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Terri's Bill Passed!


Anna

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And save Terri a slice for when she recovers! ;)

Let us keep praying. This miracle isn't the end. If the Lord saves her life, then we can be assured that BIGGER things are to come from her. He would save her to have her vegitate!

Keep up the prayers. We want full recovery!

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Terri Schiavo now receiving fluids after Governor Jeb Bush issues order to reinsert feeding tube Tuesday, October 21st

The Florida House and Senate passed the bill Tuesday afternoon.

Acting on orders put in place by Terri's Bill, Terri Schiavo is now at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater where she is receiving fluids.

The move comes after a Pinellas County judge rejected a request by Michael Schiavo's attorney to overturn the Governor's order.

The bill was passed by the Legislature on Tuesday allowing Gov. Jeb Bush to order a feeding tube reinserted into the brain-damaged woman at the center of one of the nation's longest and most bitter right-to-die battles.

The bill was designed to save the life of Terri Schiavo, whose parents have fought for several years to keep her alive. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she would rather die.

Schiavo's feeding tube was removed by court order at her husband's insistence last Wednesday, and doctors have said the 39-year-old woman will die within a week to 10 days without food and water.

A round of cheers rang out at Terri's hospice in Pinellas Park when the news was announced.

The Senate voted 23-15 for the legislation, and the House passed the final version 73-24 only minutes later. Bush signed it into law and issued the order just more than an hour later.

After the Senate's vote, a cheer went up among about 80 protesters outside Terri Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park.

''We are just ecstatic,'' Bob Schindler said after Bush told him he would issue the order. ''It's restored my belief in God.''

Suzanne Carr, Terri Schiavo's sister, called the development ''a miracle, an absolute miracle.'' Terri's mother broke down crying when she heard the news.

Felos says he and his client will fight the legislature's actions.

George Felos, a lawyer for Michael Schiavo, took steps to stop Bush even before the governor received the bill. He filed a request for an injunction if Bush issued an order. Pinellas Circuit Court Judge George Greer denied it on technical grounds, but said Felos could refile the request.

The family's lawyer, Pat Anderson, said Schiavo would have to be placed on an IV to rehydrate her before the feeding tube is reinserted.

''It ain't over until its over. ''Until I see that IV running she is not out of the woods,'' Anderson said.

In the Senate, even some supporters of the legislation expressed concern about their actions.

''I keep on thinking 'What if Terri didn't really want this done at all?' May God have mercy on all of us,'' said Senate President Jim King, a Republican.

Lawmakers were already called to the Capitol for a special session on economic development when they decided to intervene in the case.

Bush said he did not think lawmakers were motivated by politics.

Terri's been without nutrition for almost a week.

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

Opponents said government was stepping in where it had no business being.

''I do not believe the governor of Florida should be making a decision of life and death rather than the next of kin,'' said Sen. Steven Geller, a Democrat.

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

Earlier in Tampa, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday denied a request by an advocacy group that Schiavo be kept alive so it could investigate whether removal of the tube was abusive.

Merryday wrote that federal courts other than the U.S. Supreme Court are forbidden from interjecting themselves into matters already decided by state courts. He also said the group failed to provide enough evidence to support its request.

The bill sent to Bush was designed to be as narrow as possible. It is limited to cases in which the patient 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.

Court-appointed doctors have described Schiavo as being in a vegetative state, caused when her heart stopped in 1990 from a suspected chemical imbalance.

Bush last week promised the woman's parents that he would help them if he could find a way.

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

Felos said he thinks the legislation would be unconstitutional. It is Terri Schiavo's right under the Florida Constitution to not be kept alive artificially, and the courts have affirmed that, he said.

During a two-hour debate in the House, several Democrats argued that the Constitution does not let the Legislature give the governor the power to overrule the courts.

Michael Schiavo insists his wife would not want to live this way.

''This bill so oversteps our role it ... turns democracy on its head,'' said Rep. Dan Gelber, a Democrat.

But many Republicans and some Democrats said they need to be involved in dire cases where judges might be wrong.

''The Constitution is supposed to protect the people of this state,'' said Rep. Sandy Murman, a Republican from Tampa. ''Who is protecting this girl?''

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