The case of Terri Shiavo, the brain-damaged woman who is at the center of a legal tug-of-war between her parents who want to see her remain on a feeding tube and her husband who wants her disconnected, has just gotten a lot more dramatic….due to Congress.
But will it make a difference? SEE UPDATE BELOW, but following a new court decision, the tube has been removed.
This has all the makings of a Hollywood drama because Congress’ action is unusual:
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) – As a deadline loomed, U.S. Senate Republicans sought to keep severely brain-damaged Terri Schiavo alive Friday with an invitation to bring her to Washington, and an attorney for her parents said they hoped the move would buy them more time.
The Senate Health Committee has requested that Terri Schiavo and her husband, Michael, appear at an official committee hearing on March 28. Earlier Friday, a House committee was issuing congressional subpoenas to stop doctors from disconnecting the tube.
Michael Schiavo has waged a yearslong court battle with his parents-in-law, contending his wife, who has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, would not want to live that way.
Courts have cleared the way for him to remove her feeding tube as early as 1 p.m. Friday. The tube has been removed twice in the past and then reinserted as the battle continued.
“It is a contempt of Congress to prevent or discourage someone from following the subpoena that’s been issued,” David Gibbs, the attorney for her parents, said. “What the U.S. Congress is saying is, ‘We want to see Terri Schiavo.'”
“The family is prayerfully excited about their daughter going before the United States Congress for the whole world to see how alive she is.”
He said that despite her brain damage, she would be able to travel. A statement from the office of House Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on Friday said the purpose of the hearing was to review health care policies and practices relevant to the care of non-ambulatory people.
If she appears it’ll be hugely dramatic, compelling and will force many Americans to truly wrestle with the serious issues this case rases on both sides. The bottom line is that Congress’ action on this case is highly unusual.br />
On the other hand, this won’t the first time a brain-damaged person has appeared before Congress…
UPDATE: Now a Florida judge has ordered that the tube must be removed….putting the state government and particularly Republicans in Congress at odds with the courts on this issue:
A Florida judge Friday ordered the removal of a feeding tube from Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman, rejecting congressional attempts to require that she be kept alive.
Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer, who is presiding over the case, said early Friday afternoon that his order was effective immediately. He effectively reclaimed control of the case from Pinellas Circuit Court Judge David Demers, who earlier had ordered the tube be kept in place past a 1 p.m. EST deadline while Greer considered the issue.
Prediction: the drama won’t end here. Expect appeals galore and Congress to go ahead with its plans if it can.
UPDATE II: The tube has been removed (see link in second paragraph):
PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (AP) – Doctors removed Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube Friday despite an extraordinary, last-minute push by Republicans on Capitol Hill to use the subpoena powers of Congress to keep the severely brain-damaged woman alive, a source close to the case told The Associated Press.
No matter where you stand on this issue, one thing seems to stand out: there really seems to be rush to remove this tube ASAP. And, again, stripping away any political motive for asking this we ask: what’s the rush? (Note that TMV doesn’t belong to any party, is not a member of a Christian religious or political group. We just wonder…why?)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.