The 'case' in question
10/22/2003 06:10 p.m.

Doctors in a Florida hospital have begun giving fluids to Terri Schiavo, a severely brain-damaged woman, at the centre of a fierce right-to-die battle. They were acting on Tuesday's orders from Florida Governor Jeb Bush after legislators had passed a bill giving him the power to do so. A tube feeding Terri Schiavo, 39, was removed last week, but the doctors at Morton Plant Hospital began rehydrating her intravenously in preparation for re-insertion of her feeding tube.

Mrs Schiavo, has been incapacitated since she collapsed at home in 1990 and kept alive artificially, despite evidence from doctors that she will never recover. She has been at the centre of a bitter court battle between her husband Michael, who says his wife told him she would never want to be kept alive, and her family who insist she can be rehabilitated. "I'm ecstatic she's being fed again," her brother Bob Schindler Jr was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "I don't think I can describe the way I feel right now. It's been unreal," he added. Earlier, Mrs Schiavo's father - Bob Schindler - said Mr Bush's order "restored my belief in God".

If Mrs Schiavo's feeding tube had not been reconnected, doctors expected her to die within the next week. The controversial new law - known as Terri's Law, was approved by the House of Representatives by 73-24 after the Senate passed it 23-15.

THE FLORIDA BILL Governor Jeb Bush would have power to intervene when: Someone is in a persistent vegetative state The person left no living will Feeding tubes have been removed A family member has challenged the decision

The bill was tailored to Mrs Schiavo's case, and Governor Bush said in a statement that lawmakers understood "the unique and tragic circumstances" involved. The issue has split lawmakers, with some like Senator Tom Lee saying that, in leaving Mrs Schiavo to essentially starve to death, "...it is a pretty awful way to go". Opponents such as Representative Dan Gelber worried that the bill set a dangerous precedent: "This bill so oversteps our role it...turns democracy on its head."

The case has caused national controversy; the Florida Supreme Court has twice declined to take on the case and the US Supreme Court has also refused to become involved. Mrs Schiavo's parents had insisted she could be rehabilitated with therapy, adding that she had shown signs of trying to communicate. However, doctors had testified in court that the noises and facial expressions Mrs Schiavo made were merely reflexes and that her brain is damaged beyond repair.

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