHINOY: For more than 50 years, Danny suffered from nightmares every day.

THOMAS: I would stay awake sometimes two or three days at a time to keep from going to sleep to keep from dreaming. It's not an easy to thing to say I was thinking about suicide, but I was.

CHINOY: For the U.S., it was the single bloodiest battle in the history of the Marine Corps. There were 25,000 American casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead. Among those killed, three of these Marines who raised the flag. Teddy Draper was pushing north from Mount Siribachi when he was hit. Where did you get wounded?

DRAPER: Where that road is. Where that road is, on this side. That's where I was wounded.

CHINOY: The fighting was so savage, because the 22,000 Japanese were dug into a huge network of under ground caves. Their orders, fight to the death and most all of them did. The caves are still around and every so often, remains of Japanese soldiers are found in them.

Once a year, survivors from both sides, their family, friends, visit Iwo Jima, offering prayers and pledges of reconciliation. But with the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer veterans from both sides. Eighty-two year old Kaushi Endo (ph) was a lieutenant in the imperial navy. This year, he was the only Japanese survivor to return.

I'm so pleased we're together like this, he says. We fought 60 years ago. We hated each other. Now, all our hatred is gone. When the flag raisers posed for this photo, they asked Teddy Draper to join them, but as a code talker, he had to keep his identity secret. He was lying on the ground just out of frame here. For nearly a quarter century after the war, the Navajo code was kept classified and the code talkers remained anonymous. During that time, Teddy Draper struggled with nightmares and financial troubles. When the patriotism of the code talkers finally became public, the Pentagon had lost Teddy's records. It wasn't until last year that he received veteran's benefits and a purple heart.

This is Danny Thomas' third visit to Iwo Jima. The visits have helped put his nightmares to rest. Are you all right? Are you at peace?

THOMAS: Yeah, I'm doing fine. I'm at peace, I think, right now. I think all my dragons have been buried. I hope, because I sure as hell don't want to meet any more of them.

CHINOY: Teddy Draper brought his own flag this time. And on Mount Siribachi, he raised it, an old soldier paying a final tribute to the heroes of Iwo Jima. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Iwo Jima.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Some real American heroes there. Great story for Mike Chinoy.

There's more ahead on CNN Saturday. In a few moments, IN THE MONEY looks at the new form of alternative to energy that's attracting some big bucks. At 2:00 Eastern, CNN LIVE SATURDAY has a preview and a history of Washington's cherry blossom festival. That's featured in the Novak zone (ph). And at 3:00, it's NEXT@CNN with a look at the new Sony Playstation portable. I know you want to hear about that. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired March 26, 2005 - 12:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: It is Noon in the East and 9:00 on the West coast. Hello, everyone. I'm Tony Harris.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CO-ANCHOR: I'm Gerri Willis. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY. All eyes are on a Florida judge in the Terri Schiavo case. Any moment now, we are expecting his ruling on the latest legal motion to try to get her feeding tube reinserted. We'll have a live report.

HARRIS: Terri's parents say they have given up to returning to federal court. So, are there any more legal options left?

WILLIS: Plus the woman in the middle of the controversy. We'll show you the Terri Schiavo most people don't know, but first a look at what's happening now in the news.

HARRIS: We're going to take you now to Pinellas Park, Florida, where we're expecting, in just a couple of moments, to hear from Terri Schiavo's dad, Bob Schindler. As you know, these are the final moments before we get a decision from the circuit court judge, there in Florida, George Greer.

You see Father O'Donnell there, one of the friars that's serving as the advisor to the Schindler family. These, as we mentioned, are the final moments before we're expecting a decision from Judge Greer of the circuit court and Judge Greer, as you know, is the presiding judge in this case. He has been working on this case since 1998. Let's take you now to Bob Franken, who is standing by in Pinellas Park -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And what we're waiting for is the latest from Bob Schindler. Bob Schindler is, of course, the father of Terri Schiavo and he has been on this vigil the whole time we have been here. He just went into the hospice to visit with his daughter and is going to be holding a news conference before long. There is a view now from the family that somebody has to do something, they're not quite sure what.

