What is this......some sick joke? The GOP is going to have a severely brain damaged woman testify in front of Congress? Is that the way the right gets off? Sick, sick, sick!
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Senate Committee Asks That Schiavo Appear at Hearing
(Update1)
March 18 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Senate committee has asked that Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman, and her husband appear at a hearing later this month in the hopes of preventing the removal of the feeding tubes keeping her alive.
A Florida court has ordered Schiavo's feeding tube removed at 1 p.m. today. The woman suffered severe brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped beating because of a chemical imbalance, and she has spent most of the past 15 years in a vegetative state.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi sent a letter to Schiavo and her husband Michael, her legal guardian, asking them to appear at a March 28 hearing to ``review health-care policies and practices.''
Federal criminal law protects witnesses who have been called to appear before Congressional committees from anyone ``who may obstruct or impede'' their testimony, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said in a statement posted on his Web site.
Could Appear
Schiavo, 41, would be physically able to appear at a congressional hearing, David Gibbs, an attorney for Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, said during a briefing with reporters from Largo, Florida, televised live on Cable News Network.
``Absolutely,'' Gibbs said. ``She would need a wheelchair. Terri Schiavo could come out here before all of you today.''
The House Government Reform Committee also has started a probe into the long-term care of incapacitated people and plans to issue subpoenas in the case today that would require administrators and physicians at The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast in Largo not to remove the tube until their investigation has been completed.
``This inquiry should give hope to Terri, her parents and friends and the millions of people throughout the world who are praying for her safety,'' said House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and committee chairman Tom Davis of Virginia, all Republicans, in a joint statement.
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bloomberg.com |
