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Other Columns by Frank Salvato
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The damage has been done. Terri Schindler Schiavo has died. No legal wrangling, lobbying, protesting or moral epiphany can change that. The time for considering action on Terri's behalf has passed and that can't be rectified with the reinsertion of a feeding tube. Terri is cold and lifeless. Perhaps now the realization of just how final the option of death is will start to sink in. You can never go home.

There are many who want to make Terri's death something other than what it is.

Was it about the right-to-life versus the right-to-die? I'm sure it can be argued to a certain degree of success that it was. On the one hand, we had a young woman who was severely brain damaged and who may or may not have expressed her desire to be given the ultimate relief if ever found to be in such a position. On the other hand, she wasn't on a ventilator and she wasn't terminally ill. She was a living, breathing, swallowing human being whose only compromise was that she needed assistance in obtaining food and water to survive.

Are those who expressed their outrage politically motivated? I doubt it. It is clear to see that everyone experienced Terri's death on an emotional level. Those who took political action -- or didn't as the case may be -- literally put themselves in a no-win situation. Just about every poll taken proved that there was no "winning" position on this issue. Everybody lost, especially Terri. Most people understand this.

While both of these aspects of Terri's life and death are catalyst for good discussions on the ethics of politics and euthanasia, both together and separately, there is a more disturbing issue afoot.

Terri Schindler Schiavo's death is an American tragedy. It didn't have to happen. It highlighted the grotesque failures of our judicial system at every level. It spotlighted the fact that those who practice judicial activism and political positioning under the guise of following procedure and precedent champion their own agendas over their sworn oaths to uphold even the most basic of rights afforded us under the US Constitution, the rights to life and liberty.

Many of the major judicial failures in Terri's case emanated from the courtroom of Judge George Greer. A former scandal-plagued Pinellas County Commissioner, Greer monetarily coerced his way through an unopposed election for Chief Judge of Florida's Sixth Judicial Circuit. If Terri's death exposes only one scoundrel to the light of scrutiny it should be George Greer.

Greer's tenure presiding over the Schiavo case offered a plethora of questionable decisions.

Why did he admit hearsay evidence as fact? Why did he assume the role of Terri's guardian in the face of a conflict of interest and against Florida judicial canon? Why did he refuse to appoint a Guardian ad Litem for Terri in light of Michael Schiavo's compromised moral and ethical positions? Why did he fail to enforce Florida law that would have provided Terri therapy until her demise? Why did he allow Michael Schiavo to spend money designated for Terri's care on legal services designed to end her life? Why did he allow Terri to be admitted to a hospice under false pretenses? Why did he fail to order confirming MRI and PET scan evaluations? Why did he admit into evidence the testimony of a biased medical panel some of whom were right-to-die advocates? And why didn't he recuse himself in the face of his flagrant bias against the Schindler family when petitioned to do so?

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