We're awaiting the latest decision on the latest court effort in the courtroom of a judge who originally ordered the feeding tube disconnected. That is due about this time. Judge George Greer was asked to consider testimony that a couple of people heard Terri Schiavo give a verbally limited response when she was asked if she wanted to live. That would be evidence, they claim, that her state of brain deterioration is not as serious as the court has ruled, leading to his decision to terminate the life of Terri Schiavo. Of course, we're getting to a point where all the court actions, if they're not successful, are going to be futile, because most medical experts believe that Terri Schiavo now, with the tube removed for over a week is in the very last, last stages of her life. We're waiting for a decision, as I said, from the judge and we're waiting for comments from Bob Schindler -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK, Bob Franken in Pinellas Park for us. And Bob, Thank you.

WILLIS: We now go to Randi Kaye, who has more -- Randi.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gerri, we are here at the offices, in Florida, here, for attorney George Felos, he's attorney of Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo. And just a moment ago, a couple of moments ago, he appeared here at his office, just about the Noon hour.

We have some video of him arriving here. Asked him if he had any news for us this morning or at this hour and he said he did not want to comment on that.

Asked him how Terri was doing. He did not want to comment on that either, but he did say, confirmed for us, here at CNN, that there will be a 3:00 press conference here at his office. He wouldn't give any details as to what may or may not be announced at that press conference. So, that's coming up today at 3:00. And we will, of course, bring that to you.

In the meantime, we are waiting, as you heard, Bob Franken, just talk about, there, the decision on the ruling from Judge George Greer in the 6th Judicial District Court, here in Clearwater, Florida. He held an emergency hearing yesterday because it was Good Friday, the courts were closed.

In that hearing, he was present there, so were the attorneys for both sides. And David Gibbs, the attorney for the Schindlers, Terri Schiavo's parents, suggested that he wants more time for Terri Schiavo to be evaluated. He also requested that a -- some type of temporary intravenous tube be inserted in her this weekend, not necessarily a feeding tube, just an IV for fluids to keep her going while they work out all of these legal matters and hopefully have her reevaluated. The judge is expected to rule on that at any moment.

In the meantime, George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, called that suggestion -- called it an "outrageous motion," he said that it should be denied. He called it an "abuse of the legal system" and he said there is no indication of any intent that Terri Schiavo has changed her will to live.

That is in response to this attorney, Barbara Weller, who had spent some time with Terri Schiavo at her hospice room on March 18, and she had reached out to her and said this can all be over if you express to me that you want to live, if you tell me you want to live.

Apparently, according to Barbara Weller, and also Terri Schiavo's sister, who was present in the room at the time that Terri said "ahhh waaa," which would have been, they -- that was taken as the beginning of trying to say "I want to live," but according to George Felos, that's in the eye of the beholder and he says there is no intent and certainly no evidence that she's changed her mind on her will to live.

So, the question now really is now, as we await this ruling on the emergency hearing and the motion filed, is it even too late for Terri Schiavo, now entering her ninth day here without the feeding tube. What kind of damage, even more damage may have already been done to her brain, to her kidneys? How much has her body slowed down? So, we also are hearing today that the parents have decided that there will not be another appeal. They have lost their appeals consecutively. They have yet to make any headway with the courts, and today they are waiting to hear, of course, what this judge says. So, back to you for that now.

WILLIS: Randi Kaye, thank you for that.

HARRIS: And once again, we're waiting for statements from Bob Schindler, in just a few minutes, from Pinellas Park, Florida, of course, when he steps to the microphone, so, we'll take you there live.

A North Carolina man is behind bars charged with offering allegedly offering a quarter of a million dollars for the murder of Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. Police say Richard Meywes offered the money over the internet. Authorities say he offered another $50,000 for the killing of the Florida circuit court judge who ordered the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.

WILLIS: We want to introduce you to someone you may not have met, a young woman, full of life. We want you to meet Terri Schiavo, the woman, not the controversy. Here is CNN's David Mattingly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When you talk to anyone in Terri Schiavo's life, regardless of where they stand on her fate, it won't be long before the conversation turns to her smile, as prominent in everyday moments as it was on her wedding day.

MICHAEL SCHIAVO, TERRI SCHIAVO'S HUSBAND: She was gorgeous. And alls (SIC) I saw was her big smile. Just laughing at everybody and, you know, with that shy little laugh and -- but, just outgoing.

