CLEARWATER, Fla., May 6 (UPI) -- A judge Thursday overturned a Florida law specifically intended to continue the life of a brain-damaged woman.
The ruling by Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge W. Douglas Baird, reported by CNN, is the latest legal turn centering on Terri Schiavo, who has been in what doctors call a persistent vegetative state for 14 years.
In years of litigation and appeals, her husband, Michael Schiavo, has battled her parents over whether his wife should be allowed to die. Bob and Mary Schindler have maintained their daughter could be helped with therapy.
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube was finally removed in October, but was reinserted six days later after the Florida Legislature, in an emergency session, passed a law that affected only the one woman. The legislation gave Florida Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to intervene in the case, and he ordered the feeding tube reinserted.
Baird wrote he overturned the law "because it is an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the governor and because it unjustifiably authorizes the governor to summarily deprive Florida citizens of their constitutional right to privacy."
