Right To Die

The California Medical Assn. moved nearly unanimously Monday to condemn federal legislation signed by President Bush allowing Terri Schiavo's parents to ask a federal judge to order her feeding tube reconnected. Only a single "no" rose in voice vote of about 450 doctors attending the group's annual medical convention in Anaheim responding to an emergency resolution calling on the CMA to "express its outrage at Congress' interference with medical decisions."

While the moral and political debate surrounding Terri Schiavo continued Monday, the cost of maintaining her life remained unclear. Barbara Weller, a lawyer for Schiavo's parents, said the financial records were sealed by the court. But she noted that since the 41-year-old woman's feeding tube was disconnected Friday, Schiavo's hospice care has been minimal. "Nothing is being done," Weller said. "There certainly is no cost for any rehab or anything, because she doesn't get any."

The Terri Schiavo saga resonated Monday in the hospices and nursing homes of California, where doctors and caregivers said they routinely confront the same painful and complicated end-of-life decisions that have placed the Florida woman at the center of a national drama. Paul DenOuden said he frequently encounters families who struggle with wrenching decisions about when and if to end a loved one's life.

As Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist pushed Congress to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, he drew attention to a part of his resume many expect him to spotlight as he prepares for a likely 2008 presidential bid: the fact that he is a physician.

In his five years as a U.S. District Court judge in Tampa, Fla., James D. Whittemore has presided over cases involving a racketeering motorcycle gang leader, a baseball pitcher and profiteering church leaders. But no case has had the visibility of the one involving Terri Schiavo, whose parents, citing a law passed by Congress, implored him Monday to order the reinsertion of the feeding tube that has kept the brain-damaged woman alive for 15 years.

The federal judge in the Terri Schiavo case was presented with a real challenge Monday -- and one that may thwart the wish of congressional Republicans seeking an order that her feeding tube be reinserted. Before issuing an emergency order, the judge must decide two questions, under standard procedure in law. First, do the challengers have "a substantial likelihood of success" in winning their claim?

The extraordinary steps taken by congressional Republicans to save the life of Terri Schiavo have won plaudits from evangelical Christians and other conservative activists, but some Republicans worry about a potential backlash among others who view the intervention as an overbearing use of government power.

Terri Schiavo's parents took their case into a federal courtroom Monday, where they were met by a seemingly skeptical judge who questioned whether the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube should be reinserted. She now is in her fourth day without food or water. U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore, after a two-hour hearing, adjourned without issuing a ruling. He did not indicate when he might act. "We are rushed, and we are somewhat desperate," David C.

While serving a search warrant on a December afternoon in 1979, Minneapolis police Officer David Mack was shot in the neck and abdomen, triggering a cascade of events that left him in a persistent vegetative state. He choked on his own vomit, depriving his brain of oxygen for several crucial minutes. Doctors gave up hope that he would ever regain consciousness. Then he surprised them.

Popular as the uncensored bastions of ideological chest-thumping, Web logs have emerged in the debate over Terri Schiavo's fate as something more mature: a place where people struggle to make sense of their complex and contradictory feelings. Rantings and ravings still rule the day in the blogosphere, as it's known, with plenty of political sniping.