MATTINGLY: Raised outside Philadelphia, the oldest of three children, relatives recall Terri growing up in Catholic school, a shy girl, who in her teen years began coming out of her shell. She emerged, apparently, with an urge to care for every lost little animal that crossed her path.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And let's take you back, now, to Pinellas Park, Florida, just outside of Terri Schiavo's hospice, there. And we understand that Bob Schindler, Terri's father, is making his way to the microphone. The man that just stepped out of the picture is Brother Paul O'Donnell, of a Franciscan order out St. Paul, Minnesota, that has been serving as a spiritual advisor to the Schindler family. There he is again. And there is Bob Schindler. Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BOB SCHINDLER, TERRI SCHIAVO'S FATHER: Once again, I want to thank you, the media, for, you know, being here. I know it's pretty tough on you guys and for being so patient with us. We were just in to see Terri and she's doing remarkably well under the circumstances. Matter of fact, I was surprised. So, she's putting up a tremendous battle to live. And it's quite obvious she's not throwing the towel in. She doesn't want to die. And she is starting -- she's showing signs of, over a week now of starvation and lack of hydration. But I can tell you and assure you, she is fighting like hell to stay alive. And I want the powers that be to know that. It's not too late to save her. So, anyone that has the authority to come in and to save Terri, they can do it. It's not too late. So, she's fighting. We're asking you to fight with her and help her. And I thank you very much.

HARRIS: There, you have brief comments from Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, saying she is doing remarkably well, putting up a tremendous battle to live. He is just out from visiting with his daughter, says she is "fighting like hell," his words. "Fighting like hell" and that it's not too late for someone to do something to save her. Once again, let's go back to Bob Franken, on the ground there, at Pinellas Park -- Bob.

FRANKEN: And Tony, as he was talking, the moment he was talking, the judge, Judge Greer came out with his ruling. He has ruled no. He has denied the case. There will not be any order from him to reconnect the tube or even to reconnect the hydration. He was considering testimony from people that -- reconsidering that he was -- people would be reconnecting the tube because of testimony that she had expressed some verbal reaction to the question, did she want to live.

The attorneys for the Schindler family say they are going to appeal this. This is a matter that would be going through the state court system. At the moment, they've exhausted all federal appeals, but the attorneys are saying they're not ready to give up, and as you just heard a moment ago, Tony, the family members, being represented by Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, say they are not going to give up and they say she is not giving up.

HARRIS: OK, Bob, another denial of that emergency appeal for that temporary restraing order that would restore the feeding tube. All right. Bob Franken in Pinellas Park.

Bob, as always, thank you.

It has been nine days since Terri Schiavo's feeding tube has been removed and the legal options appears to be all but exhausted. Legal expert Avery Friedman joins us next to talk about what's left.

Also ahead, a Florida community gathers today to remember the life of an 8-year-old girl. We'll take you there live.

Then later, they were America's secret weapons at the battle of Iwo Jima. We'll meet Navajo code talkers and hear about the crucial role they played.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And just moments ago, another denial by Judge George Greer to another appeal by the Schindler family to have the feeding tube, Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reconnected. Let's get the latest on the decision. Randi Kaye is standing by with more -- Randi.

KAYE: As you mentioned, Tony, this is not good news for the Schindler family, the parents of Terri Schiavo. This was their last effort, they say, to try to have that feeding tube reinsert for their daughter. Yesterday, the scene at the 6th Judicial District Court was very interesting one. There was about 30 members of the media gathered around a speakerphone for this teleconference, an emergency hearing called by Judge George Greer on that motion by the parents. And as you just mentioned, that was denied. But, there was quite a bit of passion and frustration voiced at that hearing on both sides, even on speakerphone. The Schindler's attorney saying that he is pleading with the judge with every fiber he has. So, unfortunately for that family today, their call has been denied.

Do want to mention George Felos, that's the office we're at right now, that's the attorney for Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband. He has just left the office. We were here with him earlier and we were able to confirm with him he does plan a 3:00 press conference, here at his office. No indication what he will be announcing there. But, we will, of course, bring that to you on CNN.

That's the very latest from here -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Randi, just a quick question. Remind everyone at what Judge Greer was being asked to respond to, the new claim that there was a suggestion that Terri Schiavo was actually trying to speak. Is that correct?

KAYE: That is correct. That suggestion came, actually, from attorney Barbara Weller. Who had visited -- she represents the family, as well. She had visited with Terri Schiavo in her hospice room on March 18 along with Terri's sister, also present in that room. And she had asked Terri, she said to her -- apparently, this is according to Barbara Weller herself, that she had asked her if -- we can end this all now if you tell me you want to live. They're trying to show an indication that Terri Schiavo does, indeed, want to live and does not want to die. And apparently she, according to Barbara Weller, said "ahhh" and "waaa," which she took as an indication that she was, indeed, trying to say "I want to live," but George Felos, the attorney for Terri's husband, has said that -- that's whatever you heard or saw is in the eye of the beholder and he said it was a simple reaction of Terri being -- in response to Barbara Weller touching her. So, that is what he was being asked to rule on, and an IV tube, which he did deny, as well.

