Federal Judge Reviews Schiavo Case
Monday, March 21, 2005
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. — A federal judge is reviewing whether to impose an emergency injunction to reinsert Terri Schiavo\'s (search)feeding tube and has called a 3 p.m. EST hearing into the matter.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore (search), who was nominated to the court in 1999 by former President Clinton, is considering an appeal filed Monday by Schiavo\'s parents. The move follows an unprecedented act by Congress and President Bush to step into the case of Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged Florida woman.
An attorney for her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, arrived at federal district court in Tampa and filed a request for an emergency injunction to keep their daughter fed.
When the attorney, David Gibbs III, was asked if he had any indication when the judge would rule on the request, he said: "I have no way to know, just that it\'s in the hands of the court."
Early Monday morning, Bush signed a bill designed to save the life of a severely brain-damaged woman, after lawmakers passed the measure at a late-night emergency session of Congress.
The so-called "Palm Sunday Compromise" allows a federal court to review the the case of Schiavo, whose husband Michael had the feeding tube that keeps her alive removed. The House of Representatives (search) voted 203-58 in favor of the bill shortly after midnight; the Senate unanimously passed it on Sunday afternoon.
The president cut short a visit to his ranch in Crawford, Texas and returned to the White House for a chance to sign the measure, which he did at 1:11 a.m. EST.
"In cases 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," Bush said in a statement after signing the bill.
The legislation says the federal court, after determining the merits of the suit, "shall issue such declaratory and injunctive relief as may be necessary to protect the rights" of the woman. Injunctive relief in this case could mean reinserting the feeding tubes.
Schiavo\'s father, Bob Schindler, thanked lawmakers but acknowledged that "we still have a few hurdles yet."
"I\'m numb, I\'m just totally numb. This whole thing, it\'s hard to believe it," he told reporters outside his daughter\'s hospice.
Schiavo\'s feeding tube was removed Friday upon a district judge\'s order, after a House lawyers\' emergency request to intervene was denied. Congress quickly scrambled to move the case to a different venue, on the chance that a federal court might order an injunction on the removal of Schiavo\'s tube until it can be determined whether Schiavo\'s husband, Michael, or her parents, have the authority to decide to keep her alive or let her starve to death.
Doctors say Schiavo, 41, is in a persistent vegetative state and will not fully recover from a heart attack she endured 15 years ago. If the case goes to a federal court, Schiavo\'s tube could be reinserted while the ruling is deliberated. Her parents and siblings insist Schiavo is responsive to their encouragement.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150988,00.htmlThis has been in the headlines for weeks leading up to her feeding tube being removed so I thought I would post it here to see some opinions.
Personally, I don\'t think Congress should have gotten involved, but at the same time I also feel something isn\'t quite right about the husband\'s timing and motivation to have it removed.
I have seen video of her following a balloon that a family member is moving over her head and responding to her father when he talks to her so I have a hard time believing this woman is brain dead. The husband has already moved in with another woman and they have 2 children. He has obviously moved on with his life, why not just divorce her and let the parents who want to take care of her do it? There was no living will and the husbands claim that she didn\'t wish to be on feeding tubes surfaced seven years after she had been in this state and it happened right after Terri\'s lawyers won a huge medical malpractice suit.
