Supreme Court Refuses to Reinstate “Terri's Law”
In a decision that may result in the death of a 41-year old severely disabled woman, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to reinstate a Florida law that would have protected her right to life.
In a decision that may result in the death of a 41-year old severely disabled woman, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to reinstate a Florida law that would have protected her right to life.
The Terri Schiavo story began when she collapsed at her home in 1990. She has been in what some doctors consider a persistent vegetative state, and have been connected to a feeding tube to maintain her life. Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, has sought the removal of her tube for nearly a decade, claiming she did not want to be kept alive artificially.
Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed in October 2003, but the Florida legislature passed a law giving Governor Jeb Bush the authority to re-insert the tube. Michael Schiavo successfully challenged the law, and the Florida Supreme Court ruled “Terri’s Law” was unconstitutional in September 2004.
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Terri’s parents appealed the ruling at Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal. The parents explained in their filing that even if her daughter requested to die, as a Roman Catholic, she would have changed her mind, after hearing Pope John Paul II say last year that removing a feeding tube from a patient like Terri would be “euthanasia by omission.” The parent also said to justices in a filing that their son in law is trying to rush her death so he can inherit her estate and marry his live in girlfriend with whom he has fathered two children.
On December 29, the Appeals court let stand the Florida Supreme Court’s decision that Terri’s law was an unconstitutional effort to override court rulings.
In the filings for Monday’s case, Governor Jeb Bush argued that the state had the authority to step in an pass Terri’s law in 2003, which essentially ordered Terri Schiavo’s feeding tube be reinserted. The Supreme Court did not comment in making their decision. The Florida judges will now decide what happens next in the case.
"It's judicial homicide. They want to murder her," her father, Robert Schindler, said Monday to the associated press. "I have no idea what the next step will be. We're going to fight for her as much as we can fight for her. She deserves a chance."
For more information on Terri's fight, visit: http://www.terrisfight.org