HARRIS: Randi Kaye in Dunedin, Florida for us.

Randi, thank you.

WILLIS: The court rulings in the Terri Schiavo case have come fast and furious, and it can be a bit hard to follow. Here to give us some legal insight is Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor. He's joining us from Cleveland, Ohio.

Welcome.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hiya, Gerri. Nice to see you.

WILLIS: Well first off, I have to get your reaction to this decision by Judge Greer. What do you think? Are you surprised? Is this what you expected to happen?

FRIEDMAN: Well, a lot of legalese let me break it down in short sleeve English. The judge had to consider this new evidence by a paid lawyer of the Schindlers, Miss Weller. The burden of proof, placed on Schindlers, was something called "clear and convincing evidence." And what that means, Gerri, is that the judge had to be certain that what Miss Weller was saying -- that is, that Terri Schiavo in some fashion, by clear and convincing evidence, expressed the feeling "I want to live." If that burden was met, then the Schindlers would have won. But the truth was that other than those two syllables, that's all the Schindlers could present and therefore, Sheri (SIC), it would be impossible for them to meet the burden of clear and convincing evidence.

WILLIS: Is that, in your view, though, Avery, a high hurdle? Is that a difficult hurdle to meet?

FRIEDMAN: It's a very high hurdle, Gerri. The heightened standard of evidence exists because when a judge rules, one way or the other, that evidence is much higher than a normal civil proceeding. A normal civil proceeding is like preponderance of the evidence, in other words, 51 percent believable, but clear and convincing evidence is the much higher standard and it's a standard that the Schindlers couldn't meet.

WILLIS: Now of course, the family's saying that they are abandoning federal options at this point. That they might go back to the state courts. What's your observation, here?

FRIEDMAN: Well, I think that, honestly, Gerri, is the only alternative, because one of the things that we learned yesterday, from the second highest court in America, the U.S. Court of appeals for the 11th Circuit, which sits in Atlanta, is that the court considered all the Schindlers' arguments, the constitutional arguments, whether or not they could show they're entitled to this emergency relief and for the last time, at least at the federal level, the court said no. So, the only hope that the Schindlers have left is in a state courts, the Florida courts, and frankly, I think it's very, very unlikely.

WILLIS: Avery Friedman, thank you for that. HARRIS: I just want to make you aware of this, at 3:00 hour this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from George Felos, he is the attorney for Michael Schiavo. And at that time, we're expecting to hear George Felos give us an update on Terri Schiavo's condition.

Once again, at 3:00 this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos. Much more on the Terri Schiavo case just ahead, including a look back at a 1970's case that also captured the country's attention.

And the memorial service for Jessica Lunsford starts in less than an hour. There is a live picture. And we will take you there next on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Seems most of the news is coming out of Florida these days. Live pictures now at a public memorial service for Jessica Lunsford which gets under way at the top of the hour. The third grader was kidnapped and killed last month and a convicted sex offender, John Evander Couey is charged with his death. Ferdinand Zogbaum with our affiliate, Bay News Nine is with us now from Lecanto, Florida, where the memorial service is being held -- Ferdinand.

FERDINAND ZOGBAUM, BAY NEWS NINE: Hey yeah, that's exactly right. I'm actually inside of the lobby of the Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church, here in Lacando -- Lacanto, excuse me, in Citrus County where Jessica Lunsford lived.

Now, Jessica was discovered missing about a month ago, se was taken right out of her bed, in her home. And about a week ago, a week ago Saturday, around 4:00 a.m., they did discover her body behind a trailer where John Couey was living. Now, authorities here in Citrus County did track down Couey in Atlanta where he pretty much confessed to kidnapping Jessica and eventually killing her.

Now, a lot of things are on the docket today for this memorial, but they do want everyone to know that this is a time for celebration. They're going to try to make it somewhat upbeat, they don't want it to be too somber. There's going to be, actually, a video of Jessica that's going to be shown, of her, when she was a kid, with her father and here mother, things like that. There's also going to be a number of her favorite songs that are going to be played during the memorial ceremony, and there's going to be words from Pastor LaVyrle Coates (PH), who is the pastor at her church, near her home in Homosassa. And as well, Ruth Lunsford, her grandmother, is actually going to read a poem. And, of course, the ceremony is going to start here around 1:00. Back to you.

