The U.S. House passed legislation late yesterday to delay the removal of the feeding tube that is keeping alive a brain-damaged woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to allow her to die.
Earlier in the day, a Florida appeals court refused to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. The removal was scheduled for 1 p.m. tomorrow. For years, her husband has battled her parents over his efforts to allow her to die, which he says she would prefer to living in a vegetative state.
The House bill, passed on a voice vote, would move such a case to federal court. Federal judges have twice turned down efforts by Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to move the case out of Florida courts, citing a lack of jurisdiction. Republicans in the U.S. Senate are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated today, a GOP aide said.
Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law. It would apply only to incapacitated people who have not left directives on being kept alive artificially and for whom a state judge has authorized the withholding of food or medical treatment.
