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Email: "Report by Terri Schiavo’s Court Guardian Encourages Swallow Test"

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Florida Senator Introduces Legislation to Prevent Court-Ordered Starvation Deaths BY LifeSiteNews.com TALLAHASSEE, December 4, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Dr. Jay Wolfson, the court-appointed Guardian ad litem for Terri Schiavo, the severely disabled Florida woman at the centre of a battle over the right to life versus the ‘right to die’, has submitted a nearly 40-page report of his findings in the case to Florida Governor Jeb Bush.  Wolfson summarized ten years of litigation in the case and recommended that Terri undergo swallowing tests and therapy. However, the report also looked at the testimony given by expert witnesses in the case and concluded that Terri is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery and recommended lifting the Governor’s stay on the removal of Terri’s feeding tube.  However, in reacting to the report, Governor Bush said he was concerned that “we do not know the expertise of the individuals who provided the ‘answers’ to the questions that are addressed in the report. I am sure that Dr. Wolfson, who indicated his reliance on ‘good science-based medicine,’ understands the importance of knowing which good scientists and good doctors he relied on to reach certain conclusions.”  Indeed, Terri’s family have reported compelling evidence that the expert testimony given in the case was biased with experts being associated with Michael Schiavo’s lawyer, the leader of the ‘right to die’ movement in Florida.  After viewing the report from Dr. Wolfson, Bush concluded, “As I have said from the beginning, the state must protect every Floridian’s right to life, and in so doing, err on the side of life. As Governor, I will continue to do just that. Nothing in Dr. Wolfson’s report leads me to believe the stay should be lifted at this time, or that Mrs. Schiavo should be deprived of her right to live.” Meanwhile, Florida Senator Stephen Wise of Jacksonville has introduced Senate Bill 692, which would prohibit courts from ordering withdrawal of food and water from mentally incompetent patients in Florida who have not specified such orders in advance directives.  See related LifeSite coverage:  Medical Expert Suspected of Bias in Case of Disabled Woman   www.lifesite.net/ldn/2003/sep/03091707.html   See Bush’s statement, the full report from Dr. Wolfson and the Wise Bill coverage:  http://www.baynews9.com/site/Search.cfm?storyid=28617&action=story&contentid=36 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/media/acrobat/2003-12/10455191.pdf http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAN946WQND.html http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/report-by-terri-schiavos-court-guardian-encourages-swallow-test/

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