HARRIS: All right. Ferdinand, another difficult day for the Lunsford family, that's for sure. Thank you.

WILLIS: Let's change gears a little here, and talk to Rob Marciano about the weather.

Rob, what's going on? I'm liking this Atlanta weather. I may stay.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah well, we'd be happy to have you.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WILLIS: Rob, thank you for that.

MARCIANO: All right.

Ahead in the next half hour of CNN LIVE SATURDAY: Doctors are expected to keep people alive, but sometimes families and the law intervene. We'll talk about cases like Terri Schiavo's and the dilemmas they pose for physicians.

And later, a Navajo code talker remembers the battle of Iwo Jima.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG DETRINCO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF SKI MAGAZINE: You don't have to ski to visit a ski resort. More and more people are traveling to winter resorts these days and never hitting the slopes. There are a lot of activities now available at ski resorts. There's ice skating, sleigh rides, and snowshoe hikes. There's wildlife tours, hot balloon tours, wine tastings, spa treatments, or we can just grab a book and sit by a roaring fire.

Most major ski resorts also have discovered the arts. There are theaters, comedy clubs, and concert halls available in the mountains these days. But, one problem with the growth of non-skiing activities at winter resorts these days is that you can get back from a winter vacation and forget to unpack your skies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Stories in the news now. Iraq's defense minister says 130 suspected insurgents have been arrested in a series of raids they've rounded up in Karbula, south of Baghdad. A spokesman says a variety of weapons and tons of explosives were also confiscated.

Pope John Paul is expected to speak publicly tomorrow for the first time in weeks. He is expected to deliver his annual Easter blessing from his window, but not celebrate in a public mass. Today is a relatively quiet day for the church and the pope is reportedly resting.

President Bush is commenting for the first time on this week's shooting at a Minnesota school and praising a security guard who confronted the teenage gunman. The unarmed guard was shot and killed, but his action allowed a group of students to get away safely. Mr. Bush made the comments in his Saturday radio address.

WILLIS: Now an update in the life and death battle over Terri Schiavo. The legal options are running out. A Florida circuit court judge has again rejected an emergency appeal by Terri Schiavo's parents to reinsert her feeding tube. Their lawyer says there will be no more Federal appeals in the case, this after the 11th U.S. circuit court of appeals in Atlanta rejected their appeal last night to intervene.

And Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who has politically fought to save Schiavo's life, now says he has done everything he can without violating the state's constitution.

Coming up at 3:00 Eastern, we're expecting a news conference from Michael Schiavo's attorney. He is expected to talk about the current condition of Terri Schiavo. We will bring it to you live when it happens.

Doctors are expected to heal people or at the very least do no harm. That's what makes the Terri Schiavo case and countless others painfully difficult. When does a doctor know the best thing for a patient is to let them die? For some answers to this dilemma, here is senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Stopping life sustaining treatment, a grim prognosis an almost impossible chance at recovery. Every day, doctors take on these issues. They have heart breaking conversations with families who have taken on the life and death decisions of their loved ones.

DR. R. SEAN MORRISON, MOUNT SINAI SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: There are some times when families turn to me and say well if this was your mother, what would you do? And I answer them honestly. I have absolutely no idea.

DR. TAMMY QUEST, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: I think this is the hardest part of the discussion because it's a very delicate dance and that there's no one style. Every family is different. Every patient scenario is different.

GUPTA: Many doctors try to push aside their own personal beliefs on what's right and wrong in order to focus on what's best for the patient. At a time when a family can be in an immeasurable haze of confusion and emotion, patients and families rely on the physician to guide them through.

MORRISON: It is a powerful thing. It's both the privilege of being a physician and, in many respects, the hardest part of being a physician. There are, at times and in everybody's life, a point where all the medical interventions in the world are not going to prolong life.

QUEST: I think people want 100 percent and we will never be able to have 100 percent. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. But I have to give a recommendation based on what I know and the most probable thing to happen.

GUPTA: In these rooms, doctors face anger, frustration, hurt and in some cases, a lasting hope for a miracle. QUEST: If a miracle is going to happen and this person is going to eat or breathe on their own or do whatever it is that would be necessary to maintain them, then I fully support that. And I tell them that, you know, a miracle doesn't need me to make it happen.

MORRISON: I never use the phrase there is no hope. I never use the phrase there is nothing more we can do. I never use the phrase there is nothing more to be done. And the reason for that is there is always hope.

