Florida's Bush gets report on Schiavo
Brain-damaged woman's husband challenges 'Terri's law'
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Terri Schiavo
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(CNN) -- An independent guardian appointed to review the case of Terri Schiavo has given his recommendations to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, under a special law rushed through by the Legislature to keep the brain-damaged woman alive.
Details of the report will be made public Tuesday morning, after Bush's attorneys read it and edit out any sensitive material, a Bush spokesman said.
The recommendations of the guardian, Dr. Jay Wolfson, are not binding on Bush.
The governor issued an executive order in October ordering Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, and he was not expected to lift it while her fate is litigated.
Schiavo, whose 40th birthday is Wednesday, has been in a persistent vegetative state since 1990, when her heart stopped from what doctors believe was a potassium imbalance.
She is neither terminally ill nor brain dead, but she relies on the feeding tube for nutrition and hydration to keep her alive.
The woman has been at the center of a lengthy and contentious legal tug-of-war between her husband, Michael, who wants to remove her feeding tube and let her die, and her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, who have been fighting to keep her alive.
Though she left no living will, her husband says he is honoring her expressed wish not to be sustained on life support and that she has neither cognitive ability nor hope for recovery.
Her parents insist that although she is brain-damaged, she reacts to them and could be helped with therapy.
The courts agreed with Michael Schiavo, and the feeding tube was removed October 15.
Six days later, the Florida Legislature passed a law allowing Bush to order it reinserted.
The measure, dubbed "Terri's law," also required that an independent guardian be appointed to review the case and issue recommendations within 30 days.
The state's Republican-controlled Legislature rushed the bill to passage in less than 24 hours, and Bush, who had been lobbied by Schiavo's parents to intervene, quickly signed it.
Tuesday in Clearwater, Pinellas County Circuit Judge W. Douglas Baird will hold a status conference in a legal challenge to "Terri's law" brought by Michael Schiavo.
His attorneys contend the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Terri Schiavo's right to privacy and because it applies to only one person.
They also argue it violates the separation of powers by allowing the executive and legislative branches to overrule a judicial decision.
Wolfson, from the Florida Health Information Center at the University of South Florida, was appointed by a judge as Terri Schiavo's guardian ad litem (legal advocate) under the new law, though Michael Schiavo remained her legal guardian
Wolfson was not allowed to do any further investigation into the case. Instead, he reviewed all of the court records and previous testimony in order to come up with his recommendations.
He was specifically asked to address the feasibility and value of swallow tests and swallow therapy.
Her parents maintain that with swallow therapy, Schiavo could be taught to eat again, eliminating the need for the feeding tube.
