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Last-ditch bid in Terri Schiavo case

Friday, March 18, 2005
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/3/18/74896.html

Employing an "extraordinary congressional" maneuver, House Republican leadership early Friday made a last-ditch effort to keep doctors from removing the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo.

The House Committee on Government Reform plans to issue a subpoena to achieve its goal, a statement from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis said. Details of the subpoena were not immediately clear.

"The Committee on Government Reform has initiated an inquiry into the long term care of incapacitated adults, an issue of growing importance to the federal government and federal healthcare policy," the statement said.

"The committee's inquiry arises out of the case of Terri Schiavo, who is currently being kept alive in a hospice in Florida.

"Later this morning, 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."

"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 statement also said there will be a Senate investigation as well.

"We're on very comfortable ground that we have a federal interest in long-term care," said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for Hastert.

The move came after the U.S. Supreme Court late Thursday rejected an emergency appeal by Schiavo's parents to stop the removal of her feeding tube, while legislation that would keep her alive appeared to stall in Florida's legislature and the U.S. Congress.

Barring further intervention, Schiavo -- a severely brain-damaged woman who has been at the heart of a legal tug-of-war for more than a decade -- is to have her feeding tube removed at 1 p.m. Friday, under court order.

With time running out in the case, President Bush weighed in on the matter Thursday, saying society and the nation's courts "should have a presumption in favor of life" on such matters.

"Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed and protected -- and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities," Bush said in a written statement.

Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, filed an emergency appeal early Thursday with the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the feeding tube from being removed, arguing that their daughter's religious freedom and due process rights were being violated.

But at 7 p.m., the high court rejected the appeal without comment.

On another front, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a request for a stay by the state's Department of Children and Family Services, citing a lack of jurisdiction. The agency had argued that it needed time to investigate allegations of abuse by Schiavo's guardian, her husband Michael.

In Washington, the U.S. Senate passed a narrower version of a House bill that would give federal courts jurisdiction in Schiavo's case. The House on Wednesday passed a broader bill that would give federal courts jurisdiction, not only for the Schiavo case, but for disabled people in similar conditions.

With the House already recessed for Easter, it appeared that a compromise bill would not make its way to Bush's desk, because there was not enough time to reconcile the differences.

The Senate bill prompted a terse response from Hastert and DeLay.

"House Republicans knew we had a moral obligation to act and we did just that last night," they said in a joint statement. "As Terri Schiavo lays helpless in Florida, one day away from the unthinkable and unforgivable, the Senate Democrats refused to join Republicans to act on her behalf."

In response, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid shot back, "If the House Republicans refuse to pass our bipartisan bill, they bear responsibility for the consequences."

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tennessee, said he was proud of the Senate bill and called on the House to follow its lead.

"To knowingly and purposely starve Ms. Schiavo to death would be callous, cruel and immoral," said Frist, a physician. "I am hopeful that the House will consider and pass this legislation quickly."

Bills in the Florida legislature also seemed to fizzle by late Thursday.

Schiavo, 41, collapsed 15 years ago in her home, suffering from heart failure that led to her brain damage. Lower courts have ruled that she is in a "persistent vegetative" state.

Schiavo's husband, Michael, contends his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. But her parents argue she had no such wish and believe she can get better with rehabilitation.

Both sides have been embroiled in a legal wrangle over whether Schiavo should live or die. Schiavo did not leave anything in writing about what she would want if she ever became incapacitated.

Over the years, courts have sided with her husband in more than a dozen cases.

A probate court late last month ruled that, barring a stay, Schiavo's feeding tube would be removed at 1 p.m. Friday. Upon removal of the tube, the court estimated Schiavo would die in seven to 14 days.

Her feeding tube has been removed twice before, most recently in 2003. That year, Gov. Jeb Bush pushed a law through the Florida Legislature that authorized him to resume the woman's feedings six days after a court stopped them. The law was later ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court.