Replies

AP BREAKING NEWS:

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a last-ditch effort to save Terri Schiavo's life, a House committee plans to issue subpoenas Friday to stop doctors from removing the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube.

The extraordinary legislative maneuver comes after the House and Senate failed to agree on legislation to keep the woman alive before leaving Washington for their spring break. House officials hope that the subpoenas will stop doctors from removing Schiavo's feeding tube at 1 p.m. EST Friday.

"We will issue a subpoena which will require hospice administrators and attending physicians to preserve nutrition and hydration for Terri Schiavo to allow Congress to fully understand the procedures and practices that are currently keeping her alive," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis said in a statement. "The subpoena will be joined by a Senate investigation as well.

"This inquiry should give hope to Terri, her parents and friends, and the millions of people throughout the world who are praying for her safety. This fight is not over."

The subpoenas from the House Government Reform Committee, which spent most of Thursday hearing from baseball players and officials about steroids, is the latest twist in the long-running right-to-die drama.

The U.S. Supreme Court had rejected on Thursday attempts by Schiavo's parents and the state to postpone the removal of her feeding tube and Florida lawmakers could not agree to legislation that would have stopped the removal of the feeding tube.

The House and Senate also could not come to an agreement on legislation to deal with the Schiavo case, although Republicans and Democrats spent much of the day talking behind closed doors trying to come up with a solution.

"We've been going nonstop on this all day long," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said before the House announcement, which came after midnight. "Letters are being written and sent out. We're not giving up and we're not going to give up."

It was not immediately known what effect the subpoenas will have on Friday, when the court order to remove the feeding tube takes effect. "We feel that we're on comfortable ground given the federal government's interest in long-term care," Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean said Friday morning.

Earlier, David Gibbs, attorney for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, had said: "Everything is a long shot."

Gibbs said that he would ask a federal judge in a habeas corpus filing Friday in Tampa to block the removal and review the actions of state courts. Such appeals are most commonly used in death penalty cases when legal appeals have been exhausted; they require the government to justify its actions.

"We are going to ask him to issue a stay because in this case, state action would be used to end the life of an innocent, disabled woman," Gibbs said.

The Florida attorney general's office usually defends the state against habeas filings. A call to the office late Thursday seeking comment was not immediately returned.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBNKGVZF6E.html