Posted on 10/21/2003 5:55:07 AM PDT by varina davis
Fla. Senate Gets Into Comatose Woman Tiff
October 21, 2003 07:49 AM EDT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Florida House lawmakers stepped into the contentious battle over the fate of a brain-damaged woman slowly starving to death, voting the governor new powers to restore her feeding tube.
The Florida Senate scheduled a vote Tuesday on a House-passed bill to let Gov. Jeb Bush intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, one of the nation's longest and most bitter euthanasia cases.
Schiavo has been at the center of a court battle between her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo. The parents want Terri Schiavo to live, and her husband says she would rather die.
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.
The House measure would give the state's governor 15 days to order a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Schiavo's. The governor's power would be limited to cases where a person has 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.
Bush said in a statement earlier Monday that lawmakers understand the "unique and tragic circumstances of Ms. Schiavo's case, and I am hopeful the Legislature will pass a bill immediately."
The House voted 68-23 for the bill late Monday. The Senate Rules Committee planned to take the bill up Tuesday morning, with the full Senate scheduling a vote by early evening.
George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said he thinks the legislation would be unconstitutional. He said it is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially.
Court-appointed doctors have described the 39-year-old woman as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance. Her feeding tube was removed Wednesday.
Doctor said she will die in a week to 10 days without the tube.
Schiavo's family members believe she is capable of learning how to eat and drink on her own and say she has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated. Michael Schiavo says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially.
During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution doesn't allow the Legislature to give governors the power to overrule the courts.
"This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head," Rep. Dan Gelber said.
But Republicans said that where judges might be wrong, especially in cases like Schiavo's, such legislation is desperately needed.
"The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state," said Rep. Sandy Murman. "Who is protecting this girl?"
The House action came hours after a state agency for the disabled asked a U.S. judge in Tampa to keep the woman alive so it could investigate a claim that she is being abused by having the tube removed. The judge was expected to rule as early as Tuesday.
I think that just about says it all regarding which branch is currently above itself, don't you? The public (through the Constitution) "grants powers." The courts have no authority.
Uhh.........????
I am afraid I do not follow that logic.
As far as I know, the "vote" is where the power resides in the people.
Under the Constitution the Court has the responsibility and the rights to interpret the law. And to make a judgment regarding the law. That authority is their purview.
We come full circle and get back to my point and reality.
The court did interpret the law and that interpretation is what is being overridden by the legislative branch by creating new law.
If this were to occur in every instance, then Al Gore would now be president of These United States.
That's the main reason for this measure. They've redefined "persistent vegetative state" to mean "brain injury". Slippery Slope City. The camel's nose is under the tent, all the way up to the second hump.
Either way, it scares the bejeebers out of me to realize that they hold the power of life and death over this woman.
How can such people be elected to any public office? So absorbed in themselves and their process, Just so absorbed
But now I've GOT to get back to my real life ... Prayer will be of use to Terri; what I'm doing now isn't :-).
FReegards, Xy
Kuby finished up his remarks by advising everyone to write a living will.
Kuby's own living will, he said, says EVEN IF I'M IN A VEGETATIVE STATE, ASSUME I WANT TO LIVE.
I was not trying to win anything, just inject a bit of rational thinking into this very emotionaly charged situation.
I could not help it.
As to fear and death, I think about it often.(morbid)
It happens when you get older and the kids have been raised.
Good luck with those youngins! They are everything.
There is no conflict between the Florida court that ordered the feeding tube removed (and the US District Court which decided it had no jurisdiction to act in this state matter), and the Florida legislature. The Florida court acted on the basis of the law as it existed when it made its decision. Being bound to obey the law of its own jurisdiction, the Florida court would and should reverse its prior decision when acting under the new law. As for the US Court, I believe it was correct to rule that this was a state issue, not a federal issue.
Hope that's helpful.
Congressman Billybob
What IF the court refuses to reverse itself under the new law? Because the decisions were made under old law is Greer's decision still valid? Help me here, lol.
Both. Only a fool that is so truly detached from reality would really want this woman to die.
They have pushed this country to the brink. I've seen calls for insurrection. There are people -- a growing number of people -- who are seeing this as a "Lexington and Concord Moment."
I am not endorsing this, merely noting that I've observed it via posts copied here. And I do think the risk is real.
What are these "leaders" thinking? That if things do boil over, they'll simply pass some ultra-draconian legislation that they've been keeping at the ready for a moment such as this? What would that accomplish? The people who've been pushed past the brink will say oh, it's illegal, I'd better pack my bags and go home?
Nope. Just the opposite will happen. Think back to all the really ugly riots this country has seen. Then tell yourself that they were nothing, compared to what will happen here if they push things truly past the breaking point.
If they do push the country into a major insurrection, it won't be like "1776 Version 2.0". It'll be more like the French Revolution, only bloodier and far more brutal -- on both sides.
Given the sensitivity of the subject, I will repeat -- I do not endorse this. I am merely observing the growing frustration and anger, which is seething just below the boiling point. Should it break past the boiling point, all bets are off.
Don't shoot the messenger!
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