Schiavo Appeal Rejected on 2-1 Decision

From Fox News:

TAMPA, Fla. — The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta has denied a request by the parents of Terri Schiavo to reinsert the severely brain-damaged woman’s feeding tube. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to deny the request, a day after a federal judge in Florida rejected a similar appeal.

In its ruling, the panel said the woman’s parents “failed to demonstrate a substantial case on the merits of any of their claims.”

“There is no denying the absolute tragedy that has befallen Mrs. Schiavo,” the ruling reads. “We all have our own family, our own loved ones, and our own children. However, we are called upon to make a collective, objective decision concerning a question of law.”

From the dissenting judge:

But in the dissenting opinion, Judge Charles R. Wilson expressed concern that Schiavo’s “imminent” death would end the case before it could be fully considered.

“In fact, I fail to see any harm in reinserting the feeding tube,” he wrote.

I find it objectionable that the majority would cast itself as slaves to “the law” while at the same time acknowledging the “absolute tragedy” Terri Schiavo faces. As for the dissenting opinion, many of our current laws today have arisen from dissenting opinions of judges who had the courage to see that the state of the law as it was, could not equitably be applied to the facts before them. I can think of no case where this applies moreso than the case of Terri Schiavo.