King: Legislature may act to save Terri Schiavo
Associated Press, October 20, 2003 - 06:46 PM
Senate President Jim King said Monday that he will propose legislation this week that could save the life of a severely brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed last week by her husband's order.
King, R-Jacksonville, said the measure would give Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order that the feeding tube be reinserted to keep Terri Schiavo alive.
The tube was removed Wednesday following a decade-long court battle between Schiavo's parents and their son-in-law, who contends that he is carrying out her wishes not to be kept alive artificially.
"If we are to err -- because time is of the essence -- for goodness sake let us err on the side of caution," King said.
King said lawmakers likely would take up the Schiavo issue this week during a scheduled special session regarding economic development issues, but he didn't know when.
The House scheduled a 7:30 p.m. Monday session to take up the issue.
Schiavo has been in what doctors call a vegetative state since her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected potassium imbalance.
Bush told the Schindlers last week that his staff would search for legal ways to save their daughter's life, but said Monday they haven't yet found a way.
"The legal ways, the remedies, don't exist," Bush said Monday before King made his announcement.
He added, "I wish I could wave the magic wand and resolve this but every effort that we've had or every effort that has been proposed has either been thwarted by the courts or would be inappropriate."
Earlier Monday in Tampa, a watchdog agency for the disabled pleaded with a federal judge to keep the woman from starving to death alive long enough to investigate a claim that she is being abused by her husband.
Meanwhile, in a statement released through his lawyer, Michael Schiavo said Monday that he, too, is grieving, but "I did what I believe Terri would have wanted me to do."
U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday did not immediately rule on the request from the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, the state-appointed organization which monitors the treatment of disabled adults in Florida. Merryday said he intended to issue a decision by the day's end.
Gordon Scott, an attorney for the Tallahassee-based organization, asked the judge for a 10-day injunction to give it time to investigate whether the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is an act of abuse.
Scott said after talking to her parents and a neurologist, he is not convinced that Terri Schiavo is in a persistent vegetative state and is not feeling pain from starvation and dehydration.
Scott said his agency has a right to investigate whether Terri Schiavo was mistreated regardless what the judge rules, but wanted to keep her alive in the event the investigation turns up evidence she can feel what is happening to her. He didn't specifically ask that the feeding tube be reinserted, but that doctors do what is needed to keep her alive during the investigation.
George Felos, Michael Schiavo's attorney, said the federal judge has no jurisdiction and characterized the group's efforts as yet another attempt to undo repeated state court rulings giving Michael Schiavo permission to carry out his wife's wishes.
Michael Schiavo ordered his wife's feeding tube removed last Wednesday following a long-legal battle with his in-laws over her fate. Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 following a heart attack and has been declared by a Pinellas Circuit Court judge to be in a persistent vegetative state.
Michael Schiavo has said his 39-year-old wife never would have wanted to be kept alive artificially. Her parents contend she has enough brain function to respond to them and express emotions.
In his statement, Michael Schiavo detailed his unsuccessful efforts to rehabilitate his wife in the years after her 1990 heart attack, including three separate tests that concluded she could not learn to swallow on her own.
He said he realizes that some people disagree with the court's decision to let him remove the tube and that he has struggled with it himself.
"But I know in my heart that it is right, and it is what Terri wants," he said. "There is no longer any realistic hope of Terri's recovery. Perhaps there never was, but I had to try -- just as the Schindlers have tried.
"The reality is that Terri left us 13 years ago, and none of us can bring her back."
At the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri Schiavo is being cared for, her family said she appears to be in stable condition.
"She seems to be alert," said her brother, Bob Schindler Jr. "But every day that goes by, we're getting into a crucial time for her. She's got an incredible will to live."