(Note: Most of this article could have been scripted by 'the husband.' For example, 'After the latest twist in the wrenching saga, Michael Schiavo was said by [his pro-euthanasia attorney George] Felos to be stunned and troubled that his wife's wishes had become a "political pingpong."' When have Terri's wishes ever mattered to someone who has fathered children -- perhaps by two different women, one of whom he has been openly living with for several years and who he refers to as his 'fiancee' -- while married to Terri! The article never mentions Terri's injuries or the bone scan, which showed multiple fractures and 'a history of trauma.' The article might have been more honest had it told how he has spent much of the court settlement that he got by promising to provide Terri with care and therapy. There's still about $700,000 which he would collect if she died.)

October 22, 2003

By Robert Green, Reuters

St. Petersburg, Florida - A bitter family battle over whether to let a severely brain-damaged woman die returned to the legal arena Wednesday after Florida Governor Jeb Bush intervened and ordered her placed back on a feeding tube.

Theresa "Terri" Schiavo, 39, had been taken off tube-feeding six days earlier by court order, and had been expected to die within two weeks.

But Florida's legislature rushed through a bill Tuesday allowing Bush to override the court.

George Felos, an attorney for Schiavo's husband, said the law was unconstitutional.

"It was just an absolute trampling of her personal rights and her dignity," Felos told NBC's "Today" show. "We believe that a court sooner or later, we hope sooner, will find this law to be unconstitutional."

Schiavo's husband, Michael, has fought his wife's parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, since 1998 to allow her to die, arguing she is in an irreversible vegetative state and would not have wanted to carry on living that way.

Schiavo has been kept alive by being tube-fed water and nourishment since suffering a heart attack in 1990.

After the latest twist in the wrenching saga, Michael Schiavo was said by Felos to be stunned and troubled that his wife's wishes had become a "political pingpong."

Felos' law offices in Dunedin, Florida, said Wednesday he was considering his next step after a state judge Tuesday night refused to issue an injunction against the bill approved by the Republican-controlled state legislature.

Pinellas County circuit Judge Douglas Baird asked Felos and the governor's attorneys to submit written briefs and was expected to schedule a hearing.

The parents, who say more therapy will allow their daughter to feed herself again, were delighted that Bush responded to their appeal for help, and to heaps of e-mails.

"It's restored my belief in God," said Robert Schindler.

"It's an absolute miracle," added Schiavo's sister, Suzanne Carr.

Schiavo was transferred Tuesday night from a hospice near St. Petersburg to a nearby hospital. The hospital refused to confirm reports she was being slowly rehydrated or even that it was treating her.

Local commentators said the intervention in the Schiavo case by Jeb Bush, who is the younger brother of President Bush, could reverberate through the 2004 elections. Much of the support for passage of the controversial bill came from members of anti-abortion groups.

"Transforming an idea into law often takes months. This time it took less than 24 hours," political editor Adam C. Smith wrote in the St. Petersburg Times. "It was an impressive show of force by the conservative wing of the Republican Party."

It was the second time Schiavo has been taken off and then put back on a feeding tube.

In April 2001, her feeding was stopped for three days under a court order. Another judge then intervened.

Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited.

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