Florida high court overturns law mandating feeding for Terri Schiavo

Published: 2004-09-24

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CNS) -- Attorneys for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said he may appeal a Sept. 23 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court that overturned a 2003 law that mandated the reinsertion of a feeding tube to keep brain-damaged Terri Schindler Schiavo alive. In a unanimous decision, the court said the law -- dubbed "Terri's Law" -- violated the state Constitution's requirement of separation of powers by allowing the state Legislature and the governor to overturn a lower court decision. The Legislature passed the law in October 2003. It allowed Bush to order that the woman's feeding tube be reinserted after it had been removed by a court order. "It is without question an invasion of the authority of the judicial branch for the Legislature to pass a law that allows the executive branch to interfere with the final judicial determination in a case," said Chief Justice Barbara J. Pariente in the majority decision. Schiavo, 40, has been impaired for the past 14 years and lives in a Clearwater nursing home. She can breathe on her own but requires nutrition and hydration through a feeding tube. Her husband, Michael, who now has two children by another woman, says Terri would want the feeding tube removed. Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, say that she would want to live, in part because of her Catholic beliefs.

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