On March 17, 2005, members of the Florida House and Senate debated separate bills relating to artificially provided sustenance and hydration.
[citation needed] Congressman Phil Gingrey, who is trained in obstetrics and gynecology, stated that, "The tragedy of the situation is that with proper treatment, now denied, Terri's condition can improve".
[citation needed] Republican leaders in the House of Representatives, including Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Tom DeLay of Texas and Tom Davis of Virginia, opened a congressional inquiry of the House Government Reform Committee, which was to take place in Clearwater on March 25, and issued subpoenas for Terri and Michael Schiavo and several hospice workers.
Republican Representative Tom DeLay of Texas and Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, a cardiac surgeon, spoke in favor of keeping Schiavo on the feeding tube,[citation needed] as did President George W.
say that Frist's stance on this issue appears to indicate a reversal in his personal opinion, as he has previously argued for the definition of brain death to be extended to include anencephalic conditions of the type seen in this case.
[citation needed] Democratic Senators Tom Harkin and Kent Conrad also supported federal intervention in the Schiavo case, although Republican Representative Dave Reichert was against it.
[citation needed] Especially outspoken Democratic members of Congress who have protested the federal intervention include Henry Waxman, Robert Wexler, Barney Frank, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
A doctor's recommendation must be approved by a hospital's ethics committee, and the family must be given 10 days from written notice of the decision to try to locate another facility for the patient.
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that those raising the 1999 bill were "uninformed" and that the "legislation that he signed into law actually "provided new protections for patients".
note that Bush did give his support to medical professionals making end-of-life decisions for patients unable to express their wishes, such as Sun Hudson, a six-month-old boy born with thanatophoric dysplasia.
[citation needed] On March 26, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that DeLay and his family decided in 1988 to allow his father to die after he was badly injured in a tram accident.
"Extraordinary measures to prolong life were not initiated," said the medical report of DeLay's father, and cited "agreement with the family's wishes."
[15] By contrast, former Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, stood by the Schindlers and urged the Florida legislature to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube.
"[16] A talking points memo was written by Brian Darling, legal counsel for junior Florida Senator Mel Martinez.
The memo suggested the Schiavo case offered "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base and could be used against US Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida who would go on to win his bid for reelection in 2006, because he had refused to co-sponsor the Palm Sunday Compromise.
The claims were chiefly that the rulings of the state court judges were biased or unfair and that removal of the feeding tube constituted a risk that Schiavo, as a Roman Catholic, would face extended time in purgatory.
Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr., a 1990 George H. W. Bush appointee, in a concurring opinion, rebuked President Bush and Congress: "In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the legislative and executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution."
They argued that Congress intended for the feeding tube to be reinserted when they passed the "Relief of the Parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo Act" (S 686 ES).
The Court has consistently denied review in every case raising that possibility for the past few decades, which is why every circuit has its own test for when such injunctions should be issued.
As noted above, Congress has never stepped in to resolve the circuit split on the test for preliminary injunctions, and did not do so in this case, even though it has the power to do so under the Rules Enabling Act.
Most other circuits have more flexible tests with sliding scales which allow the court to place more weight on allegations of extreme hardship for the plaintiff if the injunction or TRO is not granted.
Legislators are attempting to clarify the laws that govern the fate of a person in Schiavo's position, and in some cases make living wills more available.
This could be partly because, as of 2005, it is estimated that only 33 percent of Americans have a living will (but all 50 states have laws that allow people to write an advance directive).
States where new end of life legislation has been proposed includes: Alabama, Hawaii, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and South Dakota.