Fla. Gov. Backs Coma Case Bill

Florida Governor Jeb Bush says he will sign a bill that would keep a brain-damaged woman alive, after her feeding tube was removed on Oct. 15.

Florida's Republican-controlled legislature is expected to send the bill to the governor later today.

Florida lawmakers stepped into the battle over the fate of Terri Schiavo, one of the United States' longest and most bitterly contested right-to-die disputes, with a last-minute measure that would give the governor new powers to restore her feeding tube.

A Senate panel approved the bill early Tuesday, and a full Senate vote was promptly called for early afternoon.

Bush said he would sign legislation into law Tuesday night and immediately order the feeding tube reinserted.

"This is a response to a tragic situation." Bush said. "People are responding to cries for help and I think it's legitimate."

Schiavo has been at the center of a court battle between her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her husband, Michael Schiavo. The parents want Terri Schiavo to live, and her husband says she would rather die.

The Florida Supreme Court has twice refused to hear the case, and it also has been rejected for review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, a Florida appeals court again refused to block removal of the tube.

The new measure would give the state's governor 15 days to order a feeding tube to be reinserted in cases like Schiavo's. The governor's power would be limited to cases where a person has left no living will, is in a persistent vegetative state, has had nutrition and hydration tubes removed and where a family member has challenged the removal.

George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, called the proposed bill it an "astonishing power grab," said he thinks the legislation would be unconstitutional. He said it is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially.

Court-appointed doctors have described the 39-year-old woman as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance. Her feeding tube was removed Wednesday.

Doctors have said she will die in a week to 10 days without the tube.

Schiavo's family members believe she is capable of learning how to eat and drink on her own and say she has shown signs of trying to communicate and could be rehabilitated. Michael Schiavo says he is carrying out his wife's wishes that she not be kept alive artificially.

During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution doesn't allow the Legislature to give governors the power to overrule the courts.

"This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head," state Rep. Dan Gelber said.

But Republicans said that where judges might be wrong, especially in cases like Schiavo's, such legislation is desperately needed.

"The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state," said Rep. Sandy Murman. "Who is protecting this girl?"

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Tampa is expected to rule as early as Tuesday on a request by a state agency for the disabled that Schiavo be kept alive so it could investigate a claim that she is being abused by having the tube removed.