Lessons of the Schiavo Battle

LIFE OR DEATH : Mary and Robert Schindler, the parents of Terri, speak to the media

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS / VII FOR TIME

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Although they insist that the Schiavo saga was an extreme example, Republicans aren't giving up on the issue of end-of-life care. The Senate Health Committee is set to hold a hearing this week on end-of-life issues, and there is talk among some members of introducing a federal version of Terri's Law, which would give other people in similar right-to-die cases access to federal courts. Members only have to look at their state counterparts to get other ideas: a conservative Democratic lawmaker in Michigan has introduced a bill that would bar spouses caught in adultery from blocking measures that would keep a husband or wife alive, while a Georgia state senator has authored legislation that would bar the removal of a feeding tube from patients able to breathe on their own unless they had left a living will specifying otherwise. Certain social conservatives don't believe in any kind of right to die, even if someone has asked for death in a living will. In their minds, ending any life-sustaining medical treatment is tantamount to murder or assisted suicide. The G.O.P. probably would never go that far. Still, as an aide to the House leadership puts it, "the fight is not over." And with that kind of language, the battle over Terri Schiavo's legacy isn't likely to simmer down anytime soon. --Reported by Perry Bacon Jr., John F. Dickerson and Karen Tumulty/Washington; Amanda Bower/New York; Dee Gill and Wendy Malloy/Tampa; Tim Padgett and Siobhan Morrissey/Miami; and David Thigpen and Eric Ferkenhoff/Chicago, with other bureaus