MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- An attorney for Florida Gov. Jeb Bush asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a new Florida law that allowed the governor to order a brain-damaged woman's feeding tube re-inserted.
Bush's attorney, Ken Connor, said his motion to dismiss the challenge was based on procedural issues: the suit should have been filed in the state capital of Tallahassee and Gov. Bush was not properly served notice of the suit.
Judge Douglas Baird, of Florida's 6th Circuit, has yet to rule on the matter.
In a statement, Bush said he is protecting a person's right to live.
"This is about safeguarding the fundamental right to live for every Floridian, particularly those with disabilities," the statement reads. "Both the U.S. and Florida constitutions secure this right, and elected officials in our state are required to protect it."
At issue is whether Bush violated the state constitution when he ordered a feeding tube re-inserted for Terri Schiavo, a woman who has been in a vegetative state since 1990.
Schiavo's brain was damaged 13 years ago when she collapsed from heart failure, the result of doctors' misdiagnoses.
She recovered from the heart attack, but oxygen was cut off to her brain, leaving her in what doctors call a "persistent vegetative state."
Eight years later, her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, filed a court petition to remove his wife's feeding tube as he claims his wife would have wanted, according to the St. Petersburg Times. The woman did not have a will, but her husband said she told him she did not want to be kept alive by artificial means.
Terri Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, fought the move, maintaining their daughter responds to them and should be kept alive with a feeding tube.
Last year, after weighing testimony from five doctors, a Pinellas County probate judge ruled Terri Schiavo was in a persistent vegetative state with no hope for recovery, and ordered the tube removed.
The Schindlers challenged the decision and, last month, a court seemingly ended the five-year legal battle when it ordered the tube, which provides food and water, removed once again.
But the state legislature quickly passed a law giving the governor the right to intervene, which he did a week later, on October 21. Schiavo's feeding tube was reinserted the next day. Doctors said that without the nourishment provided by her feeding tube she would have died in a matter of weeks.
Attorneys representing Michael Schiavo filed suit last week asking the court to strike down the law.
Bush has said he believes Terri Schiavo should be afforded any opportunity to live on her own.
Connor said Michael Schiavo "stood to gain financially" if his wife dies, though he did not elaborate on the size of any possible life insurance policy.
Michael Schiavo said on CNN's "Larry King Live" last month that he will not receive any money if his wife dies.
Michael Schiavo's attorney, George Felos, said "Terri's Law" violates her right to privacy and the Florida Constitution, in part because the law applies only to Terri Schiavo.
In their challenge to the law, Schiavo's attorneys wrote that Bush, "by compelling the re-insertion of the feeding tube ... utterly disregarded her wishes and her rights."
They wrote that the case is "about whether the Legislative and Executive branches of the State of Florida can nullify the decisions of the courts of this state and can suspend the operation of the constitution of the state of Florida with respect to a single citizen."
The new law also called for the appointment of a volunteer guardian to represent her interests in court.
Dr. Jay Wolfson, a University of South Florida professor, was appointed last week. He has 30 days to issue a written report to Bush, along with his recommendation as to whether the governor should rescind the order to re-insert the feeding tube.
________________________________
Changes to your subscription (unsubs, nomail, digest) can be made by going to http://sandboxmail.net/mailman/listinfo/sndbox_sandboxmail.net
