(Note: The language spin is firmly in place in this article!)

October 21, 2003

TONIGHT'S FOCUS HAS CHANGED: We were going to bring you Nightline's next installment in the ABC week-long health care series "Critical Condition: Healthcare in America," but there's a breaking news medical story that we feel deserves our attention tonight.

Terri Schiavo is a 39 year-old woman who has been in a vegetative state for 13 years. A heart attack left her comatose in 1990. Her parents say she is responsive and they feel that she should continue to live, assisted by a feeding tube. Her husband told her doctors to discontinue the feeding tube last Wednesday and a Florida court backed his request. He says that his wife told him she wanted to die. That's the main debate. Tonight, Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill passed by the Florida legislature ordering the feeding tube reinserted. Many people are scratching their heads tonight. Why does the legislature have the right to do that? The case had already been through the Florida court system and will probably end up in the United States Supreme Court. Others feel that anyone who is alive -- in a vegetative state or not -- has the right to live. We'll have a background piece by Jeffrey Kaufman, he s covering the story for ABC News in Tallahassee. Ted will talk to several guests about the various aspects of the case: medical, ethical and legal. We hope you'll join us.

Gerry Holmes and the Nightline Staff

Nightline Offices

Washington, D.C.

-----------

If you have questions or comments regarding this message or a recent Nightline" broadcast, please do not hit reply; simply click on this link to send your message directly to the "Nightline" staff:

Or log on to the new "Nightline" Message Board: http://boards.gocom/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST&room=nightline

Chat with "Nightline" guests and find articles, transcripts and video excerpts on our Web site at: http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Nightline/

Copyright 2003 ABC News