Congress enters right-to-die case

PINELLAS PARK, Fla. -- Hanging their hopes on a last-minute compromise in Congress, Terri Schiavo's parents notified her hospice to prepare to have her feeding tube reinserted on Sunday, her third day without food or water.\nYet it now appears that move could not happen before Monday, at the earliest.\nA bill aimed at prolonging the severely brain-damaged woman's life was delayed in Washington when House Democrats blocked a voice vote, forcing Republicans to scramble on Palm Sunday for a quorum of 218 members. A roll call vote could be held as early as 12:01 a.m. Monday, House leaders said.\n"Everyone recognizes that time is important here. This is about defending life," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said in Texas, where the president planned an early return to Washington to be able to sign the bill as soon as possible.\nThe development was the latest in a contentious right-to-die battle between Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo, over whether she should be permitted to die or kept alive by the feeding tube.\nMichael Schiavo criticized congressional leaders Sunday for intruding in the fight.\n"I'm outraged, and I think that every American in this country should also be outraged that this government is trampling all over a personal family matter that has been adjudicated in the courts for seven years," he told CNN. "I think that the Congress has more important things to discuss."\nBut Mary Schindler pleaded for parents nationwide to call their congressional representatives and pressure them to vote for a bill to prolong her daughter's life.\n"There are some congressmen that are trying to stop this bill," she said outside her daughter's hospice. "Please don't use my daughter's suffering for your own personal agenda."\nSchindler attorney Barbara Weller said a letter was faxed to the hospice and to the office of Michael Schiavo's attorney Saturday night notifying them of the action in Congress and that the tube could be reinserted as early as Monday.\nShe said the hospice and Terri Schiavo's doctor were asked to "take whatever measures necessary to prepare for the tube to be put back in."\nThe bill being considered in Washington would apply only to Schiavo and would allow a federal court to review the case. If it passes, attorneys would probably have to seek a federal court order to have the tube reinserted while courts review the decisions that allowed Michael Schiavo to remove the feeding tube, Weller said.\n"We're going to be ready to do what we have to do immediately," she said.\nWeller also learned Sunday that an appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on due process issues is still alive, with the court asking for additional briefs before noon Sunday. The same action was denied by a federal court in Florida Friday.\nBob Schindler said he visited his daughter Sunday morning at her hospice and she seemed to be doing well as supporters maintained a vigil outside.\nThe 41-year-old woman's feeding tube was removed Friday on a Florida judge's order. Schiavo could linger for one or two weeks if the tube is not reinserted -- as has happened twice before.\nDoctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Her husband says she would not want to be kept alive in that condition.\nTerri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a chemical imbalance. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.\nIn 2001, Schiavo went without food and water for two days before a judge ordered the tube reinserted. When the tube was removed in October 2003, Gov. Jeb Bush pushed through "Terri's Law," and six days later the tube was reinserted. The Florida Supreme Court ruled in September 2004 that Bush had overstepped his authority, declaring the law unconstitutional.\nMichael Schiavo, who has not responded interview requests from The Associated Press, continued his criticism Sunday of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who helped broker the congressional compromise.\n"Tom DeLay should be ashamed of himself," Michael Schiavo told CNN. "He's sitting up there, making comments and bashing people. ... He's found a cause to hide behind, to lighten the load of his other problems."\nPassage of the congressional measure would require the presence of only a handful of lawmakers and would allow Schiavo's parents to take their case to a federal judge.