Schiavo Back On Life Support

CLEARWATER - It took an unprecedented act of the state Legislature and an order from the governor backed with a threat of arrest, but Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was reinserted late Tuesday.

Acting on orders from Gov. Jeb Bush, Michael Schiavo had his wife transferred from a Pinellas Park hospice to a Clearwater hospital where doctors began rehydrating the brain-damaged woman after almost seven days without food or water.

It remained unclear late Tuesday whether Terri Schiavo suffered permanent damage from her ordeal, said George Felos, her husband's attorney.

Earlier in the day, Terri Schiavo's breathing had been irregular and her kidneys had begun to shut down, Felos said.

Terri Schiavo arrived at Morton Plant Hospital shortly after 7 p.m. Tuesday after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement warned hospice officials they faced arrest if they failed to follow the governor's order that a feeding tube be inserted into the 39-year-old woman's stomach, said Deborah Bushnell, another of Michael Schiavo's attorneys.

Hospice House Woodside officials were under no threat of arrest from Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents who delivered Gov. Jeb Bush's executive order removing Terri Schiavo from their facility Tuesday. There are no criminal penalties for violating such an order, FDLE spokesman Rick Morera said.

Felos called the emergency bill that Bush signed into law Tuesday an "odious and repugnant legislative enactment." He said it gave Bush the power to at least temporarily violate Terri Schiavo's constitutional right to privacy by overruling her proven desire not to be kept alive with a feeding tube.

After Bush acted, Michael Schiavo made two unsuccessful attempts to get local circuit judges to stop the replacement of the feeding tube.

After the second defeat, Michael Schiavo's attorneys said he might reconsider continuing his almost six-year battle with his in-laws defending his belief that his wife would not want to be kept alive in this condition.

Terri Schiavo has been in what most doctors term a persistent vegetative state since suffering heart failure in 1990 at age 26.

Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say their daughter responds to them and could improve.

A Family Victory

For the Schindler family, their legal advisers and the six dozen supporters who were keeping vigil outside the hospice, the midafternoon Senate vote approving "Terri's Law" was the turning point.

The crowd burst into whoops of gratitude, surrounded the Schindler family and then broke into a rendition of "How Great Thou Art."

Said Bob Schindler, with tears in his eyes: "I was like totally blindsided when I heard what they were doing up there. ... Who would even think to write a bill for one person in a state of so many people?"

Said his daughter, Suzanne Carr: "I think it's a miracle."

Minutes later, when the family went inside the hospice to see Terri Schiavo for the first time since the vote, Carr gave a bright smile. Supporters applauded.

The Schindlers were worried Bush's executive order - signed after both houses passed the measure - would come too late.

Earlier in the day, Carr had said Terri looked "very, very gaunt." Monsignor Thaddeus Malanowski, who has tended to Schiavo's spiritual needs, said her skin, when pinched Monday night, didn't retract - a sign her physical condition had deteriorated.

Bob Schindler Jr., Schiavo's brother, said: "Every second here is an hour."

Lawmakers Deliver

The turnaround came after another hectic day at the Florida Capitol, where many lawmakers expressed concern over delving into the case without reviewing medical files, hearing from physicians or taking expert testimony.

But they delivered to Bush and House Speaker Johnnie Byrd exactly what they wanted: new gubernatorial power to keep Schiavo alive and please the thousands of pro- life activists burying politicians under a deluge of phone calls, e-mails and faxes.

Bush wasted no time signing the emergency legislation into law, then issued his executive order. "Any life or death decision should be made only after careful consideration," Bush said in a prepared statement Tuesday night. "For that reason, I appreciate the extraordinary action of the Legislature today and will use the discretion they have granted [to restore] nutrition and water to Terri Schiavo."

Many expected the legislation to be challenged in court, and Felos quickly did so.

At an emergency hearing Tuesday, Circuit Judge Douglas Baird denied Felos' request for an immediate injunction to block the feeding tube's reinsertion. But he gave Felos five days to put his arguments in writing and said he would reconsider the constitutionality of Terri's Law later.

Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge Steven D. Merryday denied a request from an advocacy group for disabled people that Schiavo be kept alive long enough for the group to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect.

"This case offers a vivid opportunity for the public, whose collective will ultimately decide such matters, to contemplate the confounding issues associated with degenerative illness and catastrophic disability," Merryday wrote, and "redirect their representatives to legislate in accord with their concerted desires."

A New Guardian

Under the measure Bush signed into law Tuesday, Terri Schiavo will soon be appointed a new guardian by the Pinellas Circuit Court to review her case and make recommendations.

The mammoth political battle, which split partisan allegiances, has become a major distraction in a special session initially called to lure a biomedical research facility to Florida.

"I'm grappling with my religious beliefs and the oath that we took to uphold the Constitution," state Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, told fellow lawmakers Tuesday afternoon. "We're basically being asked to try a case without knowing all the facts."

Villalobos said he couldn't vote for the bill because it overturned the decision of numerous courts over 13 years.

"Courts are there for a reason, and just like you don't like it when we feel like the court has stepped on our authority, that's exactly what we've done" to them.

But Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, said it was important the Senate pass a bill because if it didn't, "It would be perceived as a vote against Terri's life."

"I hope we did the right thing," King said. "I keep thinking: What if Terri didn't want this to happen at all? May God have mercy on us all."

King had serious concerns over introducing such a bill. During the 1980s, he won passage of Florida's "right-to-die" legislation, a death-with-dignity model for other states.

Still, some Republican leaders worried the rush to pass the legislation smacked of political opportunism.

Byrd, a Plant City Republican running for U.S. Senate, was featured on cable TV news shows Tuesday, where he described his efforts to save Terri Schiavo. His role in the drama is expected to boost his appeal among Christian conservative voters who have embraced the Schiavo battle and are such faithful voters they can swing the outcome of primary elections.

King asked state Sen. Dan Webster, a Republican from Winter Park and Byrd's chief rival for the GOP nomination, to sponsor the upper legislative chamber's version of the bill.

It was a move that Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said drove Webster to tears because he knew "we had to inject ourselves into something because of political reasons."

"You could just feel in here that a lot of people felt pretty smothered being forced to vote for the legislation or be blamed by the political expedients down the hall for the death of Terri Schiavo," Lee said.

Despite the criticism and an appearance on CNN, Byrd rebuffed the accusations: "I just try and do what's right and do good public policy."

Michael Schiavo's family couldn't have disagreed more, said Brian Schiavo, Michael's older brother, who visited Terri Schiavo on Monday night. "This is absolutely horrendous, absolutely crazy. ... This is the ultimate tragedy [for our family]. With death, you deal with, you go through the stages of grief, and eventually you move on. But this ..."

Brian Schiavo, 44, said he was so angry, he wrote Byrd a long e-mail. In it, he invited the House speaker "to come down, take a look at Terri and see the reality of the situation, like we invited Jeb [Bush].

"But none of them will do that," he said. "They just want the votes."

(CHART) Tuesday's Events

In Tallahassee, the House and Senate approved a bill Tuesday afternoon giving Gov. Jeb Bush power to save Terri Schiavo.

Bush subsequently signed the bill into law and ordered Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted.

Suzanne Carr, Schiavo's sister, called the development "a miracle, an absolute miracle.

Schiavo was taken by ambulance frima hospice to Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater, where she was being fluids in parparations to restart nourishment.

A judge late Tuesday rejected a request by Schiavo's husband to overturn the governor's order.