Friday, March 18, 2005
TERRI TO TESTIFY ?
The Chicago Tribune reports:
In a last-ditch effort to save Terri Schiavo's life, a House committee plans to issue subpoenas Friday to stop doctors from removing the severely brain-damaged woman's feeding tube.
The extraordinary maneuver comes after the House and Senate failed to agree on legislation to keep the woman alive before leaving Washington for their spring break. House officials hope the subpoenas will stop doctors from removing Schiavo's feeding tube at 1 p.m. Friday in Florida.
"We will issue a subpoena which will require hospice administrators and attending physicians to preserve nutrition and hydration for Terri Schiavo to allow Congress to fully understand the procedures and practices that are currently keeping her alive," House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-Va.) said in a statement. "The subpoena will be joined by a Senate investigation as well."
An interesting development in the case is that the last ditch efforts applied in a death sentence conviction are being applied to Terri's case:
In another 11th-hour move, the attorney representing Schiavo's parents said late Thursday that he would ask a federal judge in a habeas corpus filing Friday in Tampa to block the removal and review the actions of state courts. Such appeals are used most commonly in death penalty cases when legal appeals have been exhausted; they require the government to justify its actions.
It would seem that this implies the legal system is officially recognizing that Terri has been given a sentence of execution, which indeed she has, and for what crime? The crime of being injured? It does seem that all sorts of legal precedents are being set in this case, not the least of which is the precedent that a death sentence can be imposed on innocent life, though perhaps it would be fair to conclude that precedent has already been set in abortion case law. Justin, could you clarify?