GUPTA: Terri Schiavo's story suddenly forced many of us to confront the issues of living wills, hopes of recovering and beating the odds. But for doctors, the tough issues are part of daily life. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: The Schiavo case, no doubt, raises many related questions of medical ethics and moral dilemmas. That's where we bring in our ethics expert, Bruce Weinstein, with a look at your e-mails. He's also the author of the forthcoming book "Life Principles, Feeling Good by Doing Good." He joins us now from New York. Bruce, good to see you.

BRUCE WEINSTEIN, THE ETHICS GUY: You too Tony.

HARRIS: Are you ready to work through a couple of e-mails from our viewers.

WEINSTEIN: Let's do it.

HARRIS: OK. Let's start with this one. Given the media attention surrounding Terri Schiavo, I have decided to complete a medical power of attorney and appoint my sister as my health care proxy, but she tells me it would be very difficult for her to follow my wishes of having life sustaining treatment withdrawn if there is no reasonable hope for my recovery should I ever become incapacitated. What, oh, what, should I do? Bruce?

WEINSTEIN: The writer should get a new proxy decision maker. Now it's understandable that the writer's sister would have a hard time letting the sister go if that's the writer's wish, but the whole point of getting a health care proxy, Tony, is to have someone make the decisions for us when we're no longer able to do so, the decisions that we would have wanted to make, not that someone else would want for us. That's really at the heart of the Schiavo case. The question, what would Terri have wanted? And so here, if the sister is unable to execute the writer's wish, the writer might want to go outside of her family and get someone perhaps less close to her so that the emotional issues aren't quite so difficult to take on.

HARRIS: That makes sense. OK, another question for you. One of my friends has polycystic kidney disease and will need a kidney transplant soon. Do I have an ethical obligation to volunteer to give him one of my kidneys? What do you think, Bruce?

WEINSTEIN: There's no ethical obligation to take on such a great burden. But doing so would be above and beyond the call of duty. It would be noble. It would be praise worthy. We would want to take our hat off to such a person who went the extra mile, so to speak, but there's no ethical obligation to under go major surgery and to take on the risks that major surgery entails. So, in other words, it would not be ethically wrong, it would not be unethical for the writer to say, I'm sorry, I'm just not able to do it. But if he or she decided to do it, then we would want to say, well, you've done a very good thing by giving the gift of life to your friend and hats off to you for doing so.

HARRIS: Sounds good. OK, Bruce. Good talking to you.

WEINSTEIN: You too.

HARRIS: And we invite you to send your ethical questions to Bruce Weinstein. The e-mail address is ethics@cnn.com.

WILLIS: Terri Schiavo's case isn't the first of its kind. Ahead, we'll look back at the life and the death of Karen Ann Quinlan and hear what her mother thinks about the events of this week.

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HARRIS: And just another reminder that at 3:00 this afternoon, we're expecting to hear from George Felos. He is the attorney for Michael Schiavo, who will no doubt react to the latest ruling from George Greer of the circuit court in Florida, denying the Schindler's request for a temporary restraining order that would have restored Terri Schiavo's feeding tube and we're also expecting at that time that George Felos will give us an update on Terri Schiavo's condition.

A generation before lawyers argued over Terri Schiavo's fate, the nation was focused on another woman kept alive by artificial means. Karen Ann Quinlan's respirator was ultimately removed after a court ruling, but her story did not end there. CNN's Beth Nissen spoke recently with Quinlan's mother who had advise for the Schiavo family.

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BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's unclear exactly what happened to 21-year-old Karen Quinlan on that April night in 1975. She put herself on a strict diet to fit into a new bathing suit, hadn't eaten all day, had a few drinks at a friend's party, felt woozy and went to lie down.

JULIA QUINLAN, MOTHER: They can assume that perhaps she may have choked on her vomit and then when someone went up to check her, she wasn't breathing.

NISSEN: At first, Karen's family held out hope that she would recover.

QUINLAN: We weren't really ever told that it was hopeless. The doctors just kept saying that the prognosis is not good.

NISSEN: Seeing pictures of Terri Schiavo now reminds Julia Quinlan of her daughter then. Although Karen, unlike Terri, was on a respirator that breathed for her and Karen had a nasal feeding line, not a feeding tube in her stomach. But both women had profound brain damage, both, doctors said were in a persistent vegetative state.

