Why divorce? Adultery ends spousal rights

They want to make his word law

Michigan bill would ban medical decisions if adultery is involved

March 22, 2005, 4:37 PM

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- A Michigan lawmaker is working on legislation that would prohibit a spouse having an affair from denying food, fluids or medical treatment to a wife or husband who cannot make such decisions.

Rep. Joel Sheltrown on Tuesday said he wants to avoid a situation similar to Terri Schiavo's.

The 41-year-old Florida woman has relied on a feeding tube to keep her alive since suffering severe brain damage in 1990. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, has fought for years to have her feeding tube removed because he said she would not want to be kept alive artificially.

The tube was disconnected Friday on the orders of a state judge, and a federal judge on Tuesday refused to order it reinserted.

Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, appealed the decision the same day to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, warning that their daughter was "fading quickly" and might die at any moment.

The Schindlers have said Michael Schiavo wants their daughter dead so he can marry his longtime girlfriend, with whom he has young children. They have begged him to divorce their daughter and let them care for her.

Sheltrown, a Democrat from West Branch, said Michigan should strengthen its protections before a similar situation happens here.

"While people, in happier times, may trust their spouses to make future medical decisions for them, situations change," Sheltrown said in a statement. "In a situation where an incapacitated patient lives at the mercy of an adulterous spouse, it is in the patient's interest to make a presumption in favor of life."

Michigan law already prohibits the denial of life-sustaining treatment, such as food and water, unless the patient has expressed that such action be taken, said Sheltrown, who expects to introduce the bill in about three weeks.

Matt Resch, spokesman for Republican House Speaker Craig DeRoche of Novi, said House leaders will review the bill when it is introduced and decide which committee to assign it

WHAT? Are they kidding?

Uh, how do they prove it? How do they approve the effects of adultery in the marriage?

This is just dumb and unconsitutional. Why are the GOP so willing to wreck marriage after talking it up as the ultimate human state.

Do they understand what they are setting up here? Or is this just insane pandering. No court would accept adultery as grounds to abrogate the marital contract in lieu of divorce. In no other situation would adultery be strong enough to abroagte any other marital responsibility, from chld support to home equity. Only in this narrow case could a family member start digging around the most private aspects of a couple's life and then dominate medical procedings. The representative here doesn't understand what he is doing. While he thinks he's preventing another Schiavo case, he's not. Any spouse would go to court to protect their marital rights. What this would do is allow ANY family member to investigate a couple's private life.

This is collective madness. If there is reason to doubt the motives of a spouse, that's why courts exist. There is NO evidence that Michael Schiavo has acted in any way contrary to his wife's wishes and delayed the decision to end her treatment for eight years. Michael Schiavo has had every aspect of his life examined in court and has not been found wanting. If there was the slightest credible evidence that he wanted to harm his wife for gain, he would have had his guardianship stripped. This is one of the most litigated cases in Florida history.

Big cases make bad law, and this is a prime example.

posted by Steve @ 1:23:00 AM