[Florida] Senate Panel Approves Schiavo Bill

TALLAHASSEE - A state Senate panel Tuesday morning approved legislation that would give Gov. Jeb Bush the power to order the feeding tube removed from Terri Schiavo reinserted.

The battle to save Schiavo shifted to the state Capitol Monday, where legislative leaders agreed after intense, daylong negotiations to grant Bush the power to intervene in the emotionally charged case.

The Florida House of Representatives passed a bill 68-23 Monday night that would give Bush the authority to order the comatose Schiavo's feeding tube replaced, reversing a judicial order that other judges have upheld. Twenty-eight lawmakers did not vote.

The state Senate is expected to pass the same measure today and send it to Bush, who likely will sign the bill immediately.

``The proposed bill would allow for a stay in cases of withholding nutrition and hydration from patients in situations similar to that of Ms. Schiavo,'' Bush said in a statement.

The move came just hours after an advocacy group for disabled people pleaded with a federal judge in Tampa to keep Schiavo, 39, alive long enough to investigate a claim that she is being abused by her husband. U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday said he will issue a decision in the nationally watched case soon.

Phones and computers across the state Capitol rang and chimed throughout the day as lawmakers were flooded with pleas to intervene in the Schiavo case. Earlier in the day, House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, a Plant City Republican running for the U.S. Senate, opened the possibility of legislative intervention by confirming that he planned to propose legislation to ``save'' Schiavo. Rep. John Stargel, R-Lakeland, sponsored the bill.

``The family is elated,'' said Randall Terry, a spokesman for Terri Schiavo's parents who are trying to keep their daughter alive. ``They recognize there are still hurdles to overcome. They're praying Terri's health holds out until the governor can intervene to save her.''

King said he is leery of interfering in a case that has been vetted in nearly ``every court in the land.'' But citing ``unique and unusual circumstances,'' he signed off on what he considers a narrowly drafted measure that still delivers what Byrd and Bush want.

``If we are going to err, then let us err on the side of caution,'' King said. ``I just hope to God we've done the right thing.''

The bill gives Bush the power to issue a ``one-time'' stay under certain conditions.

All are designed to fit Schiavo's case. Among them, for example, is a requirement that the feeding tube must have been removed as of Oct. 15 - the day Schiavo's tube was removed. Others stipulate that the patient have no written advance directive or living will, and that a family member is actively challenging the judicial orders.

But the bill raised a variety of legal and constitutional concerns for lawmakers worried the Legislature was overstepping its bounds.

``This bill so oversteps our role, it not only sets a dangerous precedent, it turns democracy on its head,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach.

In Tampa, an Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities attorney told Judge Merryday that the private agency received a telephone complaint Friday alleging Schiavo was the victim of neglect and abuse. The center is designated by the state to receive federal funds under a number of laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Attorney Gordon B. Scott asked Merryday to order that Schiavo be given nutrition long enough for the agency to investigate the abuse complaint. Such a temporary order, Scott said, would be in force for 10 days, after which Scott would be required to report any findings to the court.

Merryday asked Scott whether the agency would be in court if Terri Schiavo had left written instructions expressing her desire not to be kept alive on life support. State courts have ruled in favor of Michael Schiavo's claim that his wife had verbally expressed those wishes.

Scott said that if there were a legally valid written statement from Terri Schiavo, he would not have filed the request for the restraining order.

At the Pinellas Park hospice where Terri Schiavo spent her fifth full day without food or water Monday, the Schindler family remained upbeat while awaiting word from Tampa and Tallahassee.

The family is praying that the Legislature acts quickly to force the hospice to resume feeding Terri Schiavo, said her sister, Suzanne Carr.

``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.''

Reporter David Sommer contributed to this report. Reporter Allison North Jones can be reached at (850) 222-8382. Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837.

Wait...has this been confirmed? I can't see anything on the networks...
Here is the FOX News article ...
Fla. Governor Orders Feeding Tube Be Reinserted

Fla. Governor Orders Feeding Tube Be Reinserted
Tuesday, October 21, 2003
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Invoking a law rushed through the Legislature only an hour earlier, Gov. Jeb Bush (search) ordered a feeding tube reinserted Tuesday into a brain-damaged woman at the center of one of the nation's longest and most bitter right-to-die battles.
The bill was designed to save the life of Terri Schiavo (search), whose parents have fought for several years to keep her alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she would rather die.
Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order at her husband's insistence last Wednesday, and doctors have said the 39-year-old woman will die within a week to 10 days without food and water.
The Senate voted 23-15 for the legislation, and the House passed the final version 73-24 only minutes later. Bush signed it into law and issued the order just more than an hour later.
• Raw Data: Fla. Bill HB 35-E (FindLaw pdf)
After the Senate's vote, a cheer went up among about 80 protesters outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park.
"We are just ecstatic," Bob Schindler said after Bush told him he would issue the order. "It's restored my belief in God."
Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister, called the development "a miracle, an absolute miracle." Terri's mother broke down crying when she heard the news.
George Felos, a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, took steps to stop Bush even before the governor received the bill. He filed a request for an injunction if Bush issued an order. Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer denied it on technical grounds, but said Felos could refile the request.
The family's lawyer, Pat Anderson, said Schiavo would have to be placed on an IV to rehydrate her before the feeding tube is reinserted.
"It ain't over until its over. Until I see that IV running she is not out of the woods," Anderson said.
In the Senate, even some supporters of the legislation expressed concern about their actions.
"I keep on thinking 'What if Terri didn't really want this done at all?' May God have mercy on all of us," said Senate President Jim King, a Republican.
Lawmakers were already called to the Capitol for a special session on economic development when they decided to intervene in the case.
Bush said he did not think lawmakers were motivated by politics.
"This is a response to a tragic situation." Bush said. "People are responding to cries for help and I think it's legitimate."
Opponents said government was stepping in where it had no business being.
"I do not believe the governor of Florida should be making a decision of life and death rather than the next of kin," said Sen. Steven Geller, a Democrat.
Earlier in Tampa, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday denied a request by an advocacy group that Schiavo be kept alive so it could investigate whether removal of the tube was abusive.
Merryday wrote that federal courts — other than the U.S. Supreme Court — are forbidden from interjecting themselves into matters already decided by state courts. He also said the group failed to provide enough evidence to support its request.
The bill sent to Bush was designed to be as narrow as possible. It is limited to cases in which the patient left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.
Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance.
Bush last week promised the woman's parents that he would help them if he could find a way.
The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case, and it also has been rejected for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, a Florida appeals court again refused to block removal of the tube.
Felos said he thinks the legislation would be unconstitutional. It is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially, and the courts have affirmed that, he said.
During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution does not let the Legislature give the governor the power to overrule the courts.
"This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head," said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat.
But many Republicans and some Democrats said they need to be involved in dire cases where judges might be wrong.
"The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state," said Rep. Sandy Murman, a Republican from Tampa. "Who is protecting this girl?"

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