QUINLAN: Karen's hands were bent like that, but also her knees and her legs. Her knees were drawn up practically to her chest.

NISSEN: And like Terri Schiavo, Karen Quinlan looked awake.

QUINLAN: Her eyes were open all the time. There were times in the beginning when I felt that Karen recognized me, that I felt she looked at me. And it's all part of hope. You know, part of your love for your daughter. You don't want to let go. You just can't let go.

NISSEN: But the Quinlans finally decided they had to let go.

QUINLAN: Every time the respirator would breathe for her, you could see that she was in agony and finally realized that this is not the way that Karen would ever want to live. She had made the remark, not only to me, but to her sister, Mary Ellen, and also to other friends that she would never want to live that way.

NISSEN: Karen's doctors agreed to remove her from the respirator, but the hospital refused. Julia and her late husband, Joe Quinlan went to court and started the first fierce national debate about the right to die.

QUINLAN: Suddenly, Karen's picture was on the front page of every newspaper. We had reporters in our home, sitting on the lawn, hiding in bushes to snap pictures of us as we would leave the house, parked outside of the nursing home or the hospital. It was a terrible invasion of our privacy and it was a very difficult time for us.

NISSEN: In 1976, the New Jersey supreme court, in the matter of Karen Ann Quinlan, issued the first landmark ruling affirming a person's right to die.

QUINLAN: We do have the right to refuse treatment. We have the right to say that we no longer want our life extended with that treatment. We did not ask for death. Death may have been expected, but we never asked for death. My husband put it beautifully. He only wanted what we considered extraordinary means removed and she would be placed back in her natural state and she would die in God's time.

NISSEN: With her father appointed her legal guardian to make decisions for her, Karen was taken off the respirator.

QUINLAN: Once she was removed from the respirator, you could see the change in her. She was far more relaxed and the nasal feeding tube never seemed to make her uncomfortable. So, there was no reason for us to ask for the removal of it.

NISSEN: Karen was moved to a nursing home, where she remained in a vegetative state for nine more years before she finally died in 1985 of pneumonia.

QUINLAN: It's heart breaking to watch your daughter die and I watched my daughter die for 10 years, just a slow death for 10 years.

NISSEN: Watching another family go through the slow death of a loved one in the glare and shout of the media, the courts, the Congress has been hard for Julia Quinlan.

QUINLAN: I can empathize with the parents, but I can also empathize with the husband and I really, really pray and wish that they could meet and have an agreement between the family. The decision must be theirs. I do pray that whatever is best for Terri will be done.

NISSEN: Beth Nissen, CNN, Newton (ph), New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: When CNN LIVE SATURDAY continues, we'll return to the island of Iwo Jima with some of the veterans who put their lives on the line there 60 years ago.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm Rob Marciano in the CNN weather center. Time for the cold and flu report. Out of the CDC, less red on the map, nine states in total reporting widespread activity. That's the red. And darker blue, regional activity in the east, colors becoming a little bit more -- well, mundane, as we go through time. Getting closer now to summer. Hope you're feeling well today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

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HARRIS: Our check of some other stories making headlines around the world begins in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Tensions are still high there two days after protesters and opposition forces ousted the country's president. Opposition leaders are now trying to form an interim government and they're planning to hold a presidential election in late June. Kyrgyzstan's recent parliamentary elections triggered the unrest. Opposition forces claim those elections were rigged.

In the streets of Taiwan's capital, tens of thousands of people are on the march. They're protesting China's new anti-succession law. That measure, approved by China's parliament, sanctions the use of force against Taiwan if it moves toward formal independence. China considers Taiwan a renegade province and across southeast Asia, tsunami victims are still picking up the shattered pieces of their lives three months now after the disaster struck. In addition to tens of thousands of deaths, the giant waves left more than 1.5 million people homeless.

WILLIS: Sixty years ago, a critical battle of World War II ended at Iwo Jima. Recently, some military heroes gathered for an emotional remembrance. CNN's Mike Chinoy was there.

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MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On the beaches of Iwo Jima, Teddy Draper sings the Navajo war song he composed 60 years ago when he was part of a moment captured in a single frame on Mount Sirabachi (ph).

TEDDY DRAPER, CODE TALKER: We came here from there and we come this way.

CHINOY: Now, for the first time, Teddy Draper is back on Iwo Jima, back at the summit he climbed in 1945 with the men who raised the flag. Draper was a code talker, a native American whose Navajo language was used by the U.S. military as a top secret code that the Japanese were unable to break. So valuable were the code talkers, they had orders to avoid capture at all costs.

