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FLORIDA LEGISLATORS CAN STILL ACT TO SAVE TERRI SCHINDLER-SCHIAVO

http://www.nrlc.org/euthanasia/ShiavoAlert092304.html

Today’s Florida Supreme Court decision striking down “Terri’s Law” under which Governor Jeb Bush had ordered that she not be starved and dehydrated to death is not necessarily the last word. Although the court struck the protective law down because it overruled the judiciary in one particular case, the way is still open to pass a law that would be generally applicable to people with disabilities, including Terri Schindler-Schiavo.

Currently, the state requires that someone present Florida courts with “clear and convincing evidence” showing that the patient wanted to be denied food and fluids. In the Schiavo case, Terri went six days without food and fluids because the judge ruled that an alleged casual comment fulfilled the clear and convincing evidence standard. A bill introduced earlier this year, the Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act, would mandate that a decision to put someone to death by starvation or dehydration could only occur if the patient had made the statement under express and informed consent. It is carefully written to be “constitutional” under prior decisions of the Florida Supreme Court.

Concerned Florida citizens are urged to click on http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/officials/state/?state=FL&lvl=L to contact Florida representatives and senators to urge them to commit to support, in a special session if necessary, enactment of the Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Prevention Act, similar to last year’s S.B. 692, to save Terri Schindler-Schiavo and others like her.

IF YOU ARE NOT A FLORIDA RESIDENT, you may wish to contact:

Senate President James King, Jr.
9485 Regency Square Blvd., Suite 108
Jacksonville, FL 32225-8145
Email: king.james.web@leg.state.fl.us
(904) 727-3600
Fax: (904) 727-3603

This statement may be attributed to Burke J. Balch, J.D., Director of National Right to Life Committee’s Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics.

See Questions and Answers on Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act

See text of Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act

See Wesley Smith column on why informed consent to denial of nutrition and hydration should be required: The Consequences of Casual Conversations

Florida Supreme Court opinion striking down "Terri's Law"

A bill introduced earlier this year, the Florida Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Act, would mandate that a decision to put someone to death by starvation or dehydration could only occur if the patient had made the statement under express and informed consent. It is carefully written to be “constitutional” under prior decisions of the Florida Supreme Court.

It could possibly save those after Terri, and that is a very worthwhile thing, but something tells me the FLufflaws will stick in the mud on the Terri case saying something like her rights were cast in stone forever.