The House of Representatives has stepped in with legislation to delay removal of the feeding tube from a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband has been given permission by a state court to let her die.
The House acted late Wednesday evening after a Florida appeals court refused, earlier in the day, to block the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.
Her husband has battled her parents over his efforts to allow her to die, which he contends she would prefer rather than live in a vegetative state.
The House bill, passed on a voice vote, would move such a case to federal court. Federal judges have twice turned down efforts by the parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, to move the case out of Florida courts, citing a lack of jurisdiction.
Senate Republicans are introducing a separate bill to give Schiavo and her family standing in federal court, and they hope it can be debated on Thursday, a GOP aide said.
Under the House legislation, a federal judge would decide whether withholding or withdrawing food, fluids or medical treatment from an incapacitated person violates the Constitution or U.S. law.
It would apply only to incapacitated people who had not left directives dealing with being kept alive artificially and for whom a state judge had authorized the withholding of food or medical treatment.
The Schindler's plan to ask the Supreme Court to consider whether their daughter's religious freedom and due process rights have been violated.
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