- TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) --
The Florida House voted late Monday to give Gov. Jeb Bush the power to
intervene in the case of a brain-damaged woman whose feeding tube was removed
last week by her husband's order.
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- The House voted 68-23 in favor of the bill. The state
Senate planned to take it up Tuesday.
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- The bill would give the state's governor 15 days to order
a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Terri 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.
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- Schiavo, 39, meets all the bill's requirements. She has
been at the center of a decade-long court battle between her parents, who
want her to survive, and her husband. Michael Schiavo contends he is carrying
out his wife's wishes to not be kept alive artificially.
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- 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."
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- Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being
in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected
potassium imbalance.
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- The tube was removed Wednesday. As of Monday, doctors
estimated Terri Schiavo would live little more than another week.
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- George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said he thinks
the House legislation is unconstitutional.
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- "I don't believe that the Legislature has the authority
to interfere," Felos said.
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- ©2003 Associated Press
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- http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/
2003/10/20/national2255EDT0830.DTL
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