I'm bumping the Schiavo case discussion since today is the day her feeding tube is supposed to be removed. The federal government is now getting involved:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7212079/
--------------------
GOP leaders step in to keep Schiavo alive
House subpoenas planned to halt removal of her feeding tube
Chris O'meara / AP
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 9:15 a.m. ET March 18, 2005
WASHINGTON - Working against the clock, House Republican leaders tried to prevent doctors in Florida from removing the feeding tube Friday from Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman at the center of a battle between her husband and her parents.
“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,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis said in a joint statement issued overnight. “This fight is not over.”
In a two-pronged approach, the House committee was issuing congressional subpoenas to stop doctors from disconnecting the tube, saying the case is part of Congress' look at federal health care policy.
Separately, an attorney for Schiavo's parents will ask a federal judge in Tampa to block the removal and review the actions of state courts. Such habeas corpus appeals seek to 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,” said the attorney, David Gibbs.
Protesters expected
Police in Pinellas Park, Fla., meanwhile, readied for the hundreds of protesters expected to show up outside Schiavo’s hospice as the hours slipped away before the scheduled 1 p.m. ET removal of her feeding tube.
The legislative effort came after lawmakers in both Washington and Tallahassee failed in attempts to pass legislation to keep her husband, Michael Schiavo, from having the tube pulled despite heavy lobbying by Schiavo’s parents.
The Florida House on Thursday passed a bill 78-37 to block the withholding of food and water from patients in a persistent vegetative state who did not leave specific instructions regarding their care. But hours later, the state Senate defeated a different measure 21-16, and one of the nine Republicans voting against indicated that any further votes would be futile.
In a last-ditch attempt to stop the court-ordered removal, the U.S. House Government Reform Committee decided early Friday to start an investigation into Schiavo’s case.
In their statement, the Republican leaders said the subpoenas 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 keeping her alive."
The Senate will investigate as well, the statement said.
Health care justification
The Government Reform Committee — the same committee that forced Major League Baseball players and officials to testify Thursday about steroid use — justified the inquiry as a government priority.
The GOP leadership statement said the investigation would look "into the long term care of incapacitated adults, an issue of growing importance to the federal government and federal healthcare policy."
It was not immediately known when the subpoenas would be delivered to Schiavo’s hospice and doctors, or whether the Florida health care providers would recognize them. A possible penalty for not recognizing the subpoena is to be held in contempt of Congress, a GOP leadership aide said.
“Everything is a longshot,” said Gibbs, attorney for Schiavo’s parents, Bob and Mary Schindler.
Bush brothers 'in favor of life'
As part of the last-minute flurry of activity, the Florida judge who approved the withdrawal of food and water from Schiavo denied a request from the state to keep her alive. The state appealed that decision to the Florida Supreme Court, which promptly dismissed it. The U.S. Supreme Court also denied another appeal.
At the White House, President Bush left little doubt where he stands.
“The case of Terri Schiavo raises complex issues,” he said in a statement. “Yet in instances like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern.”
His brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, long has supported the parents’ efforts and urged lawmakers to act before it was too late.
The president on Friday left for Florida for a previously scheduled visit to talk about his Social Security reform ideas.
Background to the case
Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped because of a chemical imbalance, and court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she told him she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Her parents dispute that, and say she could get better.
The court found that it was Terri Schiavo’s wish not to kept alive in her current state and issued an order to remove the feeding tube Friday. Michael Schiavo’s attorney, George Felos, wouldn’t comment on when and how the removal will take place or whether Michael Schiavo would visit his wife before it happened.
Doctors have said it could take a week or two for Terri Schiavo to die once the tube that delivers water and nutrients is removed.
----------------
This just bugs the hell out of me. Why is the government getting involved? Because this is an emotional case with well-connected litigants. They have no business interfering. Florida courts have found several times that 1. there's NO hope for recovery, and 2. there's clear and compelling evidence that she would have wanted to be removed from life support if there was no hope for recovery.
The parents say there's cognitive activity - it's wishful thinking. She looks blissed out because she has NO FUCKING CEREBRUM! She responds the same way to her parents as she does to a mylar balloon - reflexively. You can't just regrow a cerebrum. The therapies that the Schindlers' doctors are suggesting have been widely disproven, and there's nothing on the horizon that could even hope to bring her back from a persistent vegetative state.
A lot of disabled people are protesting, saying "doctors claimed I'd never be able to put two words together, and look at me now!" Sure, medical science does not always get the prognosis right; but there's a difference between the brain rewiring itself to get around damage, and regrowing an essential part of the brain that's been missing for a decade. You can't generalize from anecdotal accounts of recovery.
At what point does "respect for life" become the willful torture of a human being to make us comfortable about our notions of life, death, hope, recovery, etc? Just because someone really, really wants to believe that recovery is possible doesn't make it so. And Congress can intervene all it wants, but that's not going to help this woman - it's only going to prolong her non-being.
Part of me says it doesn't really matter - it's not like she's suffering. But there's a consciousness that's essentially trapped in a completely useless body and mind. Let the poor woman go.