NJ Right To Life, Schiavo Debate May Help Living Wills Bill

WASHINGTON - The battle over Terri Schiavo has prompted a flood of requests for "living will" forms offered by groups ranging from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization to National Right to Life.

But some forms are designed to assure continued treatment, while others are more likely to define when life should be allowed to end.

Those differences, as well as the deep feelings of some religious and conservative groups, await Congress as it prepares for further debate on the emotional, legal and ethical issues surrounding Schiavo's case.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., sees the case as a chance to pass legislation on living wills that has been ignored since he introduced it last year.

A Senate Republican aide said a living will wouldn't have applied to Schiavo anyway, because GOP supporters argue she is not, as diagnosed, in a persistent vegetative state -- another dispute for Congress to consider. Gov. Jeb Bush made a similar argument Wednesday as the full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a petition by Schiavo's parents to hear their case.

The hospice organization offers state-by-state living wills that approach the issues differently.

The form for Florida, for example, allows a person to opt out of life support under conditions they check off, such as being in a persistent vegetative state, and leaves space for other written instructions. The New Jersey form, in contrast, allows a person to select either continuation or discontinuation of life-sustaining treatment under various conditions.