DRAPER: If you had been captured, you had to do something. You have suicide, kill yourself is what they told us.

CHINOY: And when those Marines secured Sirabachi, it was Teddy Draper who sent out the coded message of success.

DRAPER: (speaking Navajo) That means that the flag is raised.

CHINOY: Few of those that were there will ever forget the moment.

MARVIN PERRET, IWO JIMA VETERAN: Tears rolled down the cheeks of every one of us and it was a moment of triumph.

DANNY THOMAS, IWO JIMA VETERAN: There's a radio man standing on the edge of this crater, had his helmet off. He was waving it in the air, just dancing the jig, saying, look on the mountain. Look. Look on the mountain. The flag is up. Look on the mountain. There the flag is -- about the time he said is, he got shot through the head.

CHINOY: When the flag went up here, a lot of the American soldiers down on the beaches thought the battle would soon be over. They were wrong. The struggle for Iwo Jima began with an amphibious assault, thousands of Marines storming the beach to secure an island just 600 miles from Tokyo. The 22,000 Japanese troops were waiting for them. Marvin Perret was at the helm of a Higgins boat, transporting Marines to shore.

PERRET: They were grim faced. They weren't speaking to each other. They weren't speaking to me. How in the hell did we get up this sand the first time?

CHINOY: On the thick volcanic sand where he landed, sand made even the simplest movement an ordeal, Danny Thomas confronts his demons. Danny was a medic. As he hit the beach, he saw his best friend Chick, apparently buried waist deep in the sand.

PERRET: So I ran on past and I looked back and that's when I saw the rest of Chick, a couple of legs and it looked like yards and yards of intestines. The body part were scattered out over the sand. I felt to my knees and vomited, God, I don't know how long.

CHINOY: For more than 50 years, Danny suffered from nightmares every day.

THOMAS: I would stay awake sometimes two or three days at a time to keep from going to sleep to keep from dreaming. It's not an easy to thing to say I was thinking about suicide, but I was.

CHINOY: For the U.S., it was the single bloodiest battle in the history of the Marine Corps. There were 25,000 American casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead. Among those killed, three of these Marines who raised the flag. Teddy Draper was pushing north from Mount Siribachi when he was hit. Where did you get wounded?

DRAPER: Where that road is. Where that road is, on this side. That's where I was wounded.

CHINOY: The fighting was so savage, because the 22,000 Japanese were dug into a huge network of under ground caves. Their orders, fight to the death and most all of them did. The caves are still around and every so often, remains of Japanese soldiers are found in them.

Once a year, survivors from both sides, their family, friends, visit Iwo Jima, offering prayers and pledges of reconciliation. But with the passage of time, there are fewer and fewer veterans from both sides. Eighty-two year old Kaushi Endo (ph) was a lieutenant in the imperial navy. This year, he was the only Japanese survivor to return.

I'm so pleased we're together like this, he says. We fought 60 years ago. We hated each other. Now, all our hatred is gone. When the flag raisers posed for this photo, they asked Teddy Draper to join them, but as a code talker, he had to keep his identity secret. He was lying on the ground just out of frame here. For nearly a quarter century after the war, the Navajo code was kept classified and the code talkers remained anonymous. During that time, Teddy Draper struggled with nightmares and financial troubles. When the patriotism of the code talkers finally became public, the Pentagon had lost Teddy's records. It wasn't until last year that he received veteran's benefits and a purple heart.

This is Danny Thomas' third visit to Iwo Jima. The visits have helped put his nightmares to rest. Are you all right? Are you at peace?

THOMAS: Yeah, I'm doing fine. I'm at peace, I think, right now. I think all my dragons have been buried. I hope, because I sure as hell don't want to meet any more of them.

CHINOY: Teddy Draper brought his own flag this time. And on Mount Siribachi, he raised it, an old soldier paying a final tribute to the heroes of Iwo Jima. Mike Chinoy, CNN, Iwo Jima.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: Some real American heroes there. Great story for Mike Chinoy.

There's more ahead on CNN Saturday. In a few moments, IN THE MONEY looks at the new form of alternative to energy that's attracting some big bucks. At 2:00 Eastern, CNN LIVE SATURDAY has a preview and a history of Washington's cherry blossom festival. That's featured in the Novak zone (ph). And at 3:00, it's NEXT@CNN with a look at the new Sony Playstation portable. I know you want to hear about that. We'll be right back.

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