Posted on 03/23/2005 9:01:53 AM PST by areafiftyone
Congressional Republicans who took extraordinary measures last weekend to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo say there are no further steps Congress can take to intervene.
A federal district-court judge declined yesterday to issue an order to reinsert Schiavo’s feeding tube. Schiavo’s parents have appealed the ruling to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
The court ruling concerning the Florida woman whom doctors say has been in a “persistent vegetative state” for 15 years prompted a strong statement from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who said that the court violated the “clear intent of Congress,” which passed a emergency Schiavo bill last weekend.
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who drafted legislation that served as starting point for a narrower bill passed by the Senate, said, “I am deeply disappointed by this decision today, but I believe this matter now belongs in the hands of the judiciary.”
DeLay went further, saying, “Congress explicitly provided Terri Schiavo’s family recourse to federal court, and this decision is at odds with both the clear intent of Congress and the constitutional rights of a helpless young woman.
“Section two of the legislation we passed clearly requires the court determine de novo the merits of the case — or in layman’s terms, it requires a completely new and full review of the case.
“Section three requires the judge to grant a temporary restraining order because he cannot fulfill his or her recognized duty to review the case de novo without first keeping Terri Schiavo alive.”
DeLay did not, however, signal any further steps that Congress might take.
Section three of the Schiavo law states that the judge “shall issue such declaratory and injunctive relief as may be necessary to protect the rights” of Schiavo.
But Senate floor statements appear to contradict DeLay’s interpretation. An earlier version of the bill included language mandating that the court issue a stay. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) objected to the provision and negotiated to have it removed. GOP leaders needed the consent of Senate Democrats to move the bill in a speedy fashion, and during a House floor speech DeLay later thanked Senate Democrats for their cooperation.
During Senate consideration of the bill Sunday, Levin engaged in a colloquy, or conversation on the floor, with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), stating his belief that the bill would not require the court to issue a stay.
Frist agreed, saying, “Nothing in the current bill or its legislative history mandates a stay. I would assume, however, the federal court would grant a stay based on the facts of this case because Mrs. Schiavo would need to be alive in order for the court to make its determination. Nevertheless, this bill does not change current law, under which a stay is discretionary.”
A House Judiciary Committee aide said that the final law was stronger than the initial Senate bill and that it did require the judge to issue a stay.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) also released a statement, saying that he was very disappointed by the court ruling.
Time is working against Republicans who would like to do more on Schiavo’s behalf. At best, if the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, lawmakers might decide to file friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Schiavo’s parents.
Legislative provisions negotiated by Senate Democrats during the hours before Congress acted last weekend appear to have had a substantial effect on the case.
When Frist first moved to take up a bill dealing with Schiavo in the midst of a budget debate, Democrats objected. One who objected was Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who was concerned that the legislation could have an effect on an Oregon law dealing with assisted suicide.
As a result of negotiations with Wyden, the final law included language stating that it should not be construed to give new jurisdiction to courts regarding a state’s assisted suicide law. Wyden did not object to final action, even though he opposed the bill.
Democratic aides said their members decided to allow the bill to move forward once it was changed so that it was narrowly tailored to the Schiavo case. An ABC News poll released Monday showed that 70 percent of respondents thought the congressional intervention was inappropriate.
“Just because members oppose a bill doesn’t mean they exercise every procedural option to block it,” one Senate Democratic aide said. The bill eventually passed the Senate on a voice vote, after no senator demanded a recorded vote be taken.
Meanwhile, Frist wrote Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) yesterday urging quick action on the part of the state Legislature: “The extraordinary nature of this case requires that every avenue be pursued to protect her life.”
Not that I was expecting one but that is no answer.
A good post.
I can't get over the basic misunderstandings there are about PVS and why this is being done.
It's astounding really, and this kind of education is important.
No they will not be impeached but I can tell you that President Bush will not act in this way and if Jeb does you can kiss his chance to be President Bush III goodbye.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
And it is not I who is hiding behind the PVS label. You need to google it up. It's basic 101 and until you have an understanding of that, there's no sense discussing it.
