Schiavo Law Could Be Axed, Attorney Says

CLEARWATER - Gov. Jeb Bush's attorney Tuesday predicted Terri's Law will be found unconstitutional because the judge on the case ruled out holding a trial on the issue.

"The prognosis is gloomy," attorney Ken Connor said after Circuit Judge Douglas Baird indicated he was ready to decide the constitutionality of the law but would wait until three related appeals are settled.

In October, Bush relied on hastily drafted legislation, dubbed Terri's Law, when he intervened in the Terri Schiavo case. The law ordered the St. Petersburg woman's feeding tube reinserted six days after husband Michael Schiavo had it removed with court permission.

Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, stopped short of claiming victory in the latest battle of his client's 5 1/2-year quest to remove his wife's feeding tube.

"I did not hear the judge indicate which way he would rule," Felos said. However, he said he was "energized" by Baird's ruling that the issue of Terri Schiavo's wishes had been decided in another court case.

The 40-year-old woman has been in what most doctors term a persistent vegetative state since February 1990, when she suffered unexplained heart failure.

After a nonjury trial in January 2000, Circuit Judge George Greer ruled testimony from Michael Schiavo and his relatives showed his wife made statements before her illness indicating she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means without hope of recovery.

Bob and Mary Schindler contend their daughter made no such decision. They say she reacts to them during bedside visits and could improve with therapy.

Bush has come down squarely on the side of Terri Schiavo's parents. The governor wants a jury to decide the issue of Schiavo's wishes. Bush also wants the circumstances of her illness investigated and has questioned Michael Schiavo's suitability to serve as his wife's guardian.

At the hearing Tuesday, Connor asked Baird for a chance to question Schiavo before the constitutionality of the law is decided.

Bush wants to know "why Mrs. Schiavo's desire [not to live] was not disclosed" in a medical malpractice lawsuit in which Michael Schiavo was awarded $300,000 for the loss of his wife's companionship and more than $700,000 was set aside for her perpetual care, Connor said.

Connor said he also would ask Schiavo whether his wife would condone his decision to live with another woman and have children with her while refusing the Schindlers' pleas that he divorce their daughter.

"The governor has a right to a jury trial," Connor told Baird.

"Terri Schiavo has demonstrated a resolute will to live and has lived against all odds," Connor said.

Felos said the governor was playing a "calculated game of delay." He said Connor's comments were "a smear."

"We don't know if the governor is in a room with his political operatives thinking what is best for his career" or what is best for Terri Schiavo, Felos said.

Greer, the judge who originally granted Michael Schiavo permission to remove his wife's feeding tube, has looked at all the allegations against him and concluded they are "not credible, to say the least," Felos said.

Baird said he would issue his final decision on the constitutionality of Terri's Law once an appeals court rules on three of his earlier findings that Bush challenged. Bush contends the constitutionality lawsuit was not properly filed and wants permission to question witnesses in the case decided by Greer.