Posted on 10/21/2003 1:21:45 PM PDT by kattracks
October 21, 2003, 4:14 PM EDTTALLAHASSEE -- Lawmakers sent Gov. Jeb Bush a bill that will give him the power to order a feeding tube be reinserted into a brain-damaged woman in defiance of courts and her husband.
Bush said he will immediately sign the bill and order the tube to be reinserted into Terri Schiavo, the subject of one of the nation's longest and most bitter legal battles over care for a disabled person.
Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, want her to live. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she would rather die.
Schiavo's feeding tube was removed last Wednesday. Doctors have said the 39-year-old woman will die within a week to 10 days without nutrition and water.
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.''
Sen. Tom Lee said Schiavo would ``essentially starve ... to death'' without intervention from lawmakers and the governor. ``It's a pretty awful way to go,'' said Lee, R-Brandon.
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, D-Hallandale.
The House approved the bill 73-24 after the Senate passed it 23-15.
George Felos, a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, asked a judge to stop Bush even before he received the bill. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier in Tampa, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday denied a request by the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities, which monitors the treatment of disabled adults, 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 potassium 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.
Pat Anderson, the attorney for the parents, said she was ``dumbfounded'' by the Legislature's action, although the Schindlers had hoped for such help in the wake of continued court defeats.
During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution doesn't 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, D-Miami Beach.
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, R-Tampa. ``Who is protecting this girl?''
Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Stephen Grimes said the case is unique and it is not clear whether the law will be upheld.
``It presents a new legal issue that I've never heard of,'' Grimes said.
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The general nature of the U.S. Constitution, and many state constitutions as well, is that any two of the three branches may together overrule the third. Were this not the case, whatever branch couldn't be overruled would reign supreme.
Very dirty. And if Terri's books show that the trust fund was looted, I would think that would open Judge Greer up for attempted murder charges.
BTW, does anyone believe this is the first time Felos/Greer tried to murder someone? Just a hunch, but I suspect it's been done many times before, and they just made the mistake of trying to kill someone who refused to die.
I don't think so. That looks rather like the Summary text; at least in the Senate version of the bill, the Summary was significantly different from the bill itself.
Certainly I can't rely upon Michael's argument. As for the parents', they may be slightly hyperbolic at points but the fact that Michael has tried so hard to control all the evidence in this case strongly suggests that he doesn't like what it shows. I agree, someone independent needs to look into all this business. Given his evident bias in the case (not to mention possible criminal complicity), Judge Greer does not qualify.
Prop. 187 is another (California) example...in this case, the voters wishes were overturned in the courts by the liberal judges. What you site happens all the time whenever the libs don't get their way. They go and cry to the courts. The precedent has already been set by the libs.
Your points are well taken. However, in the conservative argument for life this decision was just.
And as far as "too far gone" as Terri has been "illustrated"...it's difficult to judge that knowing that she has been denied appropriate rehabilitation over the last several years. Had she had that care...well, she might not have returned to "normal" but we don't know what miracles could've happened with those who work in rehabilitation...she might have had some type of function (swallow, ect...) restored.
No one but no one has the right to take away hope, in any case, when it comes to life. But you know that already. ;)
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