It's 1999. You're Terri Schiavo, but you live in Texas

As Texas governor in 1999, Bush signed SB 1260, which permits a doctor to withdraw all life support (including food and water) from an incommunicado patient - even if her advance directive requests that she receive all possible care.

(More below the fold)

It's in here, particularly section 166.046.

This statute governs, among other things, the removal of life-sustaining care (which includes food and water) from an incommunicado patient who has an "irreversible condition". An "irreversible condition" is defined as a medical condition:

(A) that may be treated but is never cured or eliminated;
(B)  that leaves a person unable to care for or make decisions for the person's own self; and
(C)  that, without life-sustaining treatment provided in accordance with the prevailing standard of medical care, is fatal.

s.166.002(9)

If a doctor wishes to withdraw such treatment, she must first seek review by "an ethics or medical committee". s.166.046(a). If the committee determines that the treatment is "inappropriate", the patient has 10 days (!) to find a new treatment facility, after which they can pull the plug. s.166.046(e).

Thus, if Terri Schiavo had lived in Texas during Bush's reign, her doctor (with "ethics committee" approval) could have yanked her stomach tube even if she explicitly had requested that it not be yanked.

Here's an article about a man caught by this very law. His hospital wants to yank his life support because its thinks it's futile, and (apparently) because he can't pay. His wife wants the care to continue:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3073295

[Update] And here's another case concerning a baby. Hmm.

•  Leaped without looking

  The Repub nutjobs in Congress jumped aboard this one without doing their homework. Actions like this show there is no central core of values governing, just the powerful jumping behind whatever the rightous rally around. They hope this appeasement will get them more power. But they have gotten greedy and/or lazy. Hubris is setting in. They are getting sloppy.
  

  by Nicholas Phillips on Sun Mar 20, 2005 at 09:41:49 PM PDT

  •  I'd say the opposite -- hold your fire, people!

    
    The weekend act of Congress was made specific to Teri Schiavo, so as not to draw any attention whatsoever to competing cases that the GOP did not wish the American people to notice.

    Oh, they knew what they were doing, alright -- being hypocrites, and they made it easy on themselves.

    Further, the Dems in Congress let them make it easy on themselves.

    I've got a bit of problem with Dems in Congress waiting on us to do their homework, too.

    by cskendrick on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 04:26:57 AM PDT

•  Terry Schiavo

  don't you love how Bush returned from vacation early for the schiavo case.  i wish he would have returned early from his august 7, 2001 vacation and read the presidental daily briefing (Osama determined to strike the U.S.) and maybe we could have diverted 9-11 and my cousin would still be with his family.

  by rgolaner on Mon Mar 21, 2005 at 02:02:42 PM PDT