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American Morning
Life-and-Death Battle in Florida
Aired October 22, 2003 - 07:18 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the battle over Terri Schiavo's life. Now that the Florida governor, Jeb Bush, has intervened, Schiavo has been transferred to a hospital, and a feeding tube will be reinserted. The battle, though, is far from over.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, has been waging a decade-long legal fight to have the tube removed. Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, joins us live this morning from Dunedin, Florida.
And, sir, we appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on and talking with us. Good morning to you.
GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: You're welcome, Bill.
HEMMER: Michael says he knows what his wife wants. How does he know that and how does he characterize that?
FELOS: Terri had numerous conversations with her husband, Michael, and also with other family members. All three of those individuals testified at the trial, and the court found by clear and convincing evidence that Terri did not want to keep alive -- stay alive artificially. She said no tubes for me. I never want to be kept alive artificially. And the court's order was on the basis of her spoken declarations.
HEMMER: The family for Terri says all it takes is a bit of rehab and she will be brought out of the current state in which she's living. Why not buy that argument?
FELOS: Well, because it's not true. If you look at a brain scan of Terri, where her cerebral cortex used to be is a black hole filled with spinal fluid. There's simply no hope of any recovery for Terri.
HEMMER: Nothing at all you don't think.
FELOS: Well, not only me. The courts have found that the overwhelming evidence is that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state. And, of course, what we saw yesterday was just such a horrible tragedy for her. She was literally taken away under threat of force by the governor from her death bed. And we had the Florida legislature allow the governor, in essence, to override a person's individual medical treatment choices. I mean, her liberty suffered horribly yesterday.
HEMMER: Mr. Felos, a judge now has given you five days to respond to get a permanent injunction. What's your argument over the next five days? FELOS: The argument is that the statute passed by the legislature is unconstitutional. Each of us, and the Florida Supreme Court, has said this: Each of us has a right to control our own body. We have a fundamental right to make our own medical treatment choices, and the state doesn't have a right to override our wishes. Just because the governor may believe that removal of feeding tubes is wrong, it doesn't allow him, nor does it allow the legislature, to say to a patient, we don't care what you wanted. We're going to force- feed you against your will, because that's what we believe. That's simply wrong, and we believe the court will find that law to be unconstitutional.
HEMMER: There was another argument that the court has handed down that has taken guardianship away from Michael. How has he reacted to that decision?
FELOS: Well, it's very unclear what this statute does. Michael is still guardian in name, but, in essence, the governor's council has said Jeb Bush has become Terri Schiavo's guardian.
And one of the consequences of his action, of course, you know, Terri was almost a week into her death process, and the doctors have said by reinstituting hydration and nutrition now artificially, she may have already sustained massive organ failure and kidney damage. And what this may have done is just prolong her death process, and instead of having a quick painless death, she may have a prolonged and horrible and physically distressful death.
HEMMER: George Felos is the attorney for Michael Schiavo. He's live in Dunedin, Florida. Thanks for sharing your part of the story with us, sir, this morning.
FELOS: You're very welcome.
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 October 22, 2003 - 07:18 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back to the battle over Terri Schiavo's life. Now that the Florida governor, Jeb Bush, has intervened, Schiavo has been transferred to a hospital, and a feeding tube will be reinserted. The battle, though, is far from over.
Schiavo's husband, Michael, has been waging a decade-long legal fight to have the tube removed. Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, joins us live this morning from Dunedin, Florida.
And, sir, we appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on and talking with us. Good morning to you.
GEORGE FELOS, MICHAEL SCHIAVO'S ATTORNEY: You're welcome, Bill.
HEMMER: Michael says he knows what his wife wants. How does he know that and how does he characterize that?
FELOS: Terri had numerous conversations with her husband, Michael, and also with other family members. All three of those individuals testified at the trial, and the court found by clear and convincing evidence that Terri did not want to keep alive -- stay alive artificially. She said no tubes for me. I never want to be kept alive artificially. And the court's order was on the basis of her spoken declarations.
HEMMER: The family for Terri says all it takes is a bit of rehab and she will be brought out of the current state in which she's living. Why not buy that argument?
FELOS: Well, because it's not true. If you look at a brain scan of Terri, where her cerebral cortex used to be is a black hole filled with spinal fluid. There's simply no hope of any recovery for Terri.
HEMMER: Nothing at all you don't think.
FELOS: Well, not only me. The courts have found that the overwhelming evidence is that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state. And, of course, what we saw yesterday was just such a horrible tragedy for her. She was literally taken away under threat of force by the governor from her death bed. And we had the Florida legislature allow the governor, in essence, to override a person's individual medical treatment choices. I mean, her liberty suffered horribly yesterday.
HEMMER: Mr. Felos, a judge now has given you five days to respond to get a permanent injunction. What's your argument over the next five days? FELOS: The argument is that the statute passed by the legislature is unconstitutional. Each of us, and the Florida Supreme Court, has said this: Each of us has a right to control our own body. We have a fundamental right to make our own medical treatment choices, and the state doesn't have a right to override our wishes. Just because the governor may believe that removal of feeding tubes is wrong, it doesn't allow him, nor does it allow the legislature, to say to a patient, we don't care what you wanted. We're going to force- feed you against your will, because that's what we believe. That's simply wrong, and we believe the court will find that law to be unconstitutional.
HEMMER: There was another argument that the court has handed down that has taken guardianship away from Michael. How has he reacted to that decision?
FELOS: Well, it's very unclear what this statute does. Michael is still guardian in name, but, in essence, the governor's council has said Jeb Bush has become Terri Schiavo's guardian.
And one of the consequences of his action, of course, you know, Terri was almost a week into her death process, and the doctors have said by reinstituting hydration and nutrition now artificially, she may have already sustained massive organ failure and kidney damage. And what this may have done is just prolong her death process, and instead of having a quick painless death, she may have a prolonged and horrible and physically distressful death.
HEMMER: George Felos is the attorney for Michael Schiavo. He's live in Dunedin, Florida. Thanks for sharing your part of the story with us, sir, this morning.
FELOS: You're very welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
