Posted on 02/03/2004 4:10:37 AM PST by amdgmary
Florida Legislature to Consider Bill Helping Others Like Terri Schiavo
by Steven Ertelt LifeNews.com Editor February 2, 2004
Tallahassee, FL (LifeNews.com) -- On Tuesday, members of the Florida state legislature will hold a hearing on pro-life legislation designed to help people who are in similar situations as Terri Schiavo, the woman who has been the subject of a national debate as her estranged husband attempts to end her life.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Senate Bill 692, which would make it more difficult to remove the feeding tubes from incapacitated patients that do not leave advance directives asking that they receive lifesaving medical treatment.
Sen. Stephen Wise (R-Jacksonville) proposed the legislation which allows food and fluids to be given to those who can't speak for themselves, such as Terri Schiavo. It requires courts to presume that incapacitated patients would not want to be denied lifesaving medical care even though they had not stated their treatment preference in advance.
Pro-life advocates who are monitoring Terri's case say the law would help her and others in similar circumstances.
Should the courts find Terri's Law unconstitutional, Terri will likely be left without protection from Michael's legal motion to remove her feeding tube for a third time. Wise's bill would prohibit the courts from granting that motion.
However, the legislation could run into difficulty should it clear the Senate committee.
Senator Jim King (R), president of the state Senate, is not pro-life and had to be talked into supporting Terri's Law. He said in January that it would be unlikely that he would bring the bill up on the Senate floor for a debate and vote.
The chances are "remote if not nonexistent," King said. "I have no desire to revisit [the issue of Terri Schiavo]."
King, who authored a Florida euthanasia law considered a national model, previously told the Tampa Tribune newspaper he didn't want to "roll back the hands of time" with a bill that "can dismantle what I consider to be my legacy."
"Unfortunately, Senator King appears more concerned about leaving his legacy intact than he is about lives of disabled Florida citizens who are at risk of dehydration and starvation," Pat Anderson, attorney for Terri's family, said previously in response to King's comments. "If protective legislation like this had been Florida law during Terri's trial, we wouldn't be here today."
King said the bill would never get a hearing, so pro-life advocates are holding out hope that King will let the legislation come up for debate if it is approved by the judicial committee.
Burke Balch, director of medical ethics for the National Right to Life Committee, says Wise's bill is based on model law proposed by his organization that will withstand legal scrutiny. Balch explained that the bill was written with Florida Supreme Court decisions in mind.
Wise said the Terri Schiavo case prompted him to put forward the legislation.
"The Schiavo case is he- said, she-said, who-said -- and she's not able to talk,'' Wise said. "I don't know who said what. And that's the issue we wanted to get to -- have something in writing.''
ACTION: 1) Contact Florida Senate President Jim King and urge him to allow SB 692 to come up for a vote on the Senate floor should it pass in committee. 2) Contact members of the Florida Senate Judiciary and urge them to support SB 692. Go to http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/View_Page.pl?Tab=committees&Submenu=1&File=index.html&Directory=committees/senate/ju to see members of the committee.
Related web sites: Terri's family - http://www.terrisfight.org Wise's bill - http://www.flsenate.gov/session/index.cfm?BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&Year=2004&billnum=692
Governor Bush, open the floodgates to INVESTIGATE the outrage that Senator Jim King calls his "legacy".
To be on the safe side, Pinellas County voters should vote out all the current judges when they are up on the ballot again for a yes or no vote. They are mobsters, not judges.
All judges should go because whether they're involved or not, all the judges showed INDIFFERENCE. In a matter like this, that's inexcusable as well!!! Any judge could have picked up the phone and contacted the Judicial Qualifications Committee-Commission to report CRIMES AGAINST TERRI BY SITTING JUDGES but they did nothing. In fact, the JQC did absolutely nothing as well. H E L P!
(I expect the opposition to show up to downplay my remarks. As per always, I have the truth on my side).
Then the legislature and the courts would be wrong. I have a God given right to "death with dignity". The courts, the State and zealots cannot take that right from me. I claim it!
Requiring me to live life as a vegetable is unconstitutional and an invasion of my privacy.
For example, given that there are already legal protections against frivolous guardianship challenges, I see no reason anyone should object to a law forbidding someone from being put to death pending the outcome of guardianship or other legal proceedings related to that person. Additionally, there needs to be some provisions to ensure that evil guardians can actually be removed without judges simply sitting on and postponing cases indefinitely.
Otherwise, I think one thing that needs to be clarified is that the purpose of food and water is to allow a person to maintain an adequate nutritional and hydrational state, and to avoid malnutrition/starvation and dehydration. If giving a patient food and water will not meaningfully improve their nutritional and hydrational state, then it may reasonably be deemed futile. On the other hand, if it keeps a person alive it shall not be deemed futile merely on the basis that the person is supposed to die.
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