No. Do you think that people with PVS and massive strokes, etc., in Florida or elsewhere were just allowed to live indefinitely on feeding tubes?
I'd love the know the number of families that took elderly parents off feeding tubes in nursing homes in Florida alone. It would be an eye opening number that would astound Freepers.
And for those who don't like it, work to change the laws.
Here is your post:
"Well, Peach is standing by an assertion that thousands of people a day die with the primary initiatinge factor being the withholding of food and water. She "heard it" from the floor of Congress."
What I said, once again, is that I had been saying hundreds of people a day. House representatives on Sunday night said thousands, although I then went on to clarify they said between feeding tube removal and other life saving equipment removal.
I'm trying to answer a gazillion pings since gettings home so forgive me if I'm confused.
You wanted a link to where Terri's parents admitted they knew that Terri was PVS, and I sent that. Did you want something else instead?
"I can't get over the basic misunderstandings there are about PVS"
The video "snippit" of her seemingly following the balloon has fooled a lot of people....shown many times on TV.
The parent's and one doc's refusal to acknowledge what other the other doctors said and they have a michrophone to put out only the one side. (Just witnessed this on Fox, however, the reporter did conclude with, there are conflicting opinions.)
Hannity and Rush only seeing one side and vocalizing it over the airwaves. Congressmen and, just saw Pat Boone do the same thing.
Blindness of faith and emotion.
Usually reliable Freeper's known for being skeptical about everything aren't being so in this case....unless it's about courts and judge Greer.
How's that? :-)
That is what I'm talking about. It is basic 101, and until you have an understanding of right and wrong, there is no sense discussing it.
Then he doesn't have PVS and has been misdiagnosed.
It's not a beef and I didn't mean to sound snappish. I was trying to answer a gazillion pings before going out for the afternoon.
What has surprised me is that people did not know that this happens every day in nursing homes and hospitals across the nation. My stepdaughter works in a nursing home. We've did this with my husband's aunt on doctors recommendations.
I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong, painful or not. But freepers who have sat by their parents bedside after the feeding tube was removed and spent as much time with them as they could in their final days say it was peaceful.
Not all freepers. One has said that his/her father opted to do this, it took him a couple weeks to die and it was the most horrible thing the freeper had ever witnessed, and he/she is still not over it years later.
LOL!!
With what they are doing to her, the next time it happens, they will probably just bury the person alive. Truely think about that, and tell me the difference.
That Sean, Rush and Senator (and Doctor) Frist have put out such misleaing and outright false statements is an embarrassment, frankly.
One of my neighbors is a nurse and she called me, twice now, after hearing some of the crap our side is putting out and said "Is this a joke?"
And have you seen freepers who think we should accept the word of some guy who "claims" to be a doctor on the internet who runs some website called CodeBlue or something like that? He says the doctors are all wrong and Terri' brain scan isn't really that bad. LOL
And now we have freepers think we should accept his word. But let's not accept the word of doctors and therapists who actually testified under oath and were subject to cross examination.
Are we living in an alternate universe or what? I've never seen anything like it.
I must get 50 freepmails a day from people telling me their parents experienced exactly what Terri is going through (tube withdrawal) following a massive stroke, etc. and thanking me for trying to get the truth out there. They say they don't want to speak out because of the mob atmosphere on FR and fear being called a liar about a subject that is still painful to them. Or being called a mother murderer or something because they let their mom go this way.
It's a sad, sad day for Free Republic. I discussed this with my husband for nearly 2 hours today. He's met several freepers we've had in our home for dinner but at this point, he thinks they are all nuts and he's not too happy with me trying to educate what he termed are obviously the "uneducable". It's like swimming against the tide.
The point that others have made, and I have asked about, is the context of the cessation of nourishment and hydration. Was the patient's body otherwise healthy, as Terri's is, in those hundreds of cases a day? That's what I find hard to believe, in fact, I don't believe it. I don't believe that 35,000+ patients, with otherwise healthy bodies, are starved to death per year in this country. The CDC statistics must bear this out somehow. 35,000 a year is less than one hundered a day, but it's a significant fraction of the deaths.
http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/overview.htm <-- Maybe the data is "in there."
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