Fighting for Dear Life (6 page)

At the same time that the bill was making its way through the legislature, our office had also begun a direct dialogue with the governor's office regarding how the measures permitted in the bill would be carried out. The new bill, as passed by the senate, gave the governor a onetime option to stay a judicial order and reinsert the feeding tube for a person in Terri's situation. This would give his office time to undertake a review of the circumstances. Our office, coordinating with the governor's legal counsel, hammered out how any order Governor Bush might sign would be carried out.

When it appeared that the redrafted bill would pass in both houses, our office began to look for the fastest way to rush the new law and a copy of the governor's order to the hospice facility immediately after the governor signed it. We called the governor's office and requested that as soon as the law passed, we would need a copy of the law and of the governor's order faxed to our office without delay. They agreed to help. Each time we spoke, the governor's legal team would ask how Terri was doing. We realized that they were genuinely concerned for her life.

As Day Five faded into evening, we called the county sheriff's office to request that their people be placed on standby. We politely asked for their help to serve the governor's order on the hospice as soon as it was signed and delivered. A few minutes later, a call came from the sheriff's office to inform us that they couldn't guarantee immediate service of the governor's order on the hospice.

That was a surprise. We asked (nai
vely, perhaps) if the sheriff's office was at all familiar with the case and with the fact that a woman's life was hanging in the balance. The response we received continued to be both evasive and noncommittal regarding any assistance with speeding up the notification process.

We weren't about to let this lack of responsiveness deprive Terri of a chance to live. Within minutes we were back on the phone with the governor's office. We explained the potential problem we might face with the county sheriff's office. Without their willingness to guarantee immediate service of the governor's order, we needed some help from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE). We asked if there was any way the governor could prearrange for a state trooper in the FDLE division in Pinellas County to serve his order on the hospice.

Once again, we found a desire to help at the highest levels. The governor's office agreed to use such a protocol. His legal team arranged for the governor's office to directly fax Governor Bush's signed order to our law firm. We, in turn, would work with a state trooper from FDLE to deliver it to the hospice without delay. With that settled, and the business of the day concluded, we waited and prayed into the night for the bill's final passage—and for Terri to hang on long enough for this help to arrive.

On October 21, 2003, six days after Terri's feeding tube had been removed, House Bill No. 35-E was passed by the Florida State Legislature and signed into law by Governor Jeb Bush. Representative Stargel called us with the wonderful news. He assured us that he was running to the governor's office to have an order signed immediately. As you can imagine, our staff burst into tears of joy.

Although it wasn't really necessary, we reminded Representative Stargel that every minute counted and that we would be hovering over the fax machine. After what felt like an eternity, but in reality was only a few minutes, our fax machine sprang to life. With eager hands outstretched, we watched as the machine began printing out what was to become the Life Certificate for Terri Schindler Schiavo. As we were about to learn, passing the law was the ‘‘easy'' part. Getting it enforced would require three things:

A police escort.

A clash of wills at the hospital, and . . .

Another miracle.

CHAPTER FIVE

DOCTOR'S ORDERS

I'm very, very grateful to the Florida legislature and Jeb
Bush. . . . They did the right thing.

—S
EAN
H
ANNITY ON THE PASSAGE OF
T
ERRI'S
L
AW
1

W
e hovered close to the fax machine like doctors waiting to deliver a baby. As the pages emerged, our eager hands received the precious document before it ever touched the paper tray. With care, we quickly made several copies of Governor Jeb Bush's signed order. Rex Sparklin, one of our Gibbs Law Firm attorneys, jumped into his truck and made a beeline to Woodside Hospice.

As he turned onto the street where the facility was located, Rex slowed down as it took a long minute to absorb the surreal scene unfolding before him. Hundreds of Terri's supporters lined the street behind temporary orange barriers stretching the length of several blocks. Some held homemade signs protesting her starvation. Others were singing softly or openly weeping.

A number of the demonstrators were huddled in small groups of two or three to pray. The disabled, confined to their wheelchairs or leaning on their crutches, were scattered throughout the crowd pleading to save Terri's life.

In a clear show of force, police cars blocked access to the hospice's two entrances. Armed officers had been assigned to patrol the hospice grounds to prevent any unauthorized attempt to reach Terri with food or water. Rex also noticed that the media was out in full force. With a battery of cameras and microphones, they darted around looking for any scrap of news. If they had known what Rex held in his hand, he would have been stampeded by the press, of that he was sure.

Rex inched his truck forward. Progress was slow at best. The closer he got to the hospice, the more congested the road became as the crowd and the media swelled in numbers. Recognizing that getting through the masses with his vehicle was next to impossible, Rex quickly parked at the edge of the crowded area, hopped out, and made his way on foot. He just had to get those documents to the right authorities.

At the first police barricade, an officer approached and asked him to state his business. Rex informed the guard that he possessed a copy of the governor's order to reinsert Terri's feeding tube and that it needed to be delivered immediately to Terri's caregivers. As he handed the policeman a copy, Rex explained that he'd wait right there for confirmation of the delivery.

The officer scanned the paperwork and then told Rex to stay put while he walked the order into the hospice. With that, the policeman disappeared through the crowd. Sensing that something big was happening, members of the press started to drift in Rex's direction.

Just as Rex was about to be mobbed by journalists chasing the scent of a hot story, the officer returned to confirm the delivery. He also informed Rex that Terri would be taken by ambulance to the Morton Plant Hospital to have her feeding tube reinserted. As quickly as Rex had arrived, he slipped back to his truck. Making a U-turn, he started to drive away as a trail of cameras and news crews chased his vehicle.

He could hear the press shouting a barrage of questions. . . .
What's
your name? What are you doing? Are you with the family? Did the governor sign
the bill? Is the hospice cooperating? Is Terri still alive?

Rex drove on, ignoring their endless questions. You see, at that point we were not planning to let the news media know about our involvement in the behind-the-scenes process. After Rex returned to the office, we were about to head home for some much needed rest, but we found ourselves fighting the clock once again. That evening, at about eight o'clock, we received a most disturbing phone call.

‘‘We have a real problem,'' the caller said. ‘‘I have just received word that the Morton Plant Hospital doctors are refusing to reinsert Terri's feeding tube!'' Our source wanted to know if we'd heard anything about that allegation. We hadn't. Nor could we understand why the hospital would disregard the governor's order. We knew that the immunity clause for the doctors had been inserted into the bill.

Having gone six days without food or water, if Terri didn't receive hydration very soon, her internal organs would begin to shut down— probably beginning with her kidneys. Certainly the doctors and nurses would know that Terri's situation was critical. Why, then, the delay? I dispatched Rex to be our eyes and ears on the ground yet again. Rex snatched another copy of the governor's order, jumped into his truck, and rushed to Morton Plant Hospital, located a few miles north of our office.

With Rex running to the hospital, we scoured our various news sources for any late-breaking developments. We quickly learned that George Felos had called another press conference. As Michael's attorney, he announced that he was immediately going to court to have Terri's Law and the governor's order declared unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers.

Another news source reported that Felos's hearing on this matter would be postponed until a later time. It seemed obvious to us what was happening. The other side intended to stall as long as possible in hopes that Terri would expire and make the whole issue moot.

As we were debating our options, we received another urgent phone call—this time from a friend at the hospital. We were told that Mr. Felos was already roaming the halls threatening to sue any doctor who reinserted the feeding tube—despite the immunity clause that was added at the last moment by the legislature. With Mr. Felos breathing threats, we were concerned that Rex might have no access upon his arrival. Just as the other side had managed to prevent unhindered access to Terri at the hospice, we believed Mr. Felos would be working to find a way to prevent Rex from helping Terri at the hospital.

Now what?

First, we called Rex on his cell phone to let him know he was about to walk into a hornet's nest of resistance; we wanted him mentally prepared for a possible confrontation. We told Rex to keep driving and that we'd have a plan in place by the time he arrived at the hospital. Second, we remembered that one of the people who had contacted us while we were drafting Terri's Law just happened to be the wife of the former chief of staff of Morton Plant Hospital, Dr. Jay Carpenter. We called the Carpenters' home, and although Dr. Carpenter was not there, his children gladly gave us his cell phone number.

A call to his cell was answered immediately. We gave Dr. Carpenter a quick rundown of what was happening at the hospital. Shocked, he said that he happened to be less than ten minutes from the hospital and would immediately go there to meet Rex. We gave him Rex's cell phone number. Dr. Carpenter called Rex and arranged to meet him at the front door of the hospital—which, we later learned, had been placed under police guard by the FDLE personnel after Terri had been moved there.

Rex arrived at the hospital and rushed to the front door. One of the guards blocked his path. Just as Rex began to explain that he was one of the attorneys from Gibbs Law Firm assisting Terri Schiavo's parents, a man emerged from behind the opening automatic doors. He told the guard, ‘‘I am Dr. Carpenter, and this man is with me.'' The two men had never met before and might not otherwise have been able to find each other so quickly.

The guard stepped aside, allowing them to enter. As Dr. Carpenter and Rex hustled through the lobby, Rex briefed the doctor with the information we had provided him from the office. Meanwhile, Dr. Carpenter steered Rex through the maze of hallways, stopping at the appropriate reception area of the hospital. After a few minutes a member of the hospital's administration team came into the room, introduced herself with a somewhat tentative handshake, and then escorted them into her office.

Rex advised her that our office had learned through various sources that Terri had been brought there under police escort to have her feeding tube reinserted. He asked whether she was aware that the governor had signed an order earlier that evening mandating that Terri's hydration and nutrition be reintroduced. Rex handed her a copy of the governor's order. When she finished perusing every word on the page, Rex told her that he had been dispatched by our office to ensure that the hospital would follow the governor's order to reinsert the feeding tube. She responded with a certain cool detachment, Rex thought, as if unmoved by the urgency of Terri's situation. She claimed in no uncertain terms that the hospital did not make those decisions—the attending physician in the ER was the one who would have to make the call. Rex told her she had a duty to make certain the ER doctor was aware that the hospital had just received a copy of the governor's order; the doctor would now be under actual notice of his legal duty to reinsert the feeding tube.

His words appeared to fall on deaf ears.

The administrator folded her arms. She had been told by the doctor that Michael Schiavo's legal team had already instructed them
not
to reinsert the tube or they would be sued. Rex pressed the issue. He held an order from the governor to reinsert the tube. He reminded her that it was the governor's position—not Mr. Schiavo's wishes—that currently had the effect of law and that the hospital was now on official notice of that law. He didn't believe that anyone at the hospital would want to permit Terri to die on their watch—especially in violation of